Reg. birth control and emer. contracep.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2003
Reg. birth control and emer. contracep.
2
Fri, 04-16-2004 - 11:08pm
I need help, I am on regular birth control (levlen) and I had been lte (a couple of hours) taking my pill a few days leading up to unprotected sex. So, just in case, I took some emergency contraception (using my regular pills, my doc told me how) I had used plan b once before a i felt a little nausea. This time I have had nausea all day and i am dizzy. Is it possible that i overdosed or something? I am ok, i mean nothing MAJOR has happened to me but i'm a little scared that i did something wrong. Also, will taking more pills as EC lessen the effectiveness?

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Fri, 04-16-2004 - 11:54pm
Hi calimandy007, welcome!

If you haven’t already, take a look at the EC site at: http://ec.princeton.edu/ The info. there says to take 4 tablets of Levlen and then another 4 12-hours later. Is that what you did? Read the FAQs on that site too. They have a listing of possible side effects from using EC. I would be surprised if taking 8 times the amount of hormones you would normally take in a single day didn’t make you feel a bit strange. If you were following your doctor’s instructions then you should be ok. The extra hormones are probably going to throw your cycle off this month so you shouldn’t be surprised if AF shows at a different time. Hang in there and let us know how you are doing, ok? Taking your pills as EC should not change their effectiveness for regular contraception if taken correctly. Using an alarm on a watch or setting a reminder message on your cell or computer might help you remember your pill-time.

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2003
Sat, 04-17-2004 - 1:21am
Thank you for the info, I will check out that site. I do have an alarm on my phone to remind me to take my pill at 5pm but a lot of the time i don't have them with me... or i turn off the alarm, get distracted and forget... I am going to keep track more now though, because I want to be as safe as possible. I have some otc medicine for the nausea and headache. I went to webmd and also read that there side effects happen in about 50% of women who use EC. I just wish I knew how long this is gonna last cause it's uncomfortable :(