Question about mini-pill

[Lethal]

Hi
Before I had ds, I took the mini-pill for 10 yrs and never had any pregnancy scares on it. I recently went back on it after finding out that dh's vasectomy wasn't 100% effective, but I'm a bit confused about what the doctor told me.

She said that while I'm taking the mini-pill, I should also use an additional birth control method (such as condoms), because the mini-pill doesn't offer enough protection on its own. That's news to me - I've always been told that it's only a fraction less effective than the combined pill, making it 96% effective - pretty damn good, I would've thought!!

What is this woman on about?? I've always taken it at roughly the same time every day, and never had an accident before, but now she's got me wondering about its effectiveness. I can't believe a doctor would say something like that... has anyone else been told something similar before?

Lethal - she probably advised that because a large number of women take the minipill incorrectly and do not realise that you need to take it meticlously the same time every day. It does not stop you producing an egg so the risk of pregnancy is higher if you forget to take it. That is one of the most common reasons women give when explaining an unwanted pregnancy.

However, since you do take it correctly, you will have 96% effectiveness. That does leave 4% chance of pregnancy though. If you do not want to risk pregnancy at all then condoms may well reduce the 4% figure.

More pill info here

Have you thought of the Mirena coil? It is supposed to be as effective as sterilisation (if it works that is)

When I took the mini-pill, I was asked what time intercourse was likely to occur - I think the suggestion was I should take it a couple of hours before typical intercourse - I think the suggestion was that as the mini pill is effective for such a short time - 27 hours after the last one, where as with COC it is in effect 36 hours after the last one, I should consider using condoms for intercourse say 20 hours after I took the pill just to be on the safe side. I never had any advice for the combined pill along those lines.

I took the mini-pill for a couple of years with no pg scares and never bothered to use condoms. What a *??** nuisance for you to have to consider all this - could your husband have his vasectomy made effective?

Thanks mears and mummytosteven. Yes it is a real pain MTS, I've been hearing quite a few stories lately (for some reason!!) about men who've had vasectomies & have not been given a zero sperm count after the event. I don't know why it is, but it's incredibly 'inconvenient' for want of a better word.

Dh will probably have to go back for a couple more tests & then we'll see what happens, but for the time being I'll have to keep using contraception if I want to avoid anything happening. I was just really surprised to find out that a doctor would think that additional protection was necessary - I thought the mini-pill was a lot 'safer' than that. All I can think of is I must have been fortunate to have taken it for so many years & had no pregnancy scares during that time.

I conceived my first whilst taking the mini pill. Doctor practically accused me of missing a pill but I honestly didn't! It was a huge shock and I haven't gone back to that form of contraception again!