Valesia asked
I take Alysena 28 birth control pill pack - starting with Sunday as the beginning of the pack. I missed Friday and Saturdays pill (typically, I take these at 10:30ish). These pills were from the 1st week of the pack. Sunday 12:30AM - I took Friday & Saturday pills (expecting to take Sunday and Monday pills on Monday). Around 10:30PM - I forgot that I had taken two pills that day... I ended up taking Sunday amd Monday pills at this time. Essentially, I took 4 pills in one day. Can someone advise how to proceed with the rest of this pack?
Answer
The biggest issue with accidentally taking four birth control pills at once is that your normal schedule will be off, as you now have 3 less birth control pills in your pack. Don't be too worried about the extra dose of hormones you took as it isn't too concerning in most cases. Nevertheless, you may experience some mild side effects such as:
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain
- Vomitting
- Breakthrough bleeding
- Spotting
Is It Harmful To Take Extra Doses Of Birth Control?
When you consider the amount of progestin that is contained in emergency contraceptives such as Plan B (1.5 mg of levonorgestrel), the 4 pills of your birth control that you took actually contains far less than that dose, and Plan B is usually well tolerated.
Your specific birth control pills actually contains 0.1 mg of levonorgestrel per pill. It would take 15 pills of Alysena to equal the amount of levonorgestrel in one pill of Plan B.
In fact, It isn't uncommon for individuals to take extra doses of their normal birth control pill to use as emergency contraception. Princeton University has a handy chart that details which birth control pills can be used for this case, and how many to take.
How To Continue Your Pills After A Dosing Mistake
As stated above, the bigger concern here is that you now will be missing three days of pills (since you already took them). While some birth control pill products contain varying amounts of hormones in each week, every pill in Alysena contains the same hormones in the same amounts (with the exception of the placebo pills).
Therefore, you should continue the rest of your pack as directed, taking one pill by mouth every day. However, you should contact your pharmacy to see if you can fill a spare pack, and replace your missing doses with pills from that pack. It is important to note that your insurance may not cover another pack of pills and you may need to pay out of pocket.
