Birth control discussion help

I'm writing a story and I have a character who is on birth control yet manages to get pregnant. In the story, what I'm envisioning is that the character attempts to "adjust" her cycle and that's when she gets caught.

Question: When a woman wants to adjust her cycle, how would she do it while still thinking she is protected yet end up being fertile? Go two weeks on the vitamins at the wrong time?

SHE doesn't need/use birth control so there's no info there. And it's not something I can ask other women I know without being thought a pervert.

So, a little help?

HisArpy said:

I'm writing a story and I have a character who is on birth control yet manages to get pregnant. In the story, what I'm envisioning is that the character attempts to "adjust" her cycle and that's when she gets caught.

Question: When a woman wants to adjust her cycle, how would she do it while still thinking she is protected yet end up being fertile? Go two weeks on the vitamins at the wrong time?

SHE doesn't need/use birth control so there's no info there. And it's not something I can ask other women I know without being thought a pervert.

So, a little help?

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Have your character take antibiotics for a week, that will negate birth control.

TheOldWidow said:

Have your character take antibiotics for a week, that will negate birth control.

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Adjust her cycle? you mean so that she does not have her period at an inconvenient time? Many women these days take continuous cycle birth control so they do not have a "bleeding" portion of their cycle or the bleeding they have is very minimized.

No rationale woman would skip her doses to change when she is having her period, but she might skip her "placebo" doses (in a traditional birth control pack 7 of the 28 pills are just sugar pills) and go straight to her next pack to suppress her period.

The solution that TheOldWidow suggests is the best one. Antibiotics are notorious for reducing the effectiveness of low dose oral contraceptives and women are typically told to use a back up method (like condoms) during the course of the antibiotic treatment. So your character could need a course of antibiotics for a sore throat or for a urinary tract infection and either have sloppy instructions from the health care provider (perhaps not being aware that she is using birth control pills) or simply pushing her luck and not making her partner use a condom as needed for back up.

Hope that helps.

cb

Birth control pills are not 100% foolproof. The biggest error in taking them is human error. By that I mean if you don’t take it around the same time each day you may not be as protected as you think. As the previous poster mentioned, antibiotics and other medications can make birth control ineffective.

When you say adjusting cycle, what do you mean? Like trying to change when it falls? I’ve never attempted to do that but you can avoid a period altogether by taking pills consecutively without the placebo week. This isn’t likely to result in pregnancy though, but might cause concern for missing periods.

Birth control is not made up of vitamins, btw. It’s hormones, typically estrogen and progestin.

I don't think I've ever known anyone to try to 'adjust their cycle'. I'd definitely find another explanation.

As MM suggests, there are versions of the pill (or at least there used to be - I'm not so au fait with them these days) that are dependent on being taken at the same time every day. I didn't know about the antibiotics thing, but that sounds feasible too. Or maybe she could have a stomach bug and vomit not long after taking one but not think about it?

MeekMe said:

Birth control is not made up of vitamins, btw. It’s hormones, typically estrogen and progestin.

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The only term I've ever heard the 7-day non-estrogen pills called is "vitamins". If there's another term that's more widely used I like to know it since the story point of view is 1st person female (so she should know what she's talking about rather than not).

I'll research the antibiotics angle - thanks for the tip. I could easily work this in if it's commonplace.

As for adjusting the cycle, the character decided to synchronize her period for convenience with another female in the house. I don't have to do the "miss" this way, I just thought it would be easier. If the antibiotics thing is better, I will rewrite the story in that angle instead. Or maybe use both ideas - who knows where the muses will take me, it's not like I think these things up on my ownsomes.

I’ve never heard anyone refer to their BCP as a vitamin. The only reason I could see someone doing that is if they needed to take it but didn’t want anyone to know what they were taking. If it’s non-estrogen it’s likely progestin-only pills.

HisArpy said:

The only term I've ever heard the 7-day non-estrogen pills called is "vitamins". If there's another term that's more widely used I like to know it since the story point of view is 1st person female (so she should know what she's talking about rather than not).

I'll research the antibiotics angle - thanks for the tip. I could easily work this in if it's commonplace.

As for adjusting the cycle, the character decided to synchronize her period for convenience with another female in the house. I don't have to do the "miss" this way, I just thought it would be easier. If the antibiotics thing is better, I will rewrite the story in that angle instead. Or maybe use both ideas - who knows where the muses will take me, it's not like I think these things up on my ownsomes.

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there are NO vitamins in the 7 day pills that are placebo pills. I have never heard a woman call those pills that and I have worked in health care including reproductive health care for more years than I care to admit.

if your two characters (female) are syncing up their cycles for convenience? (having not read you story I hardly understand how that might be convenient unless they are having relations with each other?) But as I said above, more and more women take continuous dosing pills to suppress their bleeding altogether - so if convenience is what they are looking for... that would certainly be the way a woman would go.

MM is correct NO method of birth control is 100% effective even when used "perfectly" birth control fails. Birth control pills have a higher likelihood of failing if they are not taken at the same time or nearly the same time each day, or if pills are missed. If a pill is missed, women are advised to take the missed pill as soon as they remember. If more than 2 pills are missed during a single cycle, the effectiveness is compromised enough that a back up method should be used for the remainder of the cycle. And. again, as I said above, antibiotics will also reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills as will some other medications.

good luck with your story.

Why is it on the woman?

Have the guy’s condom break, FFS.

Farawyn said:

Why is it on the woman?

Have the guy’s condom break, FFS.

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good idea. the simple solution is best.

Farawyn said:

Why is it on the woman?

Have the guy’s condom break, FFS.

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I could, but where's the 6 weeks later "I don't know who the father is" surprise in that? It's not like she couldn't guess whodunnit after a condom break. And you're not seriously suggesting a rash of condom failures from all of her lovers, are you? I mean, I suppose it's possible, but the plausibility isn't there. Unless it's a concerted effort by all of them together. Which might make a good story in it's own right but that's not THIS story.

Antibiotics seem to be the best "failure" link in the events chain. I can work with that.

HisArpy said:

I could, but where's the 6 weeks later "I don't know who the father is" surprise in that? It's not like she couldn't guess whodunnit after a condom break. And you're not seriously suggesting a rash of condom failures from all of her lovers, are you? I mean, I suppose it's possible, but the plausibility isn't there. Unless it's a concerted effort by all of them together. Which might make a good story in it's own right but that's not THIS story.

Antibiotics seem to be the best "failure" link in the events chain. I can work with that.

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obviously Farawyn did not know (and none of us knew) that your plot line includes your female character having intercourse with many different partners.
if she had a whit of sense she would be making all of them use condoms both for her safety and for her own (in addition to birth control pills) ...it's not just pregnancy that we worry about when there are many lovers involved. but i do not suppose that you are going for realism here.

bzlynzee said:

obviously Farawyn did not know (and none of us knew) that your plot line includes your female character having intercourse with many different partners.
if she had a whit of sense she would be making all of them use condoms both for her safety and for her own (in addition to birth control pills) ...it's not just pregnancy that we worry about when there are many lovers involved. but i do not suppose that you are going for realism here.

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Realism rarely works in erotica. These days the BCP comes with a lot of info and warns of antibiotics use. Doctors also warn patients that they may need a backup method when they prescribe antibiotics. As with most erotica, you have to assume the woman isn’t all that smart or invested in her wellbeing. :shrugs:

MeekMe said:

Realism rarely works in erotica. These days the BCP comes with a lot of info and warns of antibiotics use. Doctors also warn patients that they may need a backup method when they prescribe antibiotics. As with most erotica, you have to assume the woman isn’t all that smart or invested in her wellbeing. :shrugs:

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ha. Too true.
Which I think was probably bzlynzee's point in the end. But HisHarpy was looking for some factual basis for his story and he and others are now better informed. I don't know where the whole vitamin thing came from. Weird.

MeekMe said:

Realism rarely works in erotica. These days the BCP comes with a lot of info and warns of antibiotics use. Doctors also warn patients that they may need a backup method when they prescribe antibiotics. As with most erotica, you have to assume the woman isn’t all that smart or invested in her wellbeing. :shrugs:

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Actually I don't think that birth control comes up that much except in extremely rare occasions for those who write erotica. It's all about pleasure, not the risk of pregnancy or disease. No one wants to read porn where everyone is afraid of having sex because they might catch something. People read porn because most can't do the things they fantasize about without unacceptable risk factors. Thus, for porn, those things get ignored or downplayed to mere mention in a cursory fashion.

My writing is different. I like to include details about how and why. Not just the end result with vague plot support. I originally wrote this part of the story with the character's BC implant failing but didn't like the result. It was too obvious and I wanted something more subtle than that. Something where fate decided to step in and change the game without anyone realizing it. The antibiotics angle will work for that.

Farawyn said:

Why is it on the woman?

Have the guy’s condom break, FFS.

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Yeah, or perhaps have the guy forget to wear his crocs one time.