I have horrendous tonsilitis at the moment, so went to a walk-in clinic to get treatment. Whilst I was there, he asked what medications I was on, so I told him I was on marvelon for my skin as well as doxycycline. To which he starts asking me whether I was aware of the interaction between them. When I went on doxycycline, which was three years ago now, my doctor told me to use another method of contraception for a month, then it was fine because your gut flora adjusted. But this doctor claimed there was no research to prove it didn't keep on interferring with the pill and I should get off doxycycline straight away. I'm now a little concerned. I will do as he says because I don't want to get pregnant and the pill is my only form of birth control, but I can't believe no one mentioned this before. And I'm concerned my skin will get ****. Anyone else had this advice?

man oh man...i could write you a symphony about ALL the interactions and side-effects of prescription drugs. it would be a scary sounding symphony...one you'd expect to hear during a deep, dark, creep thunderstorm.

True, but thanks to prescription drugs for my asthma, I'm still alive (which I wouldn't be otherwise) and thanks to the pill, I'm not pregnant, which I also take to be a damn good thing!

i looked it up just now and it seems that about half of the sites say it's only a problem in the first few weeks of use, and the other said it can cause problems throughout use.

have you ever tried the contraceptive injection or implant? at least they avoid the problem of interactions

Well I'm in love with Marvelon, so I'm quite happy on that front as is. I looked in the BNF (british national formulary- you can register free online if you ever want to know what else you could be on that your doctor is holding back) and it says about the three week rule, which says its fine after three weeks, plus my GP who I saw this week said it was fine. But I've decided to give it a break anyway, firstly because I've been getting a bit of breakthrough bleeding despite always taking it on time perfectly and I reckon a break from doxy might help and secondly because if I did end up pregnant, I would always think "its my fault for ignoring the advice". And I have been on it for three years. I just really hope my skin doesn't screw up again!