Brief Answer:
Yes you can take those pills but you need to take 3

Detailed Answer:
Hello and I hope I can help you today.

You are correct in that combined oral contraceptives can be used as emergency contraception, and that you need two doses 12 hours apart. Each dose must contain at least .1 gm estradiol total, so with the brand you are using, take 3 pills as one dose- so a total of 6 pills.

The difference between using birth control pills as emergency contraception instead of the kits sold in stores is that the medication in the kits is progesterone only- so it does not have the side effects of estrogen. Estrogen side effects are nausea and headaches. Most women get nausea during the time you are taking the birth control pills and some may vomit.

So you can use the pills you have- I just wanted to let you know it will most likely make you nauseous and if you have access to Plan B or another kit, you may have better side effects.

I hope I was able to answer your question today and that this information was helpful.

If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to contact me further.

Best wishes, Dr. Brown

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Brief Answer:
Sorry I'm not sure I understand you correctly about pill dosing

Detailed Answer:
Hello again, and I want to make sure I understood you correctly...

Did you already have another episode of unprotected sex a few days ago? and took three doses (nine pills) already? One treatment of three pills 12 hours apart (24 hours of treatment) is supposed to inhibit ovulation for the time you are at risk, which is 72 hours. Unless you had unprotected sex again recently you do not need to repeat the dosing.

I hope I understood your question correctly and that my answer was helpful. If I did not, in your reply please clarify on what days exactly you took which pills and how many you took each time so I can advise you correctly.

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Brief Answer:
I don't think it would help to repeat the dosing at this point

Detailed Answer:
Thank you so much for clarifying.

So what you did was take 6 pills- instead of three pills 12 hours apart twice you took two pills 12 hours apart three times?

Now I see...

Since you already took the correct total dose of medication but just over a longer period of time, I do not think it will be helpful at this point to take the dosing over again, but if you want to repeat it, it will not be harmful to you it just may cause a lot of nausea. If you want to increase effectiveness I would recommend taking the rest of the pack of pills, one every day until the pack is finished. You can trust the pill to be effective within 5 days of starting it- which technically was when you took the three 12 hour doses, so just three more days and you can count on the pill for the rest of this cycle.

So again, I do not think you need to repeat the dosing, but of you want to be more secure just finish the pack of pills and wait for your period.

I hope this answer and my advice was helpful to you, and thank you for using healthcaremagic.com

Take care, Dr. Brown

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Brief Answer:
I estimate an approximate 10 percent risk of conception

Detailed Answer:
Hello again,

There is no way to give an exact percentage of effectiveness of the way you took the pills because no specific study looked at that dosing schedule.

All that is known is if you took the 100+ microgram dose of estrogen containing pills at the 12 hour interval, you are protected from pregnancy 85-90 percent of the time. So ten percent or more of women who use emergency contraception perfectly still conceive. Taking the extra pills you did really don't increase the effectiveness if you already ovulated right before you took the first dose but if you hadn't ovulated yet it may have helped.

So I would say that you still have a 10 percent chance (or possibly less) of pregnancy. At this point there is really nothing anyone can do except waiting for your period and if it is late, do a test. I do not recommend testing before you miss a period, as if it is negative it can just be too early for an accurate result.

I am sorry that there is no more accurate way to quantify the risk of pregnancy in your situation. I hope you can try to be patient and you will be able to know for sure what is going on in a few weeks.

I am always available if you need additonal information, otherwise thank you for using healthcaremagic.com

Take care and good luck, Dr. Brown

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