Do antibiotics for strep change the affect of my birth control pills?!?

Question

Do antibiotics for strep change the affect of my birth control pills?!?

Answer 1

yes u should have been warned when given the antibiotics

Answer 2

It DEPENDS on the medication given. SOME (not ALL) Antibiotics interfere with bc.

Please ASK your pharmacist, not this board, for these type of questions. This is serious!

Answer 3

All recent studies (as far as I know) show that antibiotics aren't going to increase your chances of getting pregnant. Is that what you're talking about as far as "change the affect" goes? Since drug-drug interactions can be very specific you may need to tell us what specific antibiotic and what specific birth control pill you're using.

Answer 4

firstly, it depend on the type of pill being used.if it is a progesterone only pill (pop) then it would not interfere with antimicrobial therapy. if using a combined oral contraceptive (oestrogen and progesterone than it would decrease the amount of oestrogen,which increases your chances of pregnancy.

the reason for the above is due to the pharmacology of oestrogen. the hormone oestrogen is enterohepatically recycled. this means that once the compound is metabolized in the liver it passes down the GI tract and by means of intestinal flora, it is reconverted to oestrogen and this is then reabsorbed into the bloodstream. antibacterials most being broad spectrum eliminate intestinal bacteria and therefore there is no enterohepatic recycling of oestrogen. the levels drop and you are then at risk.

the following can be done: you may increase the dose of the combined pill for the duration of time that you are on the antibiotic treatment. if you are on a POP, relax. you need not worry. continue with the treatment as usual.

by the way dunc is very wrong this is a significant drug interaction (if taking a oestrogen)

hope this helped:)

Answer 5

Yes, taking antibiotics will make the birth control NOT work.  The doctor who prescribed you the birth control SHOULD have told you that.