Expert: Diane Cheryl - 3/29/2009

Question
My cycle is ridiculously out of whack.  I asked my doctor to prescribe birth control to me so that I could hopefully get my erratic period under control.

I hadn't planned on using the pill as actual contraceptive, but I have the opportunity to use it as such in seven days' time.  I have been on the pill for seven days already.

Before I started my pill, I tried to urge my period into starting.  It had been a while since my last one, and when I feel like it's close, I can usually work out extra hard and get it started.  However, no matter how much I worked out, it still wouldn't come.  Knowing it was nowhere near starting, I still took the first pill in the pack on a Sunday, as would be normally directed.

I'm on Tri-Sprintec.  My goal is to take them at 9:00 every night, but it's varied between 8:30 and 9:00.  I haven't missed any.

Lastly, I'm a large girl.  I'm quite overweight, and I've been told that my weight is probably the reason my period is so off-kilter.

With all of this, will my starting the pill off of my cycle matter?  I want to have sex next weekend, but I don't want to worry the whole time of what the consequences might be.  With my body not producing a normal period, it's even less likely that I'll get pregnant, right?

Bottom line: will my pill function correctly and do its job in these conditions?

Answer
Hi Erin,

No one can tell you if the pill will function correctly or do it's job. No birth control method is 100% safe in preventing pregnancy or to prevent transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. So I don't recommend hormonal birth control in general.

I see that you have been to a doctor about prescribing birth control to you. But did the doctor have any answers about why your period is erratic. A good doctor should find out why this is happening for the best of your health.

Please email me at DCHERYL51@yahoo.com so we can talk more. Please put ALLEXPERTS in the subject line. Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Diane Cheryl