Can you constantly take the pill

The short-term effects are the same as for traditional use of your method of birth control see the information for your product. The long-term effects are not known.

The most common side effect with continuous and extended use is spotting or bleeding between periods. This will get better over time. You must take at least 21 days of birth control in a row before you can take another hormone-free break.

In rare cases, women using the birth control pill, patch, or ring can get a blood clot in the blood vessels. The risk is higher depending on your:. The risk for a blood clot is higher during pregnancy and right after having a baby than when taking the pill. Your health care provider will help you to decide if hormonal birth control is right for you.

Think about getting emergency contraceptive to help prevent pregnancy if you:. Continuous or extended use of birth control is not expected to affect fertility. However, long-term effects are not known. This material is for information purposes only. It should not be used in place of medical advice, instruction, or treatment. This can prevent irregular bleeding and spotting. Women who take progestin-only pills may experience more frequent spotting. Irregular bleeding with cramps can also be a sign of pregnancy or miscarriage and may require medical attention.

Women who take progestin-only pills are at higher risk of spotting. You may have an increased risk of spotting while on the pill if you smoke cigarettes. Let your doctor know of any smoking habits before you get a prescription so you can chat about the potential complications.

Women who take continuous birth control pills may also be at a higher risk of spotting. These pills include Seasonale, Seasonique, and Quartette.

Occasionally, your doctor may advise you to take a short break from the continuous cycle of hormones to allow your body to have a short period. This may help resolve any irregular bleeding. The pill is also associated with an increased risk of blood clotting. Blood clotting can lead to:. Most cases of spotting while on the pill are temporary and will resolve over time.

Be sure to let your doctor know if you experience any of the following:. If you have unprotected sex after missing two or more pills or have sex with a partner who may have an STI, speak with your doctor.

Once you rule out any underlying causes for your irregular bleeding, your doctor may prescribe a different type of pill or form of birth control. Ask about pills that contain estrogen, since this hormone helps keep the lining of the uterus in place. Monophasic pills keep your levels of estrogen stable over the course of the month. Multiphasic pills change the levels at different points throughout your cycle.

Your body may react differently to higher or lower levels of estrogen, so only change pills under the direction of your doctor. These pills are safe, and your doctor will give you instructions on when to take them for the best results. That's a nuisance, and so some women will then go back to taking it 21 days on, seven days off," Hardman adds. How much breakthrough bleeding you get, if any, does vary both between individual women and between different pills, she adds.

If you are experiencing random bleeding while running pill packs together, you should speak with your doctor or nurse who will check that there is nothing wrong. It may be worth trying a different pill - but, Hardman says, the best advice is actually just to wait it out.

We've got a lot of women successfully using the pill absolutely continuously with no problems at all. One option Hardman recommends is switching to a cycle where you're on the pill for 21 days, and then off for four days. Usually what happens is you start taking the pill at the end of your seven-day break, and that puts a lid back on everything, but if you're late restarting the pill then you run the risk of your contraception letting you down.

Cutting the break shorter effectively then gives you a bit more of a safety net to avoid any accidents. Alternatively, she adds, you can run two or three packets together - known as bi-cycling or tri-cycling - and then take a break of either four or seven days. Crucially, the FSRH wants to be clear that there are no hard and fast rules around how women should take the combined oral contraceptive pill.

As with all forms of contraception, Hardman says, the key thing is for women to be able to make informed choices about what works best for them. Anything we can do to help women make fewer risky errors with their contraception has got to be a good thing, so it really is about finding what works best for you," she says.

Some women will just not want to make a change from what they've been used to, and they will be absolutely accurate about taking their pills for 21 days, and taking only seven days off, and not missing any," she adds. If they find that they are getting significant period-like breakthrough bleeding during continuous pill taking, they can stop it for four days and start again. Has anyone heard of a woman getting pregnant after having her fallopian tubes removed?

If you'd like to start taking your pill continuously but you have some questions, you can talk about it with a nurse, either by making an appointment at Family Planning, or having a phone consultation. Family Planning has clinics located throughout New Zealand.

Use the clinic finder to find your nearest clinic. Click this Shielded icon to contact Women's Refuge or find information that could help. Work for us. How do I take my pill continuously? These videos can help explain how to continuously take your pill. The Positives of continuous pill taking It is the most effective way of taking the pill the way you are least likely to get pregnant It lets you control your period.