# Diarrhoea affecting the pill's effectiveness



## Flower55555 (Sep 6, 2014)

Hello,

I have ibs-d and am on the pill. It says diarrhoea affects it's effectiveness and as I'm already a pretty anxious person am constantly worried about getting pregnant. It's got to the point where every time I have a BM I take an extra pill just on case. I'm scared I'm taking too many though but on the flip side would rather this than pregnancy! Does anyone else have this issue? I've no clue what is and isn't right and no amount of googling seems to help. My dr was pretty vague about it all too, does anyone have any advice? I'm taking on average an extra pill once a week. Thanks in advance!


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## Flower55555 (Sep 6, 2014)

Sorry I should add a loose BM or diarrhoea not just a standard BM!


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## jilliantodd (Jan 20, 2015)

It depends on how long you're being sick or have diarrhoea for.

If you are sick (vomit) within two hours of taking your contraceptive pill, it will not have been absorbed by your body.

You should take another pill straight away. As long as you're not sick again, you're still protected against pregnancy. Take your next pill at the usual time.

If you continue to be sick for more than 24 hours or you have severe diarrhoea for more than 24 hours, count each day with sickness or diarrhoea as a day that you've missed your pill.


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## bio636 (Feb 20, 2015)

I'm worried about this too. My IBS got much worse in the past month, and ever since I've noticed that I'll have spotting if I don't take Levbid during the day, which leads me to believe my body isn't absorbing all the hormones in the pill. Makes me wonder about vitamins too...


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