Go to a doctor

Honestly, the reason they tell you to wait a month before having unprotected sex is because it takes that long for the birth control to get completely acclimated to your system. I doubt that it is the pill giving you the dryness, if you JUST started taking it. I agree with everyone (except Anon. Source, but he's a guy, what does he know about vaginal dryness?), it's time for a trip to the gyno!

The waiting period is so that the pill works, not so that your system gets used to it. :P

In the UK the advice (depending on the form of contraception) is usually to take the pill for the first time on the first day of your period, and use other forms of contraception for a week until you're protected... or if you start it at a different time, to use other forms of contraception for 2 weeks. Because that's the time it takes until you're protected.

I've never understood why Americans are advised to wait a month. :P

Really?? Oops!
I was told I had to wait a month for my body to adjust and for it to start working. Thank you for that!
Does the pill do really much on the first day, then?

I wouldn't have thought so. Seeing as it needs at least a week before it's effective as contraception. :P

Actually, I just realised, I got that wrong, so I double checked. If you start it on the first day of your period, you're protected immediately, so you don't need to use any back up contraception. If you start on a different day you need back up protection for 1 week.

doctors wont even prescribe me a pill until ive had my period and finished it.. thats probably the most annoying.

That's weird. What on earth is the reasoning behind that?

because for some reason they want you to start the day after, so that you can take the sugar pills at the same time as you had your previous period.
personally i dont even care to have a period.

That doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any difference when you have your period on the pill, as it's not a real period anyway, but a withdrawl bleed. And a lot of pills come in 3 week packs (and then there's a pill-free week), and don't even have sugar pills. Starting the pill when you've finished your period just means it'll take longer to work. :P

=/
yeah but telling the doctors here that probably wont do me any good, i waste my time going out there only to be refused. haha.

And I regularly skip my period by running packs together and skipping the 'pill free' week. Particularly if I'm going on holiday or something and don't want the hassle of having my period while away. :)

There are other forms of contraception though which stop your periods completely (such as the injection).

Id personally be happy with anything at this point, however i gotta wait for some money now.. and i guess i will just lie next time and say yeah i just finished.

I do that all the time, so handy!

That's weird! My doctor wouldn't put me on birth control until I had a period either, but that was just to make sure I wasn't pregnant right before I took, lol

My gynecologist won't prescribe me my yearly supply of birth control until I've had a period and then had my yearly exam right after that period. I've tried "shopping around" for gynecologists (so to speak, lol) and all of them in my area are the same way. And, to add fuel to fire, I went to the pharmacy this week to get my birth control and he'd written me only 10 months worth, not 11, so I was a month shy! I'm not supposed to go back until October. So I had to march over and thankfully they gave me some for free (seeing as mine is $58/month!) and I'll just have to go back next month.

I'm just guessing... but I think the reason American women get yearly smears (ours are 3-yearly, as yearly ones are considered pretty pointless since cervical changes tend to be slow to develop into invasive cancer) is because it makes the doctors more money... and I suspect the reason your doctors refuse to give you the pill until after your period is because they're scared of litigation and the risk of prescribing it to someone who is pregnant (whereas British doctors actually trust their patients to do what they're advised, and start on the first day of their period... and not start it if they could be pregnant!). I'm just guessing of course.

And $58/month?!? That's insane. Here, all contraceptives (including the pill) are free.

I think that birth control should be at least COVERED under insurance policies! I don't see why they'd rather not cover birth control and end up paying for pregnancies and births! I spend $700 a year just to NOT have a baby! Yeesh. (Not that I think having a child is less than that, of course it's expensive.. I'm just saying.)

that is really expensive! The most I ever paid for BC was $30 a month, though with a generic brand it went down to $15 a month. As for the yearly exam, it may be common here because they do more than just the pap at the annual exam, as I think we've discussed before.

I was actually on bc pill before that I was told by my gyno was effective from the first pill.

My doctor said I was ok straight away on my pill as long as I took it on the first day of my period, and the inserts said so too. Odd! I didn't get pregnant, so it obviously worked ;)

We're not, really-I was always just told by my doctor to use back up for a week. I always read the instructions/info in the package as well and it always said that or that no back up was needed. Not sure why anyone would think it's a month. :-P

My bc prescribers did always tell me to have a back up for a month, or until my next period started. I knew better than that, but that's what they always tried to tell me. I can't even begin to know WHY they would, but they did.

I always read the instructions on the packaging as well, which advises 7 days of using a back up contraceptive, not a month!

Really? I never knew that.
When I first started on the pill, I was told to take it the first Sunday AFTER my next period, and use another form of protection for a month.
Guess you learn something new every day ;D