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JustaDom -> RE: Antibiotics & The Birth Control Pill (6/17/2006 5:36:43 PM)
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Gurlie,
Up until a year ago, I was a pharmacy technician in the Air Force and earned my “5 level” which meant I was independently deployable and allowed to operate independently of a pharmacist, including training junior technicians, checking prescriptions before they were handed to the patient and counseling patients. That being said, all the standard disclaimers apply for advice from some guy on the internet. (I am not currently licensed, nor am I a pharmacist or medical doctor, etc.)
According to my training, as a general rule, antibiotics interact with the estrogen portion of birth control medication. Progesterone only medications, such as the “minipill,” do not contain estrogen and therefore there usually is not an interaction. The safe bet, as others have suggested, is to assume that any antibiotic will reduce the effectiveness of hormone-based birth control for at least two weeks after you have stopped taking them (the antibiotic, not the birth control) and possibly until the cycle after that. As this interaction is with the estrogen component of birth control, it can lower the effectiveness if you are using a pill, patch, depo, an implant, etc. There may be some specific exceptions to this, however this is the same general rule that I know the pharmacists that I worked under followed themselves and this is the same information I've given my little sister.
If you are on the minipill, the pharmacist may have been correct. If you have any concerns though, talk to your Gynecologist who has been prescribing your birth control. OB/Gyn's tend to be the most up to date on birth control information of any medical professionals. In particular, Bluebird's advice about bringing a list with you is excellent – I've stopped some very scary errors and simply bringing a list like she suggested is the single best way to stop a prescription error.
Yes, the safe bet is to use another form of birth control until the end of your cycle at the end of July/early August. Condoms are fine as a second method of birth control and are great for peace of mind; if they are used properly and don't break it helps to put your mind at ease. You are probably already aware of this but a lot of people don't know this and it is best to be thorough: condoms do need to be on before the penis enters the vagina to be effective. Pre-ejaculate can contain roughly 10 million sperm or so, certainly enough for a woman to be at risk for an unwanted pregnancy. There are plenty of people who think they can fool around a little first before they put on a condom and some of them have learned the hard way that isn't the case.
Below are a few phone numbers I have from various pamphlets if you want to confirm any information from this thread.
National Women's Health Information Center: (800) 994-WOMAN (9662)
National Planned Parenthood: (800) 230-PLAN
Morning After Pill Info: (888) 668 2528
Family Planning: (800) 942-1054
I'm glad we could help,
Joe
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