Doctor says don't worry if I miss a pill
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Doctor says don't worry if I miss a pill
| Thu, 06-15-2006 - 7:35am |
When I went in for my physical in Feb. I asked my doctor if I had to take my pill within a 2 hour window for it to be effective as I had read here and I barely had gotten the words out of my mouth before she was shaking her head back and forth and said even if I missed one and had to take 2 the following day that I would be fine. That surprised me that she seemed so flippant about it. I have read other boards where they say if it's under 8 or even 12 hours that it's still considered on time. Who to believe??!!

Well... the bottom line is that there really is no "correct" answer. It all just depends on how comfortable you feel with taking your pill within a broader window of time. You have to remember that no one on this board is a doctor (at least I don't think so!) and the two-hour window is used as guideline, not a rule. Your doctor is probably right that it doesn't matter if you miss a pill, and even the package insert on most birth control pills say so. However, I think most people on this board tend to lean towards a more cautious approach, and that is why the two-hour time window was created. It's not that anyone here is "wrong", it's just a perception.
Really, it just comes down to how comfortable YOU feel. I try and take my pill at precisely 11 p.m. every day because it gives me peace of mind. However, that's not to say that my friend who takes her pill within a five-hour time window every morning is any less protected, she just does what works for her.
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any more questions.
Cheers,
MS
The +/-2 hour window is considered ‘on-time’ and for some women being off much more will cause irregular bleeding.
Jill
On the information in my pill pack, it says that if I miss a day, it is fine to take the pill the next day and not have to use back up. That is probably what your doctor is referring to. Since the pill works by maintaining certain hormone levels in the body, I would think that if you routinely missed pills and took them the next day, then the hormone level would be very inconsistent and could result in ovulation and then a possible pregnancy. But once in awhile shouldn't be a problem.
For my own piece of mind, I go with the conservative approach and take my pill within 2 hours of normal time every day. Perhaps I could be more lax about it, but it isn't worth the risk to me.
The doctor can afford to be flippant about the matter, she isn't the one who has to deal with an unplanned pregnancy.
Your package insert will tell you that you can miss a pill completely and double up the next day and still be ok. That is true, but it's more true for the pills with the highest doses. If you're on a lower dose pill, there's more of a chance of pregnancy from missing just one pill, and some doctors are saying that you should use a backup for a week after missing one.
It's really a matter of how much you're wanting to avoid pregnancy. You'd probably be fine missing a pill and taking it 12 hours later if it happened once. If you were routinely changing the time drastically every single day, that will cut the effectiveness down. Note that the effectiveness for perfect use and typical use are pretty far apart, less than 1% for perfect compared to something like 8% for typical. There's a lot of room for error on taking pills, so it's always best to be as conservative as possible if you don't want to become pregnant.