Skipping Green Pills

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-07-2004
Skipping Green Pills
2
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 6:23am
This is a bit of a weird, hypothetical question. I'm curious whether it's problematic to skip a few of the sugar pills and go into the white pills again, say, after 3-4 placebos.

Would this end your period faster (like when you first start taking the pill)? Would it influence the effectiveness of the new pack? Could this be used as an effective way to change your start day?




Edited 10/25/2004 6:36 am ET ET by mellifluent

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 7:34am
No, that's totally how you change your start day! You're not committed to seven days off between packs (or seven days of placebo pills), you can shorten that interval knowing that you'll be changing your start day.

As for what it does to your period, sometimes it can make it shorter by getting rid of annoying spotting days, but sometimes it won't make any difference, it all depends on your body!

So long as you don't change your 21 days on and however-many-less-than-seven-off, the effectiveness of the pill should not be altered. The only time you'd have to worry were if you took more than 7 days off or if changing your start day caused you to miss a future start day.

Good luck!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-07-2004
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 4:00pm
Perfect! Just what I wanted to know.

Thanks so much, Judie. :)