what to do when you miss a combined OC(Oral Contraceptive) pill

First slap your husband's / boyfriend's wrists for forgetting to remind you. Hard. Then threaten him that he will lose his conjugal rights for a whole week (basically, no sex), if he forgets ever again. Like everything else that goes wrong in life, it is always the man's fault. Now to the technical aspect.

The combined oral contraceptive pill needs to be taken every day and ideally at the same time (give or take a few hours). However in spite of being meticulous, missing a pill is not uncommon. After all, being young and in love means it is easier to forget a few things now and then.

This is what you should do.

1. If you miss a pill and remember it later in the day, try taking it as soon as you remember. For example if you take your pill at bed time and you have forgotten to take it say on Monday night and you remember about your pill Tuesday morning, then take that pill immediately. Your pill day on Tuesday bedtime you should take as scheduled.

2. If you miss two pills i.e. Monday night and Tuesday and remember about it only on Wednesday morning, your body has spent too much time without the pill and you are no longer protected. Stop taking pills, throw away the remaining packet, and wait for your period and start a new packet

3. If having forgotten to take the pill you have remembered to have sex nevertheless, then you must take the post-coital(after sex) contraception as well

To avoid missing you can make it one of your routine habits to take OC Pill by linking it with something you do every bedtime, like brushing your teeth at night. That way you wont miss.

A trick question here that you might like to know. Which pill if missed is more likely to result in pregnancy? The first pill or the pill mid-way in the cycle ?

This question gets me the wrong answer even when I am talking to doctors. Since we are fixated with the normal cycle and the ovulation happening the mid cycle, the instinctive answer is "the mid-cycle pill". However as this is a trick question, the correct answer is the first pill. It is the first pill if missed which is more likely to cause a pregnancy because prior to that day you have already had seven days of no pills. Missing the mid cycle a pill doesn't affect a lot because your hormone levels are are optimal and the pituitary is well suppressed as you have been taking pills in previous week or more.

But not missing the pill is probably the best thing to do.