Birth Control & Medication Interactions: A Comprehensive Guide

Question
I am getting married August 1 and I am concerned about the possibility of getting pregnant because I am (or may be) taking other medications as well as my usual birth control.  Would you please tell me about any possible interactions between any of these drugs and my birth control pill and what effects they may have on birth control effictiveness?  Is there an additional birth control method you may recommend to assure birth control effectiveness?  We don't want to have children for at least a couple of years.. thank you.    

current meds: Generic:  Tri-Sprintec Tab (Ortho Tri-Cyclen 28 day) and provigil.  Other possibilities: Generic: Sertraline Tab (Zoloft) and Hydroxychlor Tab (Plaquenil)Hydroxychlor Tab (Plaquenil)

Answer
Hi Janet,

Yes, you are right. Some medications can interfere with the hormones in birth control pills. And I'm not sure if the effectiveness of your medications would be hampered by the birth control pills. You can ask your doctor that but my experience in my last 20 years of research of birth control and related subjects have shown me that medical doctors have not really kept up-to-date with the latest research about the harmless qualities of hormonal birth control methods.

I would recommend natural family planning. To find more about NFP, go to womens' health here on allexperts.com and find NFP or Natural Family Planning. Brigid is the expert there and please ask her detailed information about this. This is a natural method instead of putting more hormones into your body. Also, please email me at DCHERYL51@yahoo.com so we can talk more. Please put ALLEXPERTS in the subject line of your email.

Sincerely,
Diane Cheryl
p.s. You could still get pregnant even using very reliable birth control methods so you might want to keep in the back of your mind the possibility of pregnancy before your exact time of your plans.