MISSED PILL DIRECTIONS
MISSED PILL. It is important to bear in mind that the
critical time for loss of protection is when a pill is omitted at the beginning
or end of a cycle (which lengthens the pill-free interval). The
following is now recommended by family planning organisations:
'If you forget a pill, take it as soon as you remember, and
the next one at your normal time. If you are 12 or more hours late with any
pill (especially the first in the packet) the pill may not work. As soon as
you remember, continue normal pill taking. However, you will not be protected
for the next seven days and must either not have sex or use another method
such as the condom. If these seven days run beyond the end of your packet,
start the next packet at once when you have finished the present one, i.e. do
not have a gap between packets. This will mean you may not have a period until
the end of two packets but this does you no harm. Nor does it matter if you
see some bleeding on tablet-taking days. If you are using everyday (ED)
pills—miss out the seven inactive pills. If you are not sure which these
are, ask your doctor.'
In addition to these precautions, emergency contraception is recommended
if:
• 2 or more combined oral contraceptive tablets
are missed from the first 7 tablets in a packet;
• 4 or more consecutive tablets are missed mid-packet.
DIARRHOEA AND VOMITING. Vomiting up to 3 hours after taking
an oral contraceptive or very severe diarrhoea can interfere with its
absorption. Additional precautions should therefore be used during and for 7
days after recovery. If the vomiting and diarrhoea occurs during the last 7
tablets, the next pill-free interval should be omitted (in the case of ED
tablets the inactive ones should be omitted).
