Ok, this is probably a stupid question, but here goes! Yesterday (Saturday) was the last day of my active pills, I'm on Ortho-Tri Cylcen. I take my pills between 7:00pm - 7:30pm every day. I may have been a little later a few times by about an hour, but I have never missed a pill. I was just wondering if being this late could cause me to ovulate? Or is it possible to ovulate while I'm on my inactive pills? I am just worried because I had sex on Friday without a condom, and Saturday, I don't know what I ate, but I was feeling sick, and I threw up a little bit about 4 hours after taking my pill. This week I start my inactive pills. I expect my period around Tuesday. I was just wondering if I could have or will ovulate? Thanks for any advice, and sorry if I was confusing! LOL

Ok, this is probably a stupid question, but here goes! Yesterday (Saturday) was the last day of my active pills, I'm on Ortho-Tri Cylcen. I take my pills between 7:00pm - 7:30pm every day. I may have been a little later a few times by about an hour, but I have never missed a pill. I was just wondering if being this late could cause me to ovulate? Or is it possible to ovulate while I'm on my inactive pills? I am just worried because I had sex on Friday without a condom, and Saturday, I don't know what I ate, but I was feeling sick, and I threw up a little bit about 4 hours after taking my pill. This week I start my inactive pills. I expect my period around Tuesday. I was just wondering if I could have or will ovulate? Thanks for any advice, and sorry if I was confusing! LOL


It's not likely that being an hour late here or there would cause ovulation. Also, it's generally thought that as long as you do not go more than 7 days without an active tablet during your inactive week, ovulation should not occur. The majority of your pill should have been digested within 4 hours, too, so that shouldn't be too much of a worry, assuming that you took the rest of your pills perfectly.

Thank you for your response.

I have another question. :) I just found out that I will have to take antibiotics this week because I have a bladder infection! (Ahh!) So, when I start my new pack on Sunday, my pills next week will just be completely cancelled out because of the antibiotics. So my question is, will I still be protected from last Friday when I had sex because sperm couldn't survive that long anyway?

since you took your pills properly this past month, this means you have not ovulated (an hour or two really makes no difference..). Since you haven't ovulated, and won't on your "off week", the sperm would have to live a really long time.. so you are safe. Plus, the antibiotics won't necessarily cancel out your first week of pills. They say that the antibiotics can interfere with how your body absorbs the hormones in the pill.. if you are on the inactive pills this week there's not much to interfere with. So, it doesn't "cancel" out your first week, but it's still always best to use backup anyway.

Thank you for your response.

I have another question. :) I just found out that I will have to take antibiotics this week because I have a bladder infection! (Ahh!) So, when I start my new pack on Sunday, my pills next week will just be completely cancelled out because of the antibiotics. So my question is, will I still be protected from last Friday when I had sex because sperm couldn't survive that long anyway?


Not all antibiotics affect the pill. In fact, new studies indicate that only a few antibiotics actually affect the pill, but medical professionals tell patients to abstain/use a back-up method to be extra cautious for all antibiotics. But, there are many antibiotics that are definately KNOWN NOT to affect the pill at all, so maybe this will be your case. Regardless, antibiotics don't "cancel" the effectiveness of the pill; if anything, the effectiveness MIGHT be slightly decreased.

Talk to your pharmacist to see if the antibiotic is even a drug that may potentially decrease pill effectiveness. As stated, if it's not, then you have nothing to worry about.

If you choose to be "cautious," it's recommended that you use a back-up method for 7 days after taking your last antibiotic. As far as last week, that should be nothing to worry about. It's unlikely that the sperm would survive long enough to fertilize an egg that might be released this week (unlikely, anyway).