Remembering to take your pill

When experts talk about the effectiveness of contraception, they talk about perfect use and typical use.

Perfect use

This means you follow the instructions that come with a contraceptive method and use it exactly as you should. By doing this, your chances of getting pregnant are much lower.

Typical use

This is perhaps a more realistic view of what happens and reflects the fact that we forget stuff and end up not doing things perfectly. But this means that your chances of getting pregnant are much higher.

With perfect use, the contraceptive pills are 99% effective at preventing pregnancy, however with typical use this is more like 91%.

A great way to help you achieve perfect use is to form a habit to help you remember to take your pill.

Progestogen-only/POP pill: this has to be taken within 3 or 12 hour window, depending on the pill
Combined pill: it is less important to stick to a time window, but you do need to remember to take it daily

Setting reminders

The simplest thing that you can do to help you remember to take your pill is to set a daily reminder on your phone. This could just be an alarm but you there are also apps that are designed to give you pill reminders.

Download the Drugstars app for free.
Enter the name of your pill and the frequency you need to take it, and it will remind you each day.
When you have taken your pill the app will award you with stars.
When you have collected 50 stars you can choose to donate them to Brook (select Brook from the list of charities) and Brook will receive a donation from Drugstars.

Forming habits

To get into the habit of taking your pill every day:

Take your pill when you’re normally in the same place, doing the same thing (like getting into bed, or brushing your teeth).
Keep your pill in the place where you will take it (such as next to your toothbrush, by your bed, next to your phone or glasses).

Dealing with a change of routine

You might still forget to take your pill if your routine changes, for example if you’re away from home, staying with a friend or a partner or on holiday.

In these cases, it can be useful to make a plan, for example:

"I will make sure I put my pill in a place where I will have it with me and I will see it (in my handbag next to my phone)".
"When I unpack, I will put the pill where I plan to take it (such as next to my toothbrush)."
"If I do not have my pill with me, then I will set a reminder to take my pill for when I get home."
"I will try to stick to the same routine of taking my pill (such as when I brush my teeth)."

Once you’ve decided what your plan is, write it down and repeat it to yourself a few times. This is a proven way to help you to remember it.

It can also help to always have a spare pack of pills always with you in your bag. That way, if you’re not at home, you can still take it.

Dealing with a time difference

Even when you’re in a different time zone, it’s important to take your pill at the same time of day as you normally would at home. This means that if you take it in the morning when you’re at home, you might have to take it in the evening when you’re away (when it’s morning in the UK). If your holiday destination is only one or two hour’s difference from the UK, you shouldn’t need to worry. However, if you’re travelling long haul, you need to consider when to take your pill.

Before you go, work out what time it will be when you’re on holiday, when you usually take your pill at home. For example, if you normally take your pill at about 8am in the UK, and you’re going to be in California, you should take your pill at midnight. This might be quite difficult, but you might want to consider taking your pill just before you go to bed at night.

And remember, if you’re worried, you can always use another method (such as condoms) to make sure that you are protected.