emergency contraception and birth control

[diatron]

I began my combined pill birth control 2 days ago. within that time i had unprotected sex and got emergency contraception Ellaone. neither the ellaone booklet or my OC pack state what to do, so i am unsure. do i continue taking my pills as normal at the same time and finish the pack, or do i (as i saw someone say somewhere) leave a 5 day gap and begin an entirely new pill pack? the pharmacist said continue but i am confused.

[toastkid]

Listen to the pharmacist. They are trained professionals. Continue your pack as though everything else is normal.

[Galen70]

I'm afraid this advice is wrong. Ella one , Ullipristal , affects the progesterone receptors. So your combined pill will NOT work for the next 7 days and you must use extra precautions. ( because it contains oestrogen and progesterone ) . Secondly , the initial pregnancy risk. Combined pills take 7 days to work BUT are effective straight away if you start taking them on days 1 to 5 of your cycle ( when you cant fall pregnant anyway ). If you started later than days 5 ( counting from first day of your period ) you correctly needed emergency contraception. However there is some concern about progesterone loading before you take Ullipristal. The better choice in this situation would have been Levonelle.

I would continue the rest of the strip but add condoms for 7 days , if you started later than day 5 . And after 3 weeks do a pregnancy test just to be 100% . Hope that makes sense.

[diatron in reply to Galen70]

i would have had levonelle however i was told ellaone is better to use when you are in the fertile window/ovulation of the cycle as although that can affect the efficiency of any morning after pill ellaone is more reliable at any point in the cycle. so i should continue my pack? i was considering just restarting from scratch when i get my next period

[Galen70 in reply to diatron]

That advice about efficacy is correct however you had some progesterone loading with 2 days of combined pill - so this is why levonelle would have been better. You can continue your pack with condoms for 7 days and then proceed as normal - but I would consider doing a pregnancy check as the pill can mask signs of early pregnancy. Or you can restart from scratch when your period arrives so you know youre not pregnant, and use condoms consistently in the meantime. Your strip will be 2 days short, but that's fine.

[diatron in reply to Galen70]

thank you. i was not aware of the effect birth control and the combined pill could have as the pharmacist said all was ok. many thanks