Taking Triadene

It is important that you follow the instructions regarding taking the contraceptive pill carefully and correctly because otherwise the pill will not be effective in protecting you against pregnancy. If you are unsure on how to take the pill, ask your doctor for further advice.

Each strip of Triadene contains 21 pills and each strip represents one cycle. Start with the first pill and mark what day you started the pill on. Proceed to take one pill every day at the same time each day. It is important that you take it at the correct time in order to be protected from pregnancy so pick a convenient time and set an alarm. The pill will not be as effective if you are late taking it. Follow the arrows around, taking one pill per day in the correct order. The order is important because of the varying amounts of hormones so make sure that you follow the arrows.

When you come to the end of the strip, you then need to have a pill free break. Don’t take pills for seven days so that your body can have a withdrawal bleed. This bleed is very similar to a period. On the eighth pill free day, start a new strip. You must start at this time and no later as you will not be protected from pregnancy otherwise. Start the strip even if you are still bleeding.

When starting the pill for the first time, you need to take the first pill on the first day of your period. This will be the most effective way because you are immediately protected from pregnancy. Talk to your doctor about what day to start on if you cannot start on the first day or you have irregular periods.

Missing a pill

If you miss a pill, you run the risk of pregnancy. It depends on how late the pill is and how many pills you have forgotten as to how high the risk of pregnancy is. If you have missed a pill but it has been less than 12 hours since you were supposed to take it, take the pill immediately and continue as normal. You will still be protected from pregnancy. However, the pill may not be effective if you are more than 12 hours late or you have missed more than one pill. In this case, you should take the last missed pill and leave the previous ones. Use additional protection for the next seven pills, continue the pack as normal and look at how many are left in the pack.

If there are less than seven pills left in the pack when you have forgotten to take a pill, when you come to the end of the pack, you need to move straight onto a new strip. Therefore, you are missing out a withdrawal bleed. This is not harmful and it helps to reduce the chance of pregnancy. You will still need to use additional contraception for seven days in this instance. If you have more than seven pills left, follow the instructions above. If you had unprotected sex when you missed pills, there is a chance that you could be pregnant so contact your doctor.

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