My friend is on birth control and she forgot about her pill today and took it four hours late. She says this "messes up the whole month". I don't know shit about this birth control stuff. She had sex today as well, unprotected sex, and she says the guy pulled out. I told her she still can get pregnant. I'm trying to give her the best advice I can. So, what's the quickest way to findout if she's pregnant and does taking the pill 4 hours late mess up the whole month? Any answers are appreciated. I'm kinda worried here.
four hours should still provide some protectino, a little less than normal but not a huge difference The pill is NOT 100% effective, there's always the chance of pregnancy while on the pill
Any irregularity CAN mess up the effectiveness of the pill, but I still think it's probably unlikely. We're only talking about a 4 hour difference, and if in conjuction with that he pulled out I doubt there is too much danger. Does she drink or smoke pot? Things like that can also lower the effectiveness of the pill. I would say, if she is truely not ready for a child, that she might want to keep taking her pill every day as usual and try not to slip up again or worry too much about it until/unless she misses her period. If she decides she really is ready for motherhood after all, and wants the highly unlikely hypothetical baby, she may want to skip the rest of her month of pills and wait it out. She can't really find out whether or not she's pg until about the time her period is due. She probably knows all this stuff already, so the best thing you can do is just keep being a supportive friend. It kindof puts things in perspective. This is partially why I refuse to go on hormonal birth control and that sort of thing. Even though condoms annoy me sometimes, I think they work well for my partner and myself. It makes BC a bilateral thing, and this way it isn't entirely on either one of us. If somehow something happened and I ended up pregnant, we are agreed we would keep the child (hell, in our case it would be bordering on immaculate conception anyway!) and without the use of hormonal birth control, and since I'm healthy and don't drink or smoke, the baby would be in no danger. But back to the point, I like condoms because it keeps BC BOTH of our responsibility, and not solely either one of us. I wish your friend luck, I'm going to quit blabbing now...
When I was on Yasmin, it said if I forgot a pill, just take it as soon as I remember and I didn't have to use another form of birth control. However, if I missed two pills in a row, I did. I suppose it depends on the kind of pill. She should read in her bc packet what to do and what the consequences are if she misses a pill. That's her best bet.
I'd say that it is pretty unlikely that she is pregnant. Getting pregnant is somewhat harder than most people are willing to make it seem to young girls. Especially if she isn't in the fertile period of her cycle. Freak things happen, so you never know, but I don't think she has too much to worry about. Not until (or if, rather) she misses her period.
I got pregnant on the pill, and I didn't mess up. If she's too worried (which it doesn't seem that way if she's having unprotected sex after taking a pill late), tell her to get the 'morning after' pill from Planned Parenthood. It's good for 72 hours (I think) after unprotected sex.
She asked her doctor and 4 hours wouldn't mess it up. I tried to tell her that she REALLY shouldn't be having unprotected sex unless she's wanting a kid. I think she got the point. Thanks for all of your responses.
