Hey you girls out there.

I hope I didn't pick the wrong part of the site to post this, since it is the adive site...so feel free to move it elsewhere.

I don't really search for advice here, I already spoke with my doctor, but I really need to vent a little.

I am on birth control pills, very happy with them etc.
But this weekend I got really sick, I don't know if it was a hangover or just something bad I ate. But since I still having a headache and a strange feeling in my stomach, I think I caught something.
So long story short, I threw up an our after I took my pill yesterday
I lost the prescribing information, so I called the doctor for information and know I have to use extra BC for the rest of the month.

This is no biggy for me, I rather be super careful about BC than getting pregnant by accident, but I hate when that happens.
When I first started the pill I got sick very often and had to take antibiotics, so extra BC and as soon as the cold times arrive I have to be super careful to not get laryngitis or cystitis, because I have to take antibiotics right away...and of cause all the time, I didn't really had to take the pill, because it wouldn't work anyway.

I hate when that happens, but you can do nothing about it, right?!

So, thank you for reading, I really needed to yell a little something

Love,
MC

Well getting sick in general just sucks lol but I know how you feel. It's very annoying taking antibiotics because then I've wasted money on my pills and then you can't really be physical for quite a while! lol unless you use condoms which I am not a fan of. I know it's safer with them but I can not stand using them.

No you keep taking the pill even if you're on antibiotics. It help keeps your body stable, even if its not 100% effective. Also means as soon as you finish antibiotics you will be protected. Stopping the pill will send your body into whack. This is okay if you are stopping permanently, short term its very unnecessary.

That said I get the impression that you're unhappy with the pill ? Have you thought about alternatives such as the injection or the implant?

My theory is don't take antibiotics unless you absolutely know it's a bacterial infection...

Anyways back to the question at hand, what about the nuvaring? Might be a good option. I have also heard that you can use the birth control pill vaginally... I'm not 100% sure on the validity of that claim though.

- If you miss only one pill, you are fine, you still protected. You do not need to use extra BC for the rest of the month (though many people believe you should use a back up regardless). You may need to use back up for just a couple of days.


- You most certainly can "be physical" while on antibiotics (only if you are feeling up to to - chances are you feel like crap and are really in the mood for sex anyway). Back up method.

- You should continue to take your pills while taking antibiotics, but no, this does not mean you are protected immediately when you are off the antibiotics. I was informed that your pill is ineffective for the length of time that you are on the antibiotics, then for an equal amount of time after that. So if you are on antibiotics for one week, your pill is ineffective for that week, as well as one week after.

Information comes from my doctor, pharmacist, and the literature that comes with birth control pills.

I would definitely talk to your doctor about other kinds of birth control. The patch, the shot, the ring, or the implant may all be good options.

Hey hey, thank you for your comments...haven't looked at this post of mine for quite a while.

So, I survived the month with careful condom sexytimes

This time I wasn't on antibiotics, but since my gyn said I should be careful for the whole cycle I didn't want to take changes! Being responsible with this things is important to me.

For young woman there are not that many alternatives to condoms and pills in germany. Most doctors refuse to give you implant products or injections since they might confuse your biological cycle for quite a while. As far as I know from a friend that gets injections, her doctor told her that you need to be at least 30 years or you should already have children like "my familyplan is finished".
So I am happy with the pill and I feel "controlled".

I was just really unhappy with the situation. When you are on the pill the sexytimes is more fun for me, we don't have to stop after my boyfriend came etc.
I am really happy that my boyfriend is so careful about this and not angry or sad when those things like getting ill happen. And he is also aware of the fact that I need "other treatment" when we use condoms. But it is more stressless with the good old pill
*Venting on a very high level, here*

Thank you for your posts and your opinions and tipps.

I know this is old, and I haven't read all the comments, so sorry if anyone has said this, but I have one word for you...

nuvaring.

My theory is don't take antibiotics unless you absolutely know it's a bacterial infection...

How would you get antibiotics unless a doctor prescribed them to you after deciding you had a bacterial infection? Can you buy them over the counter in your country? If so, that's bizarre.

Louise wrote:

My theory is don't take antibiotics unless you absolutely know it's a bacterial infection...

How would you get antibiotics unless a doctor prescribed them to you after deciding you had a bacterial infection? Can you buy them over the counter in your country? If so, that's bizarre.

Because there are still doctors out there that will prescribe antibiotics to every sniffle that comes through the door. There are also patients who demand them, thinking it will help them get over a virus faster. And then there are the doctors that will give them "just in case" or while waiting for a test to come back. I have had that happen with a lingering sore throat. The doc told me is was most likely viral, but they did a swab anyway for Strep. I was then asked if I wanted antibiotics for the Strep until I found out if it was positive or negative. I said no, and sure enough, it was viral!

^I'm surprised by your experiences. It must vary quite a bit by region. Where I am, antibiotics are harder to get than narcotics! I had a bad cold recently that kept getting worse and worse after 2 weeks, and I had all the signs of a secondary bacterial infection: coughing up green smelly stuff (I know it's now controversial whether it signifies a bacterial infection), night sweats, pounding sinuses. I went to a walk-in clinic and was given a prescription for cough syrup with codeine, but no antibiotics. My fiance is an MD and he agreed that it sounded like a bacterial infection. The last time I had taken antibiotics for illness was 20 years ago, so we figured 1 full course at 20-year intervals wasn't going to create a super-resistant bug! So I filled an old prescription for Amoxicillin (I'm intolerant of the erythromycin class), and started to feel immediately better after the first dose. I was astounded, though, that I got a prescription for codeine before one for amoxicillin.

In some countries, antibiotics are not regulated by prescription. I know that in India, Mexico, and Dominican Republic for sure you can walk into a pharmacy and ask for almost anything you want. Even if in theory they are supposed to require prescriptions, it is not enforced. So those countries are enormous contributors to the drug resistance problems. And my fiance pointed out that the second cause of the problems is antibiotics given to livestock (even in the US). Some livestock are continuously fed antibiotics to keep them healthy, but that definitely can be a source of drug resistant pathogens.

Martha_Cecille: you might want to check with your doctor next time about birth control and antibiotics. I believe a decrease in birth control efficiency has only been shown for the rifampicin class of antibiotics, and some doctors will tell you to worry only if you get that class but not others (I don't think rifampicin is commonly prescribed). Other doctors are more cautious and tell you to use extra contraception when you're on any antibiotic. You should have this discussion with the doctor if the situation arises again (hopefully it won't!).

Hi Mendel,

thank you for your answer. It's shoking that you can buy those things over the counter in some countries o.O I think many people would use them for almost everything!

Sadly I react really speacial so many medicaments. I had problems with laryncitis for many years, I tried everything from homophatics (right word?) and sprays (really bad reaction; felt like I would breathe through a straw), so we ended up trying antibiotics. the laryncitis was gone but I noticed that my mucosa got really dry to almost nonexisting. I had nosebleeding on and off for weeks etc. So we needed to try other antibiotics. My body gets really mixed up by medicaments.
The doc warned me about side effect and asked about the pill, and I really don't want to take any changes

Here there are people that demand antibiotics for every little sniffle, and there are doctors that will give them for every little sniffle. Unless I think it's strep, odds are I won't go to the doctor. A few times I have argued with the doctor that it was strep, and they told me it wasn't but wrote me out a prescription to be filled if the results from the strep test came back positive. I filled them right away, and sure enough every time it was strep.