T O P I C R E V I E W
Jill2000Plus
Member # 41657
posted 01-24-2013 07:53 AM
So I've been taking Cerazette for about 3 years, and when I went to get another refill, they gave me a different brand called Nacrez, both state on the box that the pills contain 75 micrograms of desogestrel. These are mini-pills with a 12 hour window, so my understanding is that all the pills are active without any placebos, and the instruction leaflet in the box does not say that there are any placebo pills in the box, but it says in the instruction leaflet that I shouldn't start with a random pill and am supposed to start with the top row, taking the tablet that corresponds with the day of the week I am taking that pill... My question is, does it actually matter which pill I take when or do they just say that so that people who take this pill will be less likely to get confused about whether they've taken a pill that day or not? Because I'm putting the pills into daily dosette boxes then keeping that box on me for the day as I have other medications I take anyway so I just take the pill with one of my other ones, therefore I don't need the days on the BC pack to remind me what I've taken and what I haven't? EDIT: and I should add that in the time I've been taking Cerazette I've never become pregnant, so far as I know (I guess I could have had a very early miscarriage and not realized), though I have been doubling up with condoms, which is good but does mean I'm less sure of whether I'm using one or both of the two methods correctly. [ 01-24-2013, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Jill2000Plus ]
Jill2000Plus
Member # 41657
posted 01-26-2013 05:35 AM
Also, sorry if I asked this question years before and then forgot your answer, I just wondered about it again because of the pill brand change and subsequent reading of a new information leaflet. As well, with these brands of minipill, if I miss one, how many days do I have to take it for before I'm protected again? The leaflet says 7 (as, IIRC, did the person at the sexual health clinic that I got my contraceptives from when I first went on them years ago) but my GP says 14 and since I had a little bleeding shortly after missing a pill I thought maybe I was having a... sort of... half period and that might mean it would take longer to become active again (though I understand that realistically it's probably not the case that I'm having a period, this isn't a constant source of anxiety for me, I just figured I might as well ask and be sure).
Robin Lee
Member # 90293
posted 01-26-2013 11:39 AM
Hey Jill, It sounds like you already have some pretty solid sources of information. IN terms of whether you have to take the pills in the order in which they're in the pack, if they all have the same amount of hormone in them, it really shouldn't matter. You can check that with your pharmacist though. There's no reason not to trust the leaflet in terms of how long you need to use a second method if you miss a pill, but if you're wanting to make extra certain that you don't get pregnant, you certainly can err on the side of caution and use a second method for the longer period of time your doctor recommended.