Why are birth control pills the only pills that come packed with specific days?

To be effective, you cannot forget if you’ve taken the pill or not. The drug companies realize women may forget to take a daily pill without some form of reminder.

Why aren’t other drugs marketed this way? Not many meds are prescribed in just one specific way. Many heart meds may be taken daily or two to three times per day. While other meds are every other day.

Some pills, like the zpak, are packaged day 1,2,3,4,5, but that is not exactly what you are asking I know. Actually @SpatzieLover gave a really good answer. BC pills are 99% of the time taken one pill once a day every day. Other pills are prescribed differently to different people, or even as needed. Also, the pill assumes starting on Sunday, while other drugs are started on whatever day of the week the person starts.

@JLeslie Interesting, did not know that about zpak. I know that all the Pills I’ve been on have had little stickers to change the days of the week.

@all So then, does this tactic really help women figure out if they’ve missed one? I seem to just take the next one in line, without looking at the days or remembering what day it was. And.. there’s an episode of That 70s Show where one character goes to take her pill, but then realizes that there’s one loner. But, that loner is from like 2 weeks before. Which seems like the kind of situation the drug companies were trying to help with, but what I don’t understand is, how do you not realize that there’s this one little loner pill for 2 weeks? Wouldn’t you either notice it immediately the next day, or just continue on until you eventually realize that you’re a day off from the pill case?

@Aethelflaed You can get zithromax not in a zpak also. I think, if I remember correctly, the zpak has two pills on day one, and then one pill every day after for a typical sinus infection…or it used to of it doesn’t anymore. So, the unusual dose was why they probably thought it was a good reason to package it as they did. I think Sporanox also is packed how to take it. My memory is vague, but I think it is two pills twice a day for a week, sometimes prescirbed three months in a row, but just one week per month.

Patients are very bad at taking more than one pill when a drug is prescribed. They also are bad at taking only one pill when they buy a drug over the counter. An odd irony. Imagine an OTC pain killer that was to be taken only one pill every 6 hours. Pretty much everyone who pops an OTC pill for a headache takes at least two pills. Trust me, bunches of people would OD on the new medication.

The different days of pills have different amounts of hormones in them. They’re not all the same pill. Taking them out of order can and will mess up the “flow” they’re attempting to build.

@tedd That is true sometimes, good point. But, even the BC pills that are all the same dose are marked with the days. Also the packages with varying hormones could just have you take them in order, number them. Sunday start was so women get their periods Mon-Friday. If a woman wants to change that based on her work schedule, having the days on there makes it a little confusing.

A lot of it probably has to do with cost of packaging for the pharmacies/drug manufacturers. Regular medications can come in individual “bubbles” if special ordered from the pharmacy (not all pharmacies provide this option, however). This is often used for elderly patients or patients who have a hard time remembering to take their medications. Also, think of the space that it would take up in the pharmacy if everything was individually packaged – not to mention the fact that people don’t always get a 28-day supply, (as they do with BC) As a pharmacy student, I can tell you that most medications taken on a daily basis (for BP, cholesterol, etc.) will not cause severe risks if you miss a dose. However, I’d say that pregnancy is a pretty severe risk for missing one BC pill!