NMM asked
I started taking two pink Yaz tablets a few months ago and stopped it. I took two only for Two days. I have restarted it for my PCOS from the same pack but I only have 22 pink pills left. Please advise what I should do as I understand i need to take 24 pink pill.
Answer
If you stopped Yaz mid-pack a few months ago, and want to restart, you should start a new pack as you need to take Yaz for as indicated for a full cycle. A full cycle consists of 24 light pink "active", hormone containing pills and 4 white placebo pills. Follow the directions for starting Yaz for the first time, which are as follows:
Day One Start For Yaz:
- Take the first light pink active pill in your Yaz pack during the first 24 hours of your period.
- With the "Day One Start", you do not need to use a back-up method of birth control. You are protected from pregnancy.
Sunday Start For Yaz
- Take the first light pink active pill in your Yaz pack on the Sunday after your period starts. If your period begins on Sunday, start the first pill that same day.
- With the "Sunday Start", you need to use another method of birth control (e.g. condoms or spermicides) as a back-up method until you have taken 7 consecutive days of active pills (i.e. from the first Sunday to the next).
In your case, you only took 2 pills and therefore have almost a whole pack of pills. If you don't want them to go to waste, check with your pharmacy and see if you are able to fill another pack of Yaz and use that pack in case you miss doses in the future. Each of the 24 active pills in Yaz contain the same hormones in the same amount:
- 3 mg of drospirenone
- 0.02 mg of ethinyl estradiol
Since all the active pills are the same, you could continue to use the 22 pills from your old pack and substitute the missing last 2 pills with the new pack you filled to complete the 24 active pills. You can then keep that extra pack in case you miss doses in the future so you have back-up.
