Birth Control Q

I will eventually get brave enough to post outside this subject on this forum, but for now I have another BC question. Ha.

Thanks in advance to anyone patient enough to answer.

On my first pack of BC pills (Microgestin), approaching the inactive pill week. I had one late pill in the second week (7 hrs), took Plan B, and had a few days of loose stools. Not full-out diarrhea, though, and not right after taking the pills. I understand this can reduce effectiveness of the pill. It's been a week+ since the last of the issues. And other than the issues mentioned, I've taken every pill perfectly.

I want to know if my BC, even with these issues during the first pack, will be at full effectiveness at:
a) last couple days of the active pills - Almost 3 weeks of pills, including 7+ days of perfect use = full effectiveness?
b) during the inactive pill week - Enough hormones in the system to protect during hormone-free week?

I'm wondering if we ought to continue to use condoms (or withdrawal?) until I start my next pack.
Educated advice? Uneducated opinions? Both are welcome.

The thing with birth control, especially the one you're on, if you miss a pill, full out skip a pill or take it late, it reduces the effectiveness.
Furthermore, taking it at a different time each day or even a following day will greatly reduce it's effectiveness as well.

The first month or so you're on the pill, accidents can happen. Your body needs to get into a full routine before you can safely decide not to use condoms.

Until you can take a full pack without missing a day, being half a day late, or anything else, I suggest using condoms.

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Ok, so I read the info on your birth control. You should be fine having sex during the inactive pill week as long as you have taken all of the other pills correctly, and as my understanding of your post you have except the one.
Probably best to use condoms though. When I was taking birth control my doctor told me to use condoms for a full pack and I was on a progestin only bc not combination like yours.

I forgot to take the bc pills all the time so Im on depo now. No one told me that you can get pregnant if you miss a pill but it is true, I was very lucky to not get pregnant but I would suggest using condoms as well just to be safe. If you cant take your bc pills regularly & at the same time every day maybe you should look into other forms of birth control.

Thanks for the responses. I'll be taking your advice on the condoms.

@ HisLilSecret - I was late for 1 pill. Every other pill I've taken at the same time, exactly, every day. Remembering to take pills is no problem for me.

even missing 1 pill could put you at risk of getting pregnant for the rest of that pack of pills, but you are probably okay because of the plan b pill you took. Im no doctor and am only commenting from my own experience and things may have changed since I was on bc pills so the best advice I can offer is to ask your doctor.

According to this (but look at your pill packet for information) 7 hours of missing a pill should not change the effectiveness of it during that pill cycle. If you're referring to the effectiveness of the second pack, theoretically it should be effective after taking plan B, but using condoms - just to be safe - would be the responsible, safe thing to do.

What I would like to know is why you took Plan B when you were only 7 hours late taking a pill. . . It doesn't make a lot of sense. Plan B is for if you have unprotected sex and think you are at risk of being pregnant. You knew you were on BC, and if you missed a pill by a few hours and wanted to have sex, you could have either taken the pill immediately or used a condom during sex. Either of those options would have been better for your body, as Plan B is a high concentration of hormones that prevent ovulation and can cause a lot of negative side effects. In the future, I'd recommend skipping the Plan B unless you miss 2 or more pills and keeping a backup box of condoms around.

Here's a fairly reliable chart for the effectiveness of BC methods:

Birth Control Method Comparison Chart

The withdrawal method isn't on there, but it's extremely ineffective. There can still be sperm in a man's pre-ejaculate. I do not recommend it at all - unless you want a really great way to get pregnant.