Missed a pill?
Question: What do I do if I miss a pill?
Answer: Due to the large volume of questions Spot receives about oral contraceptives, it has become necessary to respond to most of them using standard responses, provided below. Unless the answer to a specific question will differ substantively from the information provided below, your question will be linked directly to this page. Spot will only answer your question specifically if there is any element of it that cannot be answered by the information provided on this page.
Missed Pills: The “Mini Pill”
The “Mini Pill” contains progestin only. There is little room for leeway in dosing with the mini pill, since its effectiveness is compromised when dosing occurs more than three hours after the usual dosing time. If you miss one dose (three or more hours late), take it as soon as you remember and use a backup method of birth control for 48 hours. If you miss two or more pills, take two pills for two days and one daily thereafter; immediately begin using a back up method of birth control until you start your period. If you do not start your period within four to six weeks of your last one, see your clinician for a pregnancy test.
Missed Pills: Combined Oral Contraceptives
Combined oral contraceptives contain two hormones -- estrogen and progestin. There is much more leeway for dosing with the combined pill. As long as you take your pill within eight hours of your usual time, it is not considered a “missed” pill. Nonetheless, it is important to take your pills at the same each day in order to stay in the habit of taking it. You are much less likely to remember your pill if you take it at a different time each day.
One missed pill -- Take it as soon as you remember and take your next pill at your usual time (This may mean taking two pills in one day). Use a backup form of birth control until you have taken seven consecutive pills.
Two missed pills -- Take two pills as soon as you remember and take two pills the next day. Finish taking the pills in the rest of the pack as usual. Use a backup form of birth control until you have taken seven consecutive pills.
Three or more missed pills - Take one pill every day through the following Saturday. On Sunday, throw out the rest of the pack and start taking a new pack of pills. Use a backup form of birth control until you have taken 14 consecutive pills.
Placebo Pills (i.e., inactive pills, spacer pills) - Missing any of these pills will not increase your risk for pregnancy or alter the effectiveness of the oral contraceptives in any way. These are inactive, hormone-free pills; the only purpose for them is to keep you in the habit of taking pills during the week you are not on hormones. You should begin menstruating during the week of placebo pills. Some women start menstruating on day one or two of the placebo pills while other women take a few extra days to start their periods.
— October 15, 2004