Ortho Tricyclen 28 Day

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
Ortho Tricyclen 28 Day
1
Fri, 04-30-2004 - 6:50am
Anyone know how this particular pill works? I started the Sunday after my period (Last Sunday) and I have been using condoms and VCF film in conjunction with. I was told only need to use back up for 2 weeks, but am planning on using for WHOLE MONTH. Question is, I accidentally forgot to take pill at my usual 7 AM time on Thursday but took it 7PM when I remembered. How long for back up protection now? Also sometimes I wake up BEFORE 7 AM would it be a problem to take it sometimes at 6 AM what is the time window for taking it and it STILL working ALONE???
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 04-30-2004 - 8:42am
A good time frame that we usually recommend (and we've seen others recommend it too) is within 2-4 hours. Technically 8-12 hours is late or missed depending on what source you're looking at, and now with the new FDA labeling on pills, it's recommended to use backup protection for seven days following any missed pills, even just one. If it makes you feel more confident to use extra protection with the pill, by all means do it!

We also usually recommend backup for the whole first month like you're doing it--one reason is because it's sometimes hard to get in the habit of taking the pill on time and if you're using backup the consequences of an "oops" are no big deal. The other reason is that when you get to your inactive (green pills) week, it may be a few days between your last active pill and the start of your period, and if you haven't used backup, sometimes that can be an agonizing wait as you start looking up pill failure statistics again because you can't sleep at night. ;) Once you get through the first couple of cycles on this particular pill, you'll know when to expect your period so you'll know what's normal and what's late.

Good luck! I hope things go well...

Judie

Judie Cl for Birth Control