Family Planning Plus

If you have only been on the pill for one month, there are two possibilities.

1) You could be pregnant. If you had unprotected sex during the first week of your pills, the pill would not have prevented pregnancy. Also, missed pills reduce the effectiveness of the pill and increase the risk of pregnancy.

2) You may be experiencing side effects of the hormones in the pill. During the first three months or so of a new pill, you can expect spotting, a missed period, irregular bleeding, breast tenderness or soreness, nausea and sometimes vomiting, fatigue, and moodiness. These side effects should go away once your body adjusts to the new hormone level.

If you don’t have any bleeding at all during your sugar pills (the last week of your pill pack), take a pregnancy test. If it is negative, repeat the test two weeks later. From now on, take your pills at the same time every day. Do not miss any more pills. Do not stop taking your pills unless you test positive for pregnancy.

Since you are frequently missing pills, you may want to contact the medical provider who prescribed your pill to discuss a method change. If you would like to stay on the pill and you have a cell phone, you can set your alarm to go off at a certain time each day to remind you to take a pill. You can also register for free daily text reminders on www.bedsider.org.