I just desided to start taking birth control due to a close call with a broken condom. I got my period the day I went to the doctors and had the exam, it was irregular timing though due to taking the morning after pill. I then read the instructions which say start on a sunday right after your period or start the day that your period starts. I started taking it exactly one week after I had got my random period. it is ortho tricyclen. I got my period on a tuesday and started taking it the tuesday after. I am paranoid though, I know if you start taking it the first day of your period it is effective immidiately, and the sunday after you are supposed to wait a week before it is effective. Should because I started it the tuesday 2 days after it ended change how long it takes to become effective, or will it still only take a week before it works?

You probably should've started taking your pills the day you started or the Sunday right after you started like the packages says, unless otherwise told by your doctor to start taking them that next Tuesday. If I were you to make absolute sure, I would call my doctor and talk to either him or his nurse to find out for sure. They may even have you go off of them and start back when you start again since you didn't start until the next Tuesday. As far as how long you should wait till you have sex and be "protected"....even when I first started taking birth control pills several years ago, or when I had to switch bc pills for whatever reason, I was extremely careful the first month or even waited a month before I had sex period, because when your body is trying to get used to something new, its always smart to be cautious because you aren't for certain your body will work well with that certain pill. I know several people who have gotten pregnant because their bodies can't take birth control, or a certain pill they started taking didn't work well for them and well....needless to say they didn't find that out until AFTER they were pregnant. But good luck, and seriously, call your doctor because they will be the only one with the right answers anyways, and it'l make you feel much better with that peace of mind.