Birth control question?

Birth Control Question (Serious Answers Only please)?

• So I went to Planned Parenthood today, and I was so thrilled with my experience there. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. I had a consultation, answered a few questions, and got my prescription for birth control. If i'd had know it would be that simple, I would have done it long ago. Also, Since I'm a high school student with no insurance and my parents didn't come with me, both my visit and prescription were free! :) Anyways I just have two questions now and it's past office hours already so I was hoping someone on here might be able to offer some insight. So she told me I could start taking them tonight, she said to start on the outer circle and take a Wednesday pill. She said the inner circle was for when I was on my period. So my question about that is, what if taking the inner circle of pills and my period don't match up? Like if i'm in the middle of the outer circle and start my period should I switch to the inner circle or should I just take the entire outer circle and take the inner circle after? Hopefully that made some kind of sense. Also, my friend told me the inner circle was not actually birth control and does not prevent pregnancy? So the week I take the inner circle of pills would I need to use a back up method of birth control. Do I even need to take that week of pills at all? Or can I just skip them, what do they do? Since those pills aren't birth control (wouldn't it be like missing a pill? )do you need to take a week of birth control pills following those before they become effective in preventing pregnancy again? And then my final question which I'm not sure if it varies or if anyone will know or not but does planned parenthood give you 4 months of birth control or 5. I have 4 months worth right now, but I have a feeling I might have accidentally dropped a pack in the parking lot.

• Answer:

  Take the pills exactly as prescribed, regardless of when you are bleeding. You are not taking the inner circle BECAUSE you are bleeding, but rather to bring about the bleed. See, the outer circle of pills has hormones in it and it keeps you from bleeding. When you switch to the inner circle of pills, there are no hormones in those pills. Those are what are called placebo pills--some call them sugar pills. The point is there's nothing in those inner circle pills that does anything to your body. The only reason they're there is to keep you on track to take pills every day without ever forgetting. You don't need to take them--you just need to remember to start your next pack of pills exactly one week after taking the last of the outer circle of pills of the previous month. So your friend is right, there is no birth control in those inner pills, BUT she is wrong: you are still protected from pregnancy due to the active ingredients in the outer circle of pills you had just taken for 3 weeks, so you don't need to use backup protection while you are on that inner circle of pills (after the first month of use). But since you will be bleeding the week of the inner circle of pills, a lot of women don't like having sex that week. When you start the next month of pills, you are protected immediately. In other words, when you take birth control pills, you need a backup method for the first month, and thereafter you are protected every single day of the month and do not need to use backup methods at all, as long as you haven't forgotten any pills. If you ever forget a pill, take it a soon as you remember. If you forget 2 pills in a row, take the first missed one as soon as you remember, and take the second missed one the day after, such that you're basically taking 2 pills one day, and 2 pills the next day. If you forget an inner circle pill, then you don't need to do anything, since those pills are irrelevant. When you forget a pill, you must use backup for the rest of the month. I think the number of packs they give you varies by office. No worries. When it comes time to get more, just tell them you dropped one and that's why you're back early.