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Ok, I'm a little confused about which pills are the "inactive" pills, if anyone else is taking Kariva (which is the generic brand of mircette) and could help me out that would be great. I know that the 21 white pills are the "active" pills and should all be taken, and I had thought that the 2 light green pills and 5 light blue pills at the end of the month were "inactive" BUT then I was reading the instruction pamplet thing and it said that the 5 light blue pills were also active? But later it says that if you miss a one of the light blue pills you can just throw it away and not worry about it. I usually skip the last 7 pills in a pack because i had thought that they were all inactive... can I get pregnant by not taking these light blue pills? whats the deal? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Of the last 7 pills, only the first 2 (green) are truly inactive because they don't contain any hormones. The last 5 pills (light blue) contain a very small portion of hormones so they technically can be also considered "inactive". That small portion serves to provide the body with minimum hormones during menstruation. Missing these last 5 pills won't decrease your protection.
Dr Nikola,
Out of curiosity, why do the last 5 pills contain hormones if they are not necessary to take? I always heard of the last 7 pills being completely inactive. Does having the extra hormones those 5 days have any benefits compared to pills who have 7 completely inactive pills, or is it pretty much the same? If it is the same, why do they put the hormones in those 5 pills; wouldn't it save the company money to not?
The 5 blue pills are to help people who have frequent headaches during there period. They have some hormones to help the body stay use to the pill and not react with pain, in this case headaches.