How Long Does the Pill Take to Work

I would feel "safe" after a month.

My Dr. specifically told M. to use protection for a month, even though it says 7 days.

I wouldn't trust it until I had been on it for at least a month, but that's J. M..

I believe the 7 days is if you start it the Sunday after your period begins and then 30 days if you start it at any other time during the month.

Any time I've restarted, I only gave it the 7 days. No problems!

All the ones I have taken said to use extra protection for a month. But if the instructions say 7 days I would trust it. You can always call your doc.

I was told a month. I would go by what the doctor says.

I would give it a month J. to be safe. However, I J. got off of the pill (after being on it for two decades except for having my kids) because it really screwed up my body and my sex drive! I recently had hormonal bloodwork done and found out that my testosterone level was very, very low, which was the reason why I had no sex drive (and no energy). I now put on prescription testosterone cream. Anyway, I J. want to tell you how horrible I think hormonal birth control is. The pill allows you to have sex 24/7 if you like, however, most women on hormonal birth control have no desire for sex! Have you been on the pill or on hormonal birth control before? My husband and I do NFP (natural family planning). No hormones and highly effective! The pill was evil for M.- J. wanted to let you know.

I disagree with the response that the pill's hormones take away your sex drive. Never did for M.. I also thought that it worked pretty much right away as long as you take the pills close to the same time each day. It starts building up your mucus so that a fertilized egg cannot settle and it also prevents eggs from maturing. I guess it depends on your cycle length, if it is really short it could be possible to have an egg mature and then get fertilized and settle in the womb within the first 7 days, but 7 days is certainly enough, especially if the package says so.