Expert: DW - 2/28/2007

Question
Hi my period is due and i have been prescribed the pill by my doctor, so am gonna start taking it on the first day of my period. My boyfriend and i are currently using condoms but i would love for us not to have to as i hear it feels much better for guys without. Neither of us have any STDs. My question is should we stop using condoms or should we carry on? Is it safe enough to just use the pill by its self? I hear the pill is 98% effective or something- but what does that actually mean? Is that on top of the probablity of just not conceiving anyway?

Thanks

Answer
Hi Stacey,
I'm not a doctor so I just want to let you know that. If you use condoms in addition to the pill, you will be a little safer than not using condoms. Neither is 100% safe from pregnancy but using 2 methods would make the chances of pregnancy go down. When the statistics say that 98% effective, which I'm not sure is right, that means that out of 100 women, 98% or whatever percent doesn't get pregnant and 2 out of 100 would get pregnant. Please email me at DWooley97@yahoo.com so we can discuss your situation further.

Diane W.