I know YANAD, YANAP or maybe you are, but I’m looking for general opinions here. My daughter is in the pill, not for birth control, but to help regulate her period. She ran out a week ago, didn’t tell us until today. I picked up her refill and she’s all bent out of shape about how to take it now that’s she’s missed a week. I told her to just take it as usual starting tonight. I’m sure your not supposed to try and take double doses or anything to catch up. So, does my advice seem to ring true?
And yes, I will ask the doctor, but everyone is closed now.
Have you looked on the manufacturer’s website for instructions?
I seem to remember that if you missed more than three days, you are to wait until the beginning of the next cycle to resume, but absolutely do not take my advice, go to the website.
I am A pharmacist, though probably not yours or your daughter’s pharmacist. Doubling up on a dose is actually a pretty standard recommendation IF only 1 dose has been missed. Missing more than one dose in a row is going to change the recommendation based on which product is used. Just woke up, and don’t have work references to confirm (so grain of salt for now), but if she missed an entire week, the recommendation of throwing out the old pack and starting a fresh one from scratch is what I’m remembering from a CE I completed on the topic last year. I’ll double check from work and try to answer tonight after checking my references, just to be absolutely certain, otherwise, I would agree that doubling doses to catch up if an entire week has been missed is not a good idea. Generally speaking, missing more than 2 days in a row results in a recommendation to start a brand new pack (certain products have slightly different rules). If she is sexually active, the use of a secondary form of protection for intercourse for at least this new pack is also probably wise.
There might be instructions about this enclosed with the refill that you just picked up. Most birth control pills I’ve had come with lengthy instructions. Or if you look up the website for the pill’s manufacturer, they’ll probably say there, too.
Be sure your daughter understands that screwing up her birth control regime is just an inconvenience, this time, but next time …? she needs to get her shit together.
Double checked 3 references at work which generally all boil down to:
Check the package for specific instructions. This is usually more helpful when missing some doses, especially if it occurs in the third “active” pill week, not going through an entire pack plus a week.
Missing at least 7 active days in a row increases pregnancy risk (only a problem if your daughter is sexually active as well as using for hormonal control), so a secondary form of protection should be used until 7 straight active days have been taken again, if pregnancy is a possible concern.
Follow up with her doctor as there is a small chance this could affect hormal control when being used for that purpose. The doses are generally small enough that a single week usually shouldn’t be a problem (might shift her cycle around a bit, depending on what is being used and how) and she she should just start the new pack, but it never hurts to have the monitoring prescriber’s input in a situation like this.
No matter how many times I try to learn how Luteinizing Hormone, Follicle Stimulating Hormone, Estrogen, and Progesterone interplay, I forget very quickly. Probably not your strongest source of info on female hormone stuff (in my defense, I’m gay and my sister, mom, and grand-moms are NOT comfortable asking me questions about this type of stuff).