Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

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Stains after missing pills

5 July, 2015

Question:

I started having break through bleeding yesterday evening after missing the last two active pills of my birth control pack. I skipped the placebos and started the next pack last night. The bleeding is pretty light and I only noticed it on a black panty liner, colored towel, and toilet paper ( not immediately after urinating). I am wondering if this bleeding makes me a niddah. To give you an idea of the amount of blood, I was wearing a black panty liner today and didn't notice any blood on it at all, I only noticed that I was still bleeding later in the day when I saw blood on toilet paper. Please advise, thank you so much for your time.


Answer:

Based on your description, that bleeding was very light and seen only on colored surfaces and on toilet paper used not immediately after urination, it did not make you niddah.  However, in this situation we do recommend that you abstain from relations for twenty-four hours or until staining subsides, as a precaution against a flow beginning during relations.  This is a recommendation and not a strict halachic requirement.

Skipping pills reduces their efficacy as contraception and thus care should be taken not to skip them. While the situation you describe probably leaves you protected, we suggest that you discuss this with your physician as well (or consider using a spermicide as a back up method for this cycle). Skipping pills also may lead to bleeding as you experienced. Therefore, if your plan is to try to extend the time that you are not niddah by extending the active pills, we suggest being careful to take them daily without a break.

Please write back with any further questions.


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