I think I need this explained from the beginning because l’m missing something. You are protected during the placebo pills even though those pills don’t do anything, right? So technically you can skip the week of placebo pills and be just fine – meaning you are not taking birth control for a week and are still protected. But why do people get pregnant if they miss regular pills? Help me make sense of this.
Disclaimer: Yes, I understand there’s always the possibility of getting pregnant even if you use birth control pills correctly.
In: Biology
Hold on… I’m still trying to sort this out. So say if you take 3 weeks of pills, and stop for a week, you get your period, and are protected from pregnancy. But if you take 1 week of pills, and stop for a week, you’re not protected? Bc the hormone drop is at the wrong part of the cycle?
The placebo week is the week you have your period.
Women’s fertility percentages varies throughout the month naturally and the highest chance of pregnancy is only a few days in the month when a woman is ovulating. You still have a chance of pregnancy all through the month, but this is why some couple choose to use the timing method. (At their own risk) Sex Ed is cool!
OCPs create an interval of infertility. They do so by inducing anovulation(ovum is not released) and making the uterus unfavorable to implantation. This effect is required surrounding the day of ovulation which is usually day 14 in a 28 day cycle. The purpose of placebos in an OCP regiment is to cause endometrial shedding or menstruation. They do so by removing the hormonal stimulant needed for endometrial growth. Implantation cannot take place during this period.
I’d you’re taking them as prescribed, your body builds up a concentrate of the medicine, so the placebo reinforces the habit and process of taking the pill but there’s no actual medicine in it because it’s not needed. If there weren’t placebos there would be an over-concentration in your body potentially causing defects or some ill effects
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