In Other Words I Was A Model Pill
My ex-husband and I were still on the fence about whether or not we wanted to add to our family, and when the right time for that would be, so there were no discussions about going off the pill happening when it all went down. I remember when I realized shit had gone really sideways: I was sitting on the couch, and my palms were itching LIKE CRAZY. The kind of itch where youd like to just peel off your skin because that seems like the only thing that will make it stop. Since I was preeeeetty sure I wasnt about to come into a large sum of money, I went to the Google, prepared to learn that I had contracted some sort of rare and probably painfully fatal itchy palm disease. What I did discover was much more shocking.
About three pages into the Google results, there was a word hit for one of those pregnancy and baby online communities. Itchy palms and pregnant. I must have stared at that line for seven minutes. I kept thinking, Well, thatcant beright? Heres the thing: I was taking the pill non-stop, to suppress my period , so I honestly could not remember the last time Id had one. You miss a period, you figure youre pregnant, right? But if you dont get a period, and youre consistently and correctly taking your birth control pills, the thought doesnt ever enter your mind.
I threw my laptop to the ground and ran to the bathroom, rummaging around all my baskets of useless shit to find a leftover pregnancy test.
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Preventing Birth Control Failure
To prevent birth control failure, one thing you can do is to maintain a strict protocol of its usage and follow instructions thoroughly.
If you find it difficult to keep track of your daily birth control pill intake, then set a reminder on your phone.
It can be a simple daily alarm that rings at the same time each day when it is convenient for you to take your pill.
If taking a daily pill is difficult for you, other home contraceptive options like the patch, the vaginal ring, or a longer-term option like an implant, Depo shot, or IUD may be a better option for you.
How Does The Birth Control Shot Work
The hormone progestin in the birth control shot works by preventing ovulation . If a girl doesn’t ovulate, she cannot get pregnant because there is no egg to be fertilized.
The progestin also thickens the mucus around the cervix. This makes it hard for sperm to enter the uterus and reach any eggs that may have been released. The progestin also thins the lining of the uterus so that an egg will have a hard time attaching to the wall of the uterus.
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Risks Of Taking Birth Control While Pregnant
If you were taking birth control to prevent pregnancy but find out weeks later that youre indeed pregnant, its natural to wonder what effect your birth control may have on a developing fetus. The good news is that birth control has been shown to be safe in early pregnancy.
Of course, no guarantee can be made that the medication hasnt affected the babys development, so be sure to see your doctor as soon as you suspect or find out that youre pregnant. If you test positive, you should stop taking your birth control pill.
Becoming pregnant while on birth control does increase your risk of ectopic pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized embryo attaches outside the uterus, often in the fallopian tube. This is a very serious, life-threatening problem and should be cared for immediately.
How Long After Stopping The Pill Will I Ovulate
After stopping the pill, you could ovulate as soon as 48 hours later. Most women wont have a period for 2-4 weeks after stopping, but you could still get pregnant in this time.
As the first period after stopping the pill is a withdrawal bleed and its not until the second that you have a natural period, the NHS advises not trying to get pregnant until after this period. This is to allow your body time to get back to its natural cycle. Plus, it gives you time to make lifestyle changes to get your body in the best physical condition for pregnancy. This might include taking folic acid supplements, quitting smoking, eating a more balanced diet, and cutting down on alcohol.
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Dont Use St Johns Wort
St. Johns wort is a popular over-the-counter herbal supplement that can affect liver metabolism. This supplement can interfere with birth controls effectiveness. You could experience breakthrough bleeding and possibly an unplanned pregnancy if you take the two medicines together. Talk with your doctor about any additional measures you should take, including a backup protection method while youre taking St. Johns wort.
Knowing what can make your birth control ineffective and how you can increase your chances for successfully avoiding pregnancy will help you make the best decisions for yourself.
How Does It Work
The pill alters the menstrual cycle using man-made versions of the female hormones, oestrogen and progesterone.
It works by:
- Stopping ovulation
- Thickening the cervical mucus to make it difficult for sperm to penetrate the womb
- Thinning the lining of the womb to minimise the chances of a fertilised egg being able to grow
There are different types of contraceptive pills available, which work in slightly different ways.
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What Are The Risks Of Continuing
Any hormonal drug that you take makes its way to the baby youre carrying. This includes the contraceptive pill. So while there dont seem to be any risks, its best to stop taking the pill once you learn of your pregnancy.
women with an IUD get pregnant each year, and the risk is highest within the first year after insertion. If youre the 1 in 100 women, youre probably wondering what happens if you keep your IUD.
The truth is that you may be facing . Theres no known increased risk of congenital abnormalities, but your risk of miscarriage and premature birth both go up.
Does The Pill Protect Against Stds
Nope. The pill is really good at preventing pregnancy, but it wont protect you from sexually transmitted infections.
Luckily, using condoms every time you have sex really lowers your chances of getting or spreading STDs. Condoms also protect against pregnancy so using condoms + birth control pills together gives protection from STDs AND awesome pregnancy-preventing power.
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Can You Get Pregnant If You Use Condoms
If you use condoms perfectly every single time you have sex, theyre 98 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. But most people don’t use them perfectly, so in real life, condoms are about 85 percent effective. That means almost one in five women will get pregnant each year if they just use condoms.
The best way to make sure condoms are as effective as possible is to use them correctly. Some of the most common mistakes include:
- Putting them on too late, or pulling them off too early
- Not leaving space at the tip of the condom for semen
- Not checking one for damage before use
- Using an oil based-lubricant like Vaseline or massage oil, which can damage the latex
Am I Pregnant Did My Birth Control Fail
Thinking that you may have gotten pregnant while on birth control and do not want to be can be stressful. To add to the confusion, many early pregnancy signs can also be due to other reasons.
But, in general, the most common cause of a missed period is pregnancy. It is also important to note that many women who are pregnant may have spotting or staining right around the time they are expecting a period.
Hormones can complicate the issue further. When your period is just late , your body may just be affected by premenstrual anxiety .
Also, if you begin to stress about a missing period, you can further prevent your period from coming. On the flip side, if you are pregnant, hormones associated with pregnancy can make you feel stressed.
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Not Starting A New Pack Right Away
It is essential to start a new pack of pills the day after finishing the previous one. However, sometimes a person may not have their new package yet. Missing a few days between packs can make the pill less effective at preventing pregnancy.
According to the , anyone who misses two or more pills in a row should use a backup contraceptive method or avoid sexual intercourse until they have taken the birth control pill for 7 consecutive days.
What Are The Main Types Of Birth Control Pills
Most people in the U.S. who are on the pill take whatâs called the combination pill. Estrogen and progesterone stop your ovaries from releasing eggs, and they make changes in your cervix and uterus that lower your chance of a pregnancy.
The minipill uses only progesterone. It works mostly by causing changes that keep sperm from reaching eggs.
People who have unprotected sex or who think their birth control method may have failed can use levonorgestrel or ulipristal, which are emergency birth control pills that work with or without hormones to prevent pregnancy.
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Birth Control In A Nutshell
First up, a reminder of what birth control is and how it works so you can better understand its effects on pregnancy.
Birth control is any method you use to prevent pregnancy. There are plenty of options out there: barrier birth control , surgical methods , and hormonal birth control are some of your options.
The most common form of hormonal birth control is the pill. Birth control pills are more than 99 percent effective when used correctly. Sounds almost foolproof, right? Not quite. Were human and sometimes we skip doses. That means the pill is only 91 percent effective in reality .
Those who want to avoid daily pills may prefer intrauterine devices or implants. These are more than
So lets say that youre among the number of women who do get pregnant while taking the pill. Youve got questions buzzing round your head. We got you:
How Soon Can You Get Pregnant After Stopping Birth Control
Youve taken steps in your family planning, and now youre ready for a baby. How long after stopping birth control are you fertile again? Well, it depends on the contraceptive.
You have done all the right things in planning your family and now you’re ready to have a baby. How long after stopping birth control before you try to get pregnant? How long does it take to be fertile again? And how long is too long?
Start from the top. How do you stop your method of contraception? Well, that seems like an easy question, but sometimes it isn’t. You can stop using your condom or diaphragm or contraceptive foam right now and you can take off your patch, take out your ring or stop your pills today.
Taking out your implant or your IUD takes a medical appointment with your clinician or your family planning clinic. Really now, we don’t recommend that you or a friend try to take out these medical devices on your own, so getting an appointment may take a few weeks.
Now, how long does it take after stopping birth control before you’re fertile? Well, it sort of depends. If you’re using barrier methods, such as condoms or diaphragms or foams or jellies, you could get pregnant the next time you have sex without your protection. Of course, you have to ovulate, and that will be on your regular schedule, but barrier methods don’t change that.
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Take The Placebo Pills
Combination pill packs typically contain three weeks of active pills that contain hormones and one week of inactive, or placebo, pills. Although it isnt medically necessary to take the placebo pills, doing so can help you stay in your routine.
If you choose to skip the placebo pills, theres a chance that you may be late in starting your next pill pack. This can interrupt your bodys expected level of hormones and cause you to ovulate. Ovulation increases your chances of being pregnant.
You Wont Get Pregnant If You Use The Pill Right Wrong
I used the pill for a decade before I began having children in my early 30s. It seemed like a foolproof method of birth control.
After having two children fairly close together, I felt that my family was complete. So imagine my surprise when I turned up pregnant in the spring of 2011 while on the pill.
After some panicked Googling, I thought I had found the culprit: A few weeks earlier, Id come down with strep, and the family doctor had prescribed an antibiotic. I had taken the antibiotic with no thought whatsoever about birth control.
Aha! That explained it, I thought. And the doctor later confirmed my suspicion: The antibiotic, she said, might have lowered the efficacy of the pill. A week later, I had a miscarriage.
We changed insurance plans, and soon I found a highly recommended OB/GYN and asked about getting an intrauterine device. Based on some factors related to the ultrasound the OB required before ordering an IUD, she talked me out of it. Furthermore, an IUD would have cost me about $600, even with our excellent insurance plan.
Figuring that my previous unplanned pregnancy was just a fluke, I went back on the same pill. It cost me only $5 per month, I was a reliable pill taker, and switching to a different form of birth control seemed like a hassle. A few months later, I discovered I was pregnant again.
My third child is now 9 months old. I wouldnt change anything and cant imagine my life or our family without her.
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What Should I Do If I Miss A Pill
Take the missed pill as soon as you remember. Then take your usual daily dose as planned. You should also use a backup form of birth control until you have your period. Call your healthcare provider if you miss several days of the pill. Your provider can discuss pregnancy test and emergency contraception options. It is helpful to keep the package inserts of the available, most will give specific instructions on what to do if there is a missed pill.
What Causes Birth Control To Fail
Certain conditions or behaviors can increase the likelihood that your birth control wont be as effective at preventing pregnancy.
If you cant remember to take your pill at the same time every day, you increase your risk of pregnancy. Birth control pills are designed to maintain a constant level of hormones in your body. If you skip or miss a dose, you hormone levels can drop quickly. Depending on where you are in your cycle, this may cause you to ovulate. Ovulation can increase your chances of becoming pregnant.
Reckless alcohol consumption can also cause birth control failure. While under the influence, some women may forget to take their pill at the correct time. If you vomit too soon after taking your pill, your body may not be able to absorb any of the hormones. This can result in a drop in your hormone levels, which could trigger ovulation.
Taking another medication or supplement at the same time as your birth control pill can also affect the pills effectiveness.
Keep these tips in mind if youre on birth control and want to prevent pregnancy.
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Getting Pregnant With The Patch Ring Or Shot
There are a few more options when it comes to birth control, and these include the patch, the vaginal ring and the Depo-Provera shot. Black says the failure rate for typical use of the patch and the ring is the same as the pill: eight percent. The Depo-Provera shot has a failure rate of just six percent with typical use.
With all three types of contraception, adherence is the biggest risk factor. They need to be used as directed to work effectively. Costescu says with the patch, which you replace once a week , one issue is that it may accidentally fall off. With the ring, he explains that replacing it on time is key. And it can only be removed for short periods of time if you want it to remain effective. Some women choose to remove the NuvaRing when theyre sexually active, and we recommend that it only be removed for up to three hours so, it cant be taken out, for instance, for an overnight date, he says.
Black adds that the same medications that make the pill less effective would have a similar effect on the patch and ring.
With Depo-Provera shots, Costescu notes, you must visit a health-care provider every three months to get the shot. He also says that the shot may be a good option if youre on anti-seizure medication, as the high dose of hormones that come with this type of birth control means those medications may not interfere with its effectiveness.
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Is It Ok To Take Other Drugs While Taking Birth Control Pills
Some drugs, including antibiotics and anti-seizure meds, can make birth control pills less effective. Some herbal supplements like St. Johnâs wort and some drugs used to treat HIV can also affect how well your pills work.
Tell your doctor about all medications, over-the-counter agents, herbs, and recreational drugs that you take. They can tell you about any possible effects on the pill.
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