Initiation of use (choose one):

The patient begins taking the pills on the first day of menstrual bleeding.

The patient begins taking the pills on the first Sunday after menstrual bleeding begins.

The patient begins taking the pills immediately if she is definitely not pregnant and has not had unprotected sex since her last menstrual period.

Missed pill

If it has been less than 24 hours since the last pill was taken, the patient takes a pill right away and then returns to normal pill-taking routine.

If it has been 24 hours since the last pill was taken, the patient takes both the missed pill and the next scheduled pill at the same time.

If it has been more than 24 hours since the last pill was taken (i.e., two or more missed pills), the patient takes the last pill that was missed, throws out the other missed pills and takes the next pill on time. Additional contraception is used for the remainder of the cycle.

Additional contraceptive method

The patient uses an additional contraceptive method for the first 7 days after initially starting oral contraceptive pills.

The patient uses an additional contraceptive method for 7 days if she is more than 12 hours late in taking an oral contraceptive pill.

The patient uses an additional contraceptive method while she is taking an interacting drug (see Table 9) and for 7 days thereafter.