I’m struggling to wrap my head around this, switched from mini pill to combination pill so I now have a 7 day break with placebo pills, I don’t understand how I’m protected after those 7 days since I’m only taking what I’m assuming is sugar pills. This is probably a really silly question but Google isn’t really helping me understand and I don’t like to use ChatGPT.

The hormones in a combined pill (both estrogen and progesterone) essentially "shut down" ovulation for up to 7 days when you take 7 active pills. After taking 7 active pills the level of hormones in your body is high enough to suppress ovulation, but more than 7 days without taking any hormones that level falls down low enough that ovulation is possible You can search "rule of sevens" in this app, there are some good old posts explaining this.

@aurielle thank you!