Hello. My question is a combination of everything I listed in the title, so it might sound a little complicated but I promise it isn't too intense.

I take my pill at the same time each night (6 PM). I have been on Yaz for six months (24 active pills and 4 placebos). Last cycle, I took it an hour late twice, which is no big deal, but one night I forgot to bring it into the city with me and took it when I got home around seven hours later. This was Sunday the 19th, so it was my third-to-last active pill. I took the next two on time and then the four placebo pills. Yesterday (Saturday the 25th) I started a new pack of pills (Enpresse, because my doc said it should control my ovarian cysts better). Tomorrow after I take my third pill my boyfriend is getting back from his Thanksgiving break...

So here's the question: How do the placebo pills factor into the "use backup protection for seven days" deal? Do they count as four of those seven days? I know I didn't "skip" a pill per se, and even if i did, it'd only be one, so I shouldn't "have" to use backup. But I guess I just want to know whether I would be as protected as I possibly could be on BC if I had sex after the third pill of my new pack. Any insight would be appreciated, including corrections of any false assumptions I may have made :) Sorry if this was confusing. Thank you!

You should be fine. Since you were on one for 6 months, then started another pill immediately you should still be protected. After you have been on your new pill for awhile, write back and let us know what you experienced differently with each pill.

yeah, i guess i was just a little worried about that late one. but since you're supposed to be okay if you take one a whole day late, and mine wasn't even close to that...and almost every other one that month was taken perfectly on time...i guess i'm probably fine.

i'll update about the enpresse after a while. yaz was fine for me after spotting the first few weeks...i had no side effects at all after that that i was aware of. however, i was put on it in the first place as a way of controlling hormones my OBGYN thought were to blame for intense abdominal pain, but it kept coming back, and my new OBGYN referred me for an ultrasound which suggested i'd been dealing with (now ruptured) ovarian cysts. she said that yaz is not effective enough for controlling them, at least for me, and that enpresse should be better. i hope so. :)