Switching birth control

Kate of Lokys

I started taking oral contraceptives a year ago - TriCyclen Lo, to be exact. It worked just fine for me, no side effects or anything, but at my last checkup I asked my family doctor about the possibility of switching to a monophasic pill, so I could have more control over when I get my period. She thought that was a splendid idea, and gave me three months' worth of samples of Alesse 28, plus a prescription to use once I ran out of samples.

Last week was the placebo week for the TriCyclen. I got my period early in the week, as usual, and I kept taking the placebos (as usual). Then tonight, I took the first pill of Alesse. My question is, is there any lag time I need to worry about? My doctor didn't mention needing any additional contraception during the switch, but a couple of sites I skimmed online talked about the "rule of seven" when changing birth control (ie, it takes seven days for the new hormones to permeate your body, therefore use condoms or whatever until then).

Since I'm not 100% sure, I'm probably just going to hold off on conventional sex for a day or two until I can talk to an actual doctor, but if anyone else has had any experience with this, I'd love to hear it.

Shogun

My former girlfriend switched from pills to shots and her doc told us to wait seven days. I thought it was rather nice because there was a lot of build up during said seven day period and when it was over we had a great time.

But yeah for safety's sake give it a week.

Trowizilla

You should be protected right away after starting the new pack, because you've just had your period and have flushed out all the uterine lining. If you feel comfier waiting, do so, or just use a condom for a few days.

Tw4win

Well, 31 years ago my mom switched from one brand of birth control to another and I was conceived. I'm not sure if things have gotten any better since then but you probably want to use some "back-up" for a few weeks just to be safe. Otherwise, you might end up with me.

Horseraddish

Switching kinds of birth control should always be given a week or three for grace periods. Buy a pack of condoms and no worries.

Kate of Lokys

:^:

Thanks for the input. All things considered, we'll hold off on tripping the light fantastic for a few days, at least. Look for a followup thread in the near future: "Buttsex? In my colon? It's more likely than you think!"

Horseraddish

Lots of lube and foreplay. Everyone loves a woman who takes it in the ass.

ihmmy

you should be completely fine... fyi, there's a generic out now of Alesse with the exact same chemical compilation (or goshdarned close) called Aviane, it's a little bit cheaper.

If you're really worried, well, it's a good excuse to devote a few days to oral-only fun, n'est pas?

Sarcastro

Things have changed for BC. It used to take a month, now just 7 days, even from scratch. If you started right after your period (and why wouldn't you really) You should, should be protected right away. Old hormones out, new hormones in.

Monophasics also have more overall hormone than cyclics, but sometimes slightly less then the first week of a normal cyclic. With TryCyclin Lo, you were at a pretty low dosage anyways, so it should be fine.

There's that 'should' again. We're talking about a 3-5% increase over that week, due to the change over, taking you from 99.9%, down to 96% with the typical 10% chance of regular fertilization during ovulation (if that was occuring, but again, you just had your period so, that ones pretty much nil)

So .0076% or so, reduced by the odds of you actually having an egg ready, which I don't know. Lets be extremely generous and say 4%. At that, its .0003%, getting it on every day during that week.

Seems tiny, because it is, but anecdotes are going to come up, because if ten thousand people did the same changeup at the same time, 3 of them would become pregnant. User error (which is a similar calculation for similar reasons) accounts for nearly all pregnancies on the pill.