Is My birth control effective by now?

[Nicoleee6464]

I started the birth control pill for the first time ten days ago. I started them on the first day of my period. When I talked to my doctor who prescribed them to me, she said I should use extra protection for the first month. I was wondering if it’s really going to take an entire month to be effective. I’m not on any antibiotics or anything at all either. I’ve just read that it could take seven days at most to work but I’ve never seen anything about a month. I’m on the 28 day pack which has a week of placebo at the end. If that matters.

[Galen70]

I'm afraid this is incorrect advice. If you start the combined pill ( 3 weeks on then one week off or placebo pills ) on the first day of your cycle, you are protected straight away. the same advice up to day 5 . If you start at any later point in the cycle, its condoms for seven days. In no situation is it a month. And antibiotics are not thought to affect the pill any more.

[Nicoleee6464 in reply to Galen70]

I was thinking the same thing. I’m not sure how it would take an entire month to become effective. If that was the case I would have gotten a different kind of birth control.