Pregnancy Concerns After Recent Intercourse: Yaz, Condoms & Medication

Question
I hope I'm not just being paranoid. My husband and I had sex about 10 times this weekend. I've been taking Yaz for 11 months and take it everyday at 11pm. I've never missed a pill. We also used a VCF. He never finished inside of me and I saw him start everytime so there's no way the full amount got in me. I'm worried about getting pregnant off precum. I was taking Cipro for a bladder infection for five days and finished it on tuesday morning. We didn't have sex without a condom until Thursday night. My stomach hurts and I'm nervous. I'm probably not pregnant I guess I just want to know how much antibiotics really effect birth control. I've looked at a lot of different sites and get all kinds of different answers. Thanks

Answer
Dear Kimberly,

Here's the thing... I do not know what the actual statistics are, but somewhere along the way someone in some study who was on some antibiotic and taking some hormonal BCP got pregnant. Now, all methods of hormonal birth control must post the precaution to cover their butts -- otherwise anyone who ever got pregnant within any close amount of time of taking an antibiotic would sue the company. Because of this, women are advised to use a back-up method of birth control while on antibiotics "just in case". It is also just the responsible thing to do for that very rare case that might occur.

From my own personal experience, I took BCPs for over 20 years and took a series of antibiotics probably 12-16 times. I never used a back-up and never got pregnant. That's just me and everyone is different, but I don't think I'd panic if you take your YAZ consistently as you describe AND your husband also withdraws before ejaculating.

I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.

Brenda