taking antibiotics- had unprotected sex

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2003
taking antibiotics- had unprotected sex
1
Fri, 03-19-2004 - 10:21am
Hi everyone. I am freaking out - last night I had unprotected sex, and I have been taking an antibiotic for the past 10 days. I also take Alesse birth control pills, but I know antibiotics lessen the effectiveness. I'm really scared about getting pregnant, because I am right in the middle of my cycle, almost exactly where I should be ovulating. I am thinking I need to get emergency contraception to lessen my risk. Any advice? Thanks for your help in advance!
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Fri, 03-19-2004 - 2:52pm
Hi suziq, welcome!

Some antibiotics lessen the effectiveness of OCs in some women and there is no way to know who those women are ahead of time, which is why this board recommends using backup while taking antibiotics and for at least 7 days afterwards as well. Your risk is probably small but no one can tell you exactly what your chances are. If you absolutely can’t deal with a pregnancy right now you might want to consider EC. Take a look at the site http://ec.princeton.edu/ The effectiveness of EC is time sensitive. It works best within the first 72 hours of IC so you need to decide fairly quickly. Let us know how you’re doing, ok?

Good luck

      Jill