Ortho Lo

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-30-2003
Ortho Lo
5
Tue, 10-05-2004 - 7:15pm
It seems quite a few of us posting on this board are on Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo. I was scheduled for a Sunday start and since my period came yesterday, I plan on starting this coming Sunday. I took a look at my calendar and matched days with pills and found that I will take the first green (placebo) pill on Halloween. Does this mean that I will be having 2 periods a month, every month?! Do you have to take all 7 of the placebo pills or can you just take 4 or so and throw out the rest of the pack and start the white pills again? I'm confused. I really would like to make it where I wont be experiencing 2 periods a month if possible. Any feedback would be great. Thanks.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2004
In reply to: roxy1385
Tue, 10-05-2004 - 7:36pm
Hi Roxy1385,

Well im kinda confused 2 about the reminder pills i was wondering what will happen if you don't take the reminder pills,do you think you can start a new pak?..........since I started takinkg this pills I started on a Sunday and that was the last day of my period it was on August the last week that i started taking them and i didnt get my period this month(September) so i dont know, this stuff are really confusing.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: roxy1385
Wed, 10-06-2004 - 7:45am
It's just the first month that this happens! You start the pill during your period because it's an easier hormonal adjustment (your natural hormones are very low during your period). Then you take the three weeks of active pills and either take the week of reminder pills or throw out the week of reminder pills (the green ones)--there's no hormones in them, just starch and fillers. Then at the end of the seven-day hormone-free interval, you start a new pack and you'll have a period at the END of that pack during the reminder-pill/inactive week. It will make sense as you get further along, it will just seem weird right now because you'll have a couple of weeks only with (ideally) no bleeding.

You can shorten your inactive week if you want, but it will make it more difficult to make sure you've taken your pills in order and each day. You won't be protected any differently if you use a 25 or 26 day cycle instead of a 28 day cycle, the easiest thing to do really is to pick a start day and start every new pack on that same day.

I promise, it will make more sense later! ;)

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: roxy1385
Wed, 10-06-2004 - 7:52am
If you don't take the reminder pills, you can start a new pack so that you don't have any break between packs (so six weeks of hormones). This is not so easily done with a pill with multiple phases, though, if your pill doesn't have the same dose of hormones each day, there can still be enough hormonal fluctuation to allow you to bleed.

Did you take the green pills at the end of your first pack? Did you use backup protection for the first week? Did you take all of your pills at the same time every day? If you followed the directions and still didn't get your period, that does happen sometimes, but if you missed pills or didn't use backup at the beginning of the first pack, there may be another reason why you didn't get your period.

The reminder pills are just reminders, you don't even have to take them, they're just there in case you have trouble remembering to start your new pack of pills on time.

Does that help?

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-30-2003
In reply to: roxy1385
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 10:45pm
Thanks for all the replies. I suppose I'll just take every pill in the pack for the first few months or so just to get my body used to it, then I'll consider skipping the reminder pills. My doc gave me some multivitamins to take along with them as well. However, she said to wait 2 weeks after I start taking the pills to let them take effect, but every other information source (including the official ortho lo website) has said to only wait 1 week. Which do you think?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: roxy1385
Fri, 10-08-2004 - 7:18am
Usually we side with the doctor, out of principle mostly! ;) They're supposed to know what they're doing, and we don't like to advise people to ignore their recommendations.

Actually we recommend using backup for the whole first month so that you can get used to taking a pill at the same time every day. It also helps take care of that period paranoia during the inactive week---we get lots and lots of posts from women who are freaking out because they didn't get their periods on the day they thought they should have in that first month and they worry that maybe the pill doesn't work for them. If you've used backup that whole cycle, that won't be on your mind!

Do what makes you feel comfortable, it's only another week or two!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control