timing flexibility in microgestin fe 1/20 ? Posted: 06-09-08 23:08pm
Hi I've been taking the pill for 2.5
months and I was just wondering how
sensitive it was to the exact timing from
day to day. I usually take it at 6pm, but
occasionally I'm in a weird place or my
phone is off and I don't get the alarm, so
I take it a little late, up to around 8pm.
Will this affect how well it works, or is
there a sort of grace period in the amount
of time that it works?
Another thing is that I was wondering if
there was any way to be absolutely sure
that you haven't ovulated. I just got
changed to a different pill for the next
cycle because the estrogen in the
Microgestin was too low and I wasn't
getting a 4 week period cycle (it was
previously about 5 weeks long and became
about 6 weeks long after I began the
pill). My doctor said the pill was still
working, I presume because of the
progestin, but is it possible to have too
little progestin and still be ovulating?
I'm paranoid about getting pregnant, so I
want to make sure that everything is
working right. The 0.3% of pregnancies
with perfect usage - what are those caused
by? I'm not even using it absolutely
perfectly, since I have the aforementioned
occasional 2 hour slips...
Final question: Does the pill work that it
still works on top of the period cycle?
What I mean is, if you miss a pill, is it
the case that: a) the timing of the missed
pill makes a difference, such that if the
pill is missed when you'd normally
ovulate, you will ovulate, and if it's
missing when you've got your period, you
will not... or b) the timing makes no
difference, such that the egg is basically
waiting to be released, and as soon as you
miss a pill it gets released... ?? I want
to know if there are still safer days on
top of the whole being on the pill thing
to not use a condom. Why is it the case
that they say if you miss one pill then
you can take two the next day? I would
never trust that, but I'm curious why it
would work...
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Georgia59
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Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 5557 Location: Along the Mississippi, USA
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Posted: 06-10-08 07:12am
No, two hours late won't make a
difference. I would worry more about 6 or
12 hours.
There is no way to tell if you have
ovulated. Ovulation does sometimes happen,
and you can't tell if you have or haven't
ovulated. The pill works in other ways,
too, and your chance of pregnancy is still
less than 1% even if you ovulate. Some
pills (mini pills) don't even prevent
ovulation at all, and they are still
effective.
Theoretically, you have no menstrual cycle
while on the pill. So no, it doesn't
matter when you have sex, your chances of
pregnancy are the same the whole time.The
pill works basically by maintaining even
hormone levels, and avoiding the ups and
downs of your natural cycle. So no hormone
changes = no cycle. At the end of the
month, when you stop taking the pills, it
triggers a change in hormones, which
causes a "period." So it doesn't matter
when you miss a pill, it just matters that
you did miss a pill, because it will
trigger the hormone changes that mimic
your cycle. Once you miss a pill, you
still will not ovulate if you just miss
one pill necessarily.
So no, no days are safer than others. The
only reason the timing of missing a pill
might matter is because if you miss, for
example, the pill before your period week,
that would be more dangerous because you
wouldn't get the hormones to make up for
it.
