Women may skip pills because they are experiencing side effects, such as nausea or spotting, and think mistakenly that skipping a few pills will reduce these side effects. Frequently missing a number of pills, however, increases a woman's chances of becoming pregnant. Furthermore, missing pills in each pack without becoming pregnant can be self-reinforcing. Eventually, some women will lose this gamble. Although missing pills increases a woman's risk of unintended pregnancy, women who do not use the pill perfectly still have a lower overall risk of pregnancy than women who use no contraception at all.
Women can benefit from instructions on how to make up missed pills.
Women who miss one pill should take the missed pill as soon as they remember. Few studies have looked at what corrective action women take when they miss pills. Either abstinence or a back-up method would be effective if kept up until a woman had taken hormonal pills for seven days straight. Taking rests from pill use. Sometimes women stop taking their pills temporarily.