It occasionally happens to almost all women: they forget to take one or more pills, or they remember too late to start the new package after the 7 days break.
What if I take a combined pill (with oestrogens and progestagen)?
What if I take a progestagen pill (mini pill)?
Where do I get further information?
There is no problem as long as you are no more than 12 hours late (that means no more than 36 hours have passed since you took the last pill). You only have to take the forgotten pill and continue with the following pills at the usual time. The contraceptive safety is not impaired.
If you are more than 12 hours late, you should also continue to take the pill as soon as you remember. Most of the women get pregnant after completely stopping to take the pill because they are unsure what to do about a mistake in using the pill.
However, it is possible that you don’t have full protection any more. You should know exactly how to continue taking the pill to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. What exactly you should do depends on how many and which tablets in the package you forgot to take.
Some of the progestogen only pills contain levonorgestrel. With these very low-dose pills a delay of more than 3 hours can already impair the contraceptive safety
One of the progestogen only pills contains desogestrel. It contains a higher dose of progestogen, and thus the contraceptive effect is being impaired only if you take it more than 12 hours late.
If you have exceeded these intervals of time, you should use condoms, until you have taken the pill regularly for 7 days. If, during this time, you have unprotected sex, you should additionally take the emergency contraceptive pill. Since menstruation is usually irregular when you take a progestogen only pill, you should make sure to have a pregnancy test after three weeks.
If you are in doubt or have more questions, don’t hesitate to contact our Family Planning Centre or your gynecologist for further advice.
