What are the common misconceptions about ‘The Pill’?

There are women who are under the mistaken, impression that the effect of the pill lingers for many months after they have discontinued it and may lead to sterility. Some again mistakenly believe that for effective contraception a pill should be taken after each coitus while others discontinue taking the pill just because of vague symptoms of mimicking pregnancy.

Are Oral Contraceptive Pills Effective from the first cycle?

Oral contraceptive pills act by interrupting the ovulation (release of the egg), thus creating an anovulatory cycle. It takes at least one ‘pill cycle’ for anovulation to get established. Hence, during the first cycle, one must use an alternative method of contraception.

What should a woman do if she forgets to take a pill?

If the woman forgets to take the pill at the usual time and remembers the lapse on the same day, she should take the scheduled pill on the same day, as soon as she remembers it. If the woman forgets to take ‘the pill’ for one day and remembers so only on the next day, she should take two pills on that day i.e. the ‘forgotten pill’ of the previous day, in addition to the scheduled pill for the day.

If, however there is a lapse in taking pills for two consecutive days then the woman must consider herself ‘unprotected’ and adopt another method of contraception for the rest of the cycle.

What is an Oral Contraceptive Pill Contraindicated?

If the woman has a history of liver disease, abnormal liver function tests, steroid dependent cancer e.g. breast cancer, abnormal uterine/vaginal bleeding or evidence of circulatory disease including hypertension, migraine; oral contraceptive pills are contraindicated. Other contraindications include, diabetes, the first six months in the case of nursing mothers and epilepsy. However, a gynaecologist’s opinion should be sought prior to use.