Question: Any Help Would Be Great

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
Question: Any Help Would Be Great
3
Mon, 06-14-2004 - 11:26am
Hi everyone,

I have been taking ortho tricyclin lo for about a year. I've recently had strep throat and was taking a "Z pack" of antibiotics. It is a five day treatment that can stay in your system for ten days. This weekend I had unprotected sex (STUPID I know). It was the last day of my placebo pills (Sat) and the first day of the active pills (Sunday) which I didn't take. Is there a chance I could have gotten pregnant? On one hand I am scared because of the antibiotics on the other hand, it was the last day of my period. Should I go ahead and start my new pack or wait and maybe take a test first? I know you're not supposed to take the Pill if you are pregnant. Any advice is appreciated.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2004
Mon, 06-14-2004 - 11:47am
Hi Countrygyr2001...

In my personal opinion, I think you should continue to take your birth control pill as normal, although now you must be a day late on starting! While the chances that you are actually pregnant are pretty slim, you're smart to want to be better safe than sorry. However, studies have shown that taking the pill while pregnant does NOT harm the fetus. Infact, I have a cousin and a good friend who both became pregnant while on the pill (due to their failure to take them on time) and their children are perfectly healthy.

Do a little search on your question in "google" or something and you will find a lot of places that say similar things to the following excerpt I found:

"The pill, if taken correctly -- every day at roughly the same time every day -- is over 97 percent effective. If a woman does become pregnant on the pill, the chance of harm to the baby is extremely low. There is a very small (0.3 percent) risk of masculinization of a female fetus by prolonged exposure to birth control pills during pregnancy (more than two or three months). There is no increase in other birth defects from pill exposure in pregnancy."

Excerpt taken from "Pregnancy: How Can You Tell You're Pregnant While Taking the Pill?" on iVillage.com. http://www.ivillagehealth.com/experts/womens/qas/0,,166936_124892-2,00.html

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DECISION!

~*~Jenn~*~

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Mon, 06-14-2004 - 12:07pm
Hi countrygyrl2001, welcome!

If I were you I’d take my Sunday pill immediately and your Monday pill at your usual time and use backup for at least 7 days of correctly taking your pills or until 7 days after the end of your 10 day treatment, whichever interval is the longer. By not taking Sunday’s pill on time you have gone more than 7 24-hour days between active pills and have compromised your protection. Antibiotics can compromise the effectiveness of BCPs for some women, but going more than 7 24-hour days between active pills compromises their effectiveness for everyone. You may still be ok since most ABs reduce the effectiveness for only some women, but we don’t know who they are until after the fact. If the ABs didn’t compromise the effectiveness of your pills then you are probably ok from Saturday IC. Let us know how you’re doing, ok?

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 06-14-2004 - 4:37pm
I had to take those same meds a few years ago when I was in a relationship and had sex during the dose of meds...I didn't use back up and didn't have any problems....As long as you've taken your bc pills correctly you should be ok.....I'm not an expert though....good luck