Education skirt women’s sexual and reproductive wellness can get cloudy—it’s difficult to know who Beaver State what to believe. such is the instance with information regarding abortions, birth control, and emergency contraception.
Personally, iodine turn up believing birth control figure out every problem—skin concerns, heavy bleeding, unwanted pregnancy, irregular periods, and cramps. atomic number 85 least that’s what Evergreen State reported to us atomic number 85 14, and all my friends get down taking it. Now, we know otherwise. patch birth control can help with some of those issues, it’s ALIR more complicated than angstrom charming cure-all.
The same goes with LNG-ECP. iodine Washington say pinch contraception would ravage my body and, though it was certainly a way to AN end, to Be very cautious about taking information technology (and sure enough not to take information technology too often). all of this just goes to show how much further we need to turn to get to a place where adult female ar precondition all the information and shame is no longer hurtle inch our direction when we ask for it.
All of this just go to show how much further we need to go to get to angstrom unit place where adult female are given all the info and shame be no longer hurtle in our direction when we ask for it.
So, I reached out to a few experts to break down feather precisely what we need to know about the morning after pill: what happens to our body when we payoff it, if information technology will negatively affect fertility, and what the side effects volition be. Below, find their answers.
LNG-ECP is AN emergency contraceptive—not Associate in Nursing abortion pill
Emergency contraception does come in different forms. However, most often “the morning-after pill” bring up to LNG-ECP (a single-dose levonorgestrel emergency contraceptivepillthat can glucinium used up to three daysafterunprotected sex) that come with a bingle pill and tin can be purchased over the counter astatine the drugstore.
“The morning after pill be a form of pinch contraceptive method that tin can either prevent or delay ovulation. It can also stop an egg from undergoing fertilisation Oregon prevent a fertilized egg from engraft in the uterine lining,” explains Michelle Metz, angstrom unit general ob-gyn. “It consists of A medicine called levonorgestrel, which be similar to the endocrine progesterone,” adds Zev Williams, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and sterility atomic number 85 Columbia University Medical Center.
Additionally, exigency contraception makes itmuchless likely you will get pregnant but doesn’t terminate Associate in Nursing existing pregnancy. The abortion pill comprise a combination of RU 486 and misoprostol.
After taking it, you’ll probably experience side effects
“Some woman experience nausea, vomiting, Oregon headache while others experience no side personal effects atomic number 85 all,” say Metz.
“Breast tenderness (progesterone cause the milk secreter to swell), bloating, mood swing (caused by hormonal fluctuation), sleepiness, and/or lightheadedness ar common after taking emergency contraception,” Williams adds. “Another way to think about information technology is this: If a pregnancy occurs, progesterone is produce in the placenta and levels stay el throughout the pregnancy—so, if you’re pickings angstrom unit progesterone pill, you’re acquiring all the symptoms of pregnancy.”
Timing matters
“It’s much more effective if you take information technology within two dozen hours, but you can payoff emergency contraception up to 72 hours after unprotected sex,” instructs Metz. “In order for the morning-after pill to work, IT hour angle to be take before ovulation hour angle occurred,” go on Williams. “Data shows that after fertilisation has happened, the morning-after pill won’t prevent the embryo from developing, traveling through the fallopian tube, OR embed in the uterus.”
UPA, an pinch contraceptive that call for angstrom prescription, can beryllium take for up to fin days following unprotected sex.
Taking IT may affect your period
“The morn after pill tin can make your next period of time seminal fluid late or early, and generally, IT will be much heavy with Sir Thomas More days of bleeding,” says Metz. “If your period of time doesn’t come, the first thing you should brawl is issue a maternity test.”
You can’t take emergency contraception “too many” times
“All the rumors you hear about [the morning-after pill] are completely untrue,” Charlotte Wilken-Jensen, head of the gynecology and Obstetrics Department at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark told Vice. “Every formula of the morning-after pill rede you to take it lone once every cycle, but really, you can safely issue IT anytime you rich person unprotected intercourse. Of course, if you issue it more than once, your hazard of side effects increase.”
Essentially, taking the morning-after pill is kindred to taking angstrom unit bunch of birth control pills all at once. spell you belike won’t feel great, information technology won’t negatively affect your health Beaver State fertility. “In the past, women who needed emergency contraceptive method would just takings a super-high dose of birth control, just the estrogen just caused angstrom unit tidy sum of nausea and vomiting,” Alyssa Dweck, a board-certified ob-gyn and author ofThe Complete A to Z for Your V, told BuzzFeed Health. “It’s very safe and well-tolerated, even in adult female who aren’t able to take some birth control pills because of clotting disorders.”
