Sexuality & Sexual Health

I Missed One Pill. Could I Be Pregnant?

Published: July 22, 2021

Dear TeenHealthFX,

hey. I'm on birth control. I usually take my pills right on time, but exam season was on and i missed a pill at around day 15 of my cycle wich is about 29 days long. I took the pill either way the next day, a week later day 24 of the cycle, i visited my boyfriend whome i hadnt seen for 6 months and we had sexual intercourse, but always with early withdrawl... meaning we werent even close. my period came after that, and i kept on taking the pill, im now, supposedly on day 20of my new cycle, and for 3 days i've felt nausea and abdominal pain and i feel like my vaginal discharge is way more liquidish than it should be... i cant be pregnat can I? I am worried, because even doing an at home test wont be trustable, because, technicaly, i havent missed a period... what should i do?

Signed: I Missed One Pill. Could I Be Pregnant?

Dear I Missed One Pill. Could I Be Pregnant?,

TeenHealthFX understands your concerns and unfortunately cannot diagnose over the internet. Since you mention getting your period, it is very unlikely that you are pregnant. The only way to know for your sure is to take a pregnancy test to confirm. The pregnancy test measures the amount of human growth hormone and will still provide accurate results as soon as the instructions are followed even though you had a period. If you receive a negative test and are still concerned, reaching out to a doctor is always a good idea.

If you need help finding a doctor and live in northern New Jersey, you can call the Adolescent/Young Adult Center for Health at 973-971-5199 for an appointment with an adolescent medicine specialist.

Signed: TeenHealthFX

Ratings

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in the US among people aged 10-14 ¹

Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US among people aged 15-24 ²

51% of youth (6-17) get treatment each year for a mental health condition ³

15.6 teenage girls for every 1,000 will give birth to a baby before they are 20 years old. ⁴

Only 6% of high school students get tested for STDs ⁵

1/3 of high school students who were currently sexually active used effective hormonal birth control the last time they had sex with an opposite-sex partner ⁶

Nearly 30% of female students currently drank alcohol and nearly 20% currently used marijuana.⁷

2.14 million middle and high school students currently vape ⁸

Over 80% of women and men both report having experienced their first rape under the age of 25. ⁹

Almost 40% of high school students have reported using marijuana at least once. ¹⁰

83.88% of 12- to 17-year-olds have reported using marijuana within the last month. ¹¹

One in four women first experienced intimate partner violence before the age of 18. ¹²

5.9 million teens have reported to drink at least once in the past month. ¹³

In 2022, there were 1,573 motor-vehicle deaths from underage drinks ¹⁴

About 1 in 10 children live in a home with a parent who has a drinking problem ¹⁵

Only 65 percent of teens consistently wear seat belts when driving or as a passenger. ¹⁶

The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than any other age group. ¹⁷

49% of the youth report having less than 3 friends in 2022 ¹⁸

^{2.7 million youth report experiencing severe major depression}¹⁹

Over 3.3 million teens will be graduating from high school in the year 2023-2024 ²⁰

The average social media screen time for teens is 7 hours and 22 minutes per day ²¹