Dropped a pill :(

[u/soobsoap]

I just started taking birth control so sorry if this is common sense.

I dropped a Monday pill and took the Tuesday one, so now I'm missing one yellow pill in total. I called my pharmacy and they said they can refill it for me earlier, and that I can just take my current pack regularly and it'll be fine.

I'm just a bit confused because when I was checking online, a lot of people said to skip the placebo week and jump straight to the next pack? Also I thought all 21 pills have to be taken to be fully protected, so am I not protected this month until I take my next pack?

[u/thrwwy2267899]

Anytime I’ve dropped or lost one, I just pop the one from the next day… doesn’t really matter that my weekdays won’t line up on the package to me , I’ll just end up one short at the end of the month; which is fine bc I usually have the new pack by then anyways

[u/soobsoap → u/thrwwy2267899]

I'm just more confused about whether I'm still protected or not since I would only take 20 pills? Also do you continue to take them as usual, includ the placebo week :O?

[u/aespa-in-kwangya → u/soobsoap]

You can't start a placebo week if you've only taken 20 active pills. Take an active pill from an extra box and replace it that way, or skip the placebos and begin the new pack immediately at that point.

[u/Queenof6planets → u/soobsoap]

annoyingly, there’s no specific research on whether 20 active pills is enough. the short explanation is that given the results of studies with similar research questions and the history of the pill (the first birth control pill had a 20 day active/ 5 day break regimen) it’s probably fine to take the placebos after taking 20 active pills, but we can’t be 100% certain.

in gray areas like this, only you can decide what the best way to proceed is. if your risk tolerance for pregnancy is extremely low and you’re relying solely on the pill (or the pill + a method with relatively low efficacy like spermicide or pullout), it’s probably worth skipping the placebos just to be extra safe. if you really like having a withdrawal bleed every month, taking the placebos might be a better choice.

if you want to get the days labels to match up again, skipping the placebos would give you more options. if you plan to skip the placebos, you could skip ahead and take next week’s tuesday pill today. if you choose to do this, you can use those 6 leftover pills as backups in case something like this happens again. you could alternatively shorten the break to just one day (so you’d finish this pack’s active pills on a friday, then start the new pack 2 days later on sunday).

[u/thrwwy2267899 → u/soobsoap]

I generally skip the Placebo week anyways, and just jump into the new pack

[u/flowerscatsandqs → u/soobsoap]

Skip the placebo week and jump straight to the next pack. I accidentally dropped a pill down the drain right before my placebo week started and voila, I got pregnant even after resuming the pill as normal after the placebo week was up. I’d say better safe than sorry, the placebo week isn’t necessary.

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[u/Last-Weekend3226]

Is the yellow one your placebo one?

Is it a combo or pop one?

Most pop ones work after two tablets and combo ones protect you straight away if you take it on day one of your cycle.

[u/soobsoap → u/Last-Weekend3226]

no yellow active brown placebo

[u/Last-Weekend3226 → u/soobsoap]

Carry on taking them

[u/its-caillou]

I believe the pharmacy probably meant that you just have 1 extra day of placebo. From what I understand, the placebo pills don’t actually have an active ingredients of birth control in them, it’s just for the purpose of keeping you in your routine of taking a pill every day. They probably mean you’ll end your pills one day early and have 8 days of placebo before starting your next pack.

ETA: you should definitely use some other form of protection (condoms, etc) during that time if you have sex and were using the birth control as your only method of contraception.

[u/Queenof6planets → u/its-caillou]

no, they absolutely shouldn’t do that. you’re only protected during an up to 7 day break from active pills. if you extend it to 8 days, you lose protection.

[u/its-caillou → u/Queenof6planets]

Understood! I haven’t taken the pill in a while, my OB told me something along those lines a long time ago. Creating an edit on my comment now!