posted
I've just started birth control for the first time, and I'm on day 8 of my first pack. The doctor said I would be protected after 7 days, as I did a Sunday start. Midweek, I was an hour late taking a pill. Will this have any effect, or am I still able to have sex, and be protected, as of now? Thank you!
Posts: 22 | Registered: Apr 2011
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posted
Are you on a combination pill? If so, and you never took a pill more than 12 hours after your pill time, you have been taking the pill correctly.
However, we still recommend waiting one full month before you rely on the pill alone for protection. While most pill brands claim to be effective after one week if you start on the first day of your cycle (or the first Sunday after), not every body reacts the same way to the hormones. So, if you want to be extra safe, it's a good idea to back up with condoms for a little bit longer.
-------------------- -joey Scarleteen Volunteer
"The question is not who will let me, but who is going to stop me." -Ayn Rand Posts: 8422 | From: Cologne, Germany | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
So, to sort of piggy-back off of this, I did a Sunday start, as my doctor said, to start, but it wasn't the first Sunday after I'd had my period. It was just the first Sunday after I went to the doctor. At any rate, I had sex with a condom, with withdrawal (perfect use), with my boyfriend, on day 8 of my pack, under the impression that I would, theoretically be protected after those first 7 days ( I didn't know what a Sunday start really meant, as no one told me). My boyfriend took off the condom, after sex, no breaks, nothing, and we went for a walk for about half an hour. When we came back, we did a tick check, and he pulled apart my outer labia to check there, without having washed his hands.
Yesterday I started bleeding, but it's incredibly, incredibly light, and very pink, and it started when I would normally have started my period not on the pill. Today, it's still really light, blood rather than discharge, I believe, but more brownish- like discharge. Do I have to worry about this being implantation bleeding, because of the misconception with the Sunday start in any way?
Posts: 22 | Registered: Apr 2011
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posted
To be clear, in case one hadn't read the earlier post, this is my first ever birth control pack.
Posts: 22 | Registered: Apr 2011
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Robin Lee
Volunteer Assistant Director
Member # 90293
posted
You're absolutely fine.
After half an hour, any sperm in the semen that might have been on your boyfriend's hands would have died. Sperm need a very particular environment in which to survive, and need the semen in order to swim. So no problem on that count.
Also, implantation bleeding, which is really very rare, would virtually never happen just a few days after sex. It takes several days, usually a week or more, for implantation in the uterus to occur.
Sounds like you're using birth control in the most effective way.
-------------------- Robin Posts: 4379 | From: Washington DC suburbs | Registered: Dec 2011
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Robin Lee
Volunteer Assistant Director
Member # 90293
posted
I apologize. I didn't address the bleeding except to say that it isn't implantation bleeding.
Spotting, light bleeding between periods (which are actually called withdrawal bleeds when you're on the birth control pill), is pretty typical of being on the Pill, especially for the first few months of taking it.
-------------------- Robin Posts: 4379 | From: Washington DC suburbs | Registered: Dec 2011
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