I have been taking Apri (generic Desogen, a monophasic pill) for about a year (before that I took ortho-cyclen for a few years). I have a tendency to skip placebos to delay my period (I don't usually skip it altogether, I just delay it by a week or 2), which my doctor said was fine to do.

Usually when I start taking the placebos, it takes 3 days before my period starts. I started thinking, if I have sex during these 3 days, am I putting myself at risk for getting pregnant? Wouldn't that have the same effect as missing active pills? I looked at the pill directions, and it tells you what to do if you miss pills during weeks 1-2 or during week 3, but since I've delayed my period a couple of weeks, I don't know which week I would technically be on, and maybe it doesn't matter because I am supposed to be taking the placebos anyway.

I'm not overly concerned, it's more of a hypothetical question, it just seemed weird that you can't miss active pills, but do you get the same protection when you are taking placebos?

Maybe that has something do do with the pill being less than 100% effective?
Fyi, I've been told by my dr it's OK to just skip your period by skipping the inactive pills and going straight through the next pack. Seems like it would get too confusing to only delay it and then be on a different week and all that.

It is confusing to just delay periods, but insurance will only pay for a certain number of pills per year, so if I skip them altogether, I end up running out of active pills way before the prescription ends. I tend to delay periods for things like my boyfriend being in town, being on vacation, etc.

I see. Yeah. Insurance companies can be like that.