Resolved question:
My girlfriend missed three days of birth control and took the morning after pill durning that time after we had sex. 4days later after restarting birth control we had unprotected sex (4days into bc) and I was wondering what the risk of pregnancy is. She ended her last period a week and a half ago. Thanks.
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Family Physician-GP
Thank you for choosing Doctorspring. I will be glad to help you.
I understand your concern, however I require you to answer a few questions before I can definitively advise you on this issue.
1.Since how many days has it been since you have had the unprotected sex?
2.Usually how many days of menstrual cycle does your girl friend have and is it regular?
Since your girl friend took the morning after pill after the initial sexual encounter that you have told me about ,the initial intercourse should not be a problem as long as the pills were taken as instructed. However, the last unprotected sex that you have had depends on you answering my questions above. This is because ideally post coital pills or emergency contraceptive pills as we may also call them should be taken as soon as possible after the sexual encounter. There are a few FDA approved emergency contraceptive pills that are effective upto 72 hours after intercourse and another which is effective upto 120 hours after intercourse.
I am looking forward to your reply in order to definitively help you out with your concern.
Hope this helps.
Thank you.
The last unprotected sex was late Thursday night approximately a week and a half after her last cycle ended, they usually last about 5 days and are regular.
Thank you for choosing Doctorspring. I will be glad to help you.
From what your saying,your girl friend has a regular menstrual cycle with bleeding lasting about 5 days ; and it has been approximately a week and a half after her bleeding stopped since your last unprotected sexual encounter . This implies that your girl friend is probably around the 15th day of her menstrual cycle and this is the most likely time of ovulation.This means that there is a very high chance that she may become pregnant during unprotected sex during this time of her cycle.
This issue can be taken care off. It is recommended that she takes a post coital or emergency contraception as soon as possible since it has been around 3 days since the sexual encounter. I would recommend her taking a pill that works within upto 120 hours after the sexual encounter.You would get these emergency contraceptive pills after a prescription from your doctor and is generally available free of cost.
The drug is a single tab named 'ella' which contains ulipristal acetate and has to be taken orally and it works within upto 5 days since the sexual encounter.I recommend she also reads the instructions on the drug pack leaflet before she consumes it.
Though the drug has a high success rate, it is recommended your girl friend has a pregnancy test done one week after the sexual encounter in order to rule out any possible contraceptive failures.
Hope this helps. I will be glad to reply to any further queries.
Thank you.