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Hi,

From what I understand of your question, three of your active pills were missing from your birth control pill pack, and those pills were from the 1st week in your pack.

Does this mean you did not take any pills for those three consecutive days? Since this was last Saturday, Sunday and Monday (and today is Sunday), have you been taking the other pills from Tuesday through today?

I looked online for the Diane 35 patient information leaflet or "package insert" that is available with every prescription. According to this (please refer to your specific package insert, as this information online is from 2007, and may not be most current):

"There is a particularly high risk of pregnancy if tablets are missed at the beginning or end of the week of inactive tablets. If tablets are missed in the first week of taking active tablets and intercourse took place in the preceding 7 days the possibility of pregnancy should be considered."

"The management of missed active tablets can be guided by the following two basic rules:
1. Tablet taking must never be discontinued for longer than 7 days
2. 7 days of uninterrupted tablet taking are required to attain adequate suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis."

In other words, if you miss any pills in the first week of active pills, you will need to use backup protection for 7 days. Anytime you miss pills or they are missing from your pill pack, continue taking the next active pill and call your doctor for a "back up pack".

Your other date that you mentioned, sex on the 14th day after your period, is likely irrelevant, as when you are taking hormonal contraception, you don't actually have a period (the bleeding is basically "withdrawal bleeding" from the 7 days of inactive pills), and hormonal contraception works by suppressing ovulation. If you abruptly stop taking the pills, it can take a few months for your cycles to resume to "normal", so it is difficult to know when you would actually ovulate.

Does this all make sense? Have I answered your questions?

July 12, 2009 - 7:12pm

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