# OK, do antibiotics REALLY affect The Pill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630 "2002-07-24T20:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Civil\_Twilight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Civil\_Twilight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Twilight)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630/1 "2002-07-24T20:17:05Z")
Hey everyone. Moderate-amount-of-time reader, first-time poster. 🙂 Anyway, I had a dermatology appointment today, and I tried to ask my dermatologist about starting on birth control pills. I’m on tetracycline right now, and as I was talking about how I knew I’d have to give up on my current medication, he cut me off and told me I WOULDN’T have to. What? But I’ve heard time and time again that antibiotics affect the efficacy of oral contraceptives! No, he reassured me that studies have been done and there’s no statistically significant evidence that The Pill will work any differently if the user is on antibiotics. I looked around on the Internet a bit but some pages agree with him and many disagree. Can anyone help me out? ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630/2 "2002-07-25T00:31:58Z")
Hmm . . . my doctor said that not all antibiotics affect the Pill. However, the _pharmacist_, who I think is the one who’d know, said that anitbiotics could and have lowered the efficacy of the pill and to use a secondary form of bc. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630/3 "2002-07-25T00:34:41Z")
One of my kids would not be on this Earth if it weren’t for antibiotics screwing up the pill! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630/4 "2002-07-25T00:51:15Z")
New research indicates the risk of the pill being affected by antibiotics is very low to nonexistent unless the antibiotic is rifampin or griseofulvin. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630/5 "2002-07-25T03:58:19Z")
As usual, what QtM said is right on. [“Oral contraceptive efficacy and antibiotic interaction: A myth debunked”](http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12063491&dopt=Abstract) [A less dramatic summary](http://archfami.ama-assn.org/issues/v9n1/ffull/fqa9001-1.html) [And another](http://www.ama-assn.org/special/contra/library/scan/jan02/dickinson.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kspharm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kspharm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kspharm)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-do-antibiotics-really-affect-the-pill/120630/6 "2002-07-25T08:11:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KarlGauss \* > \*\*As usual, what QtM said is right on. > > [“Oral contraceptive efficacy and antibiotic interaction: A myth debunked”](http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12063491&dopt=Abstract) > > [A less dramatic summary](http://archfami.ama-assn.org/issues/v9n1/ffull/fqa9001-1.html) > > [And another](http://www.ama-assn.org/special/contra/library/scan/jan02/dickinson.htm) \*\* And as such, referring to your last cite, I would recommend that pt’s who are on birth control and on any antibiotic other than sulfameth-trimethoprim at least use an extra form of contraception for the length of time that they are on the antibiotic. Better safe than sorry, and better avoid potential lawsuits.