Expert: Diane Cheryl - 11/24/2009

Question
Hey I'm so confused about my birth control.I've recently took my first pack of pills. I started taking them Oct 26 the Mon after my period.I took my Sun pill earlier that day and took my Mon pill later that night.I got sick and took some antibiotics called Bactrim on the 8th and 9th of Nov because of a cold. I continued taking my active pills till the 14th then started my inactive pills the next day.My period came on on time(last for 5days)Last day of period was Sat.Then I started my new pack with the active pills Sun and today I took my second pill.I take my pill everyday around the same time.My question is,is my pills working so I don't get pregnant if I have unprotected sex??? Sorry so long but really need to know!! Thanks please write back asap!

Answer
Hi Symone,

Thanks for your question. Antibiotics sometimes makes the birth control pills not totally effective. Also, every time you have sex, you risk pregnancy. Birth control pills or any kind of birth control method do not have 100% effective rate. There is no such thing as "safe sex".
You also risk getting a sexually transmitted disease.

So, yes, you can get pregnant with unprotected sex or so-called "protected sex". If you want to get a free pregnancy test, you can contact a local pregnancy resource center. You might be able to find one at http://www.optionline.org or call 1-800-395-HELP. If that website doesn't direct you, try this one http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/worldwide_directory.asp

Please email me at CHERYL51@aol.com and let me know what happens.

Diane Cheryl