Emergency contraceptives and things to know

Using emergency contraceptives like meals, many young couples consider this as an effective contraceptive method. However, obstetricians warn if excessive abuse of emergency contraceptives is easy to cause infertility.

What is emergency contraception?

Emergency contraception is one of the contraceptive methods for women after having sex without being protected by any safety measures.

The drug is used in some cases:

1. When men and women have sex, do not use any safe contraception.
2. When women are using birth control pills daily, they forget to take medicine for 2 days or more.

Classification of birth control pills

Using birth control pills to prevent pregnancy is a method used by many people.

Currently, there are 3 popular contraceptives on the market including:

1. Emergency contraceptive pills (used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex).
2. Progestin-only male birth control pills are suitable for women who have just given birth.
3. Synthetic birth control pills : this is the most common oral contraceptive. Each box has 21 or 28 tablets, containing hormones progesterone and estrogen, which helps women maintain the necessary amount of hormones in the body so that eggs do not fall off. In addition, this drug also thines the uterine lining so that fertilized eggs cannot be nested. In addition, the drug thickens the cervical fluid to prevent sperm from passing and reduces the movement of sperm in the fallopian tube. In the above three categories, the third contraceptive is most commonly used, but it also has the most consequences.

Principle of operation of emergency contraceptives

The drug acts as a daily contraceptive, but it has a much higher progestin hormone content than daily birth control pills, so it works to prevent ovulation immediately to prevent conception.

Because of the high dose of progestin, the effect of the drug causes the cervical mucus to thicken, preventing sperm from entering the cervix or can also interfere with the pathway of the sperm in the nipple of the uterus. supply.

Today, using birth control pills to prevent pregnancy is a method used by many people. But it is only safe when you use it in moderate doses or use as directed, directed by your doctor.

Side effects of emergency contraceptives

Emergency contraception also has some unwanted side effects like:

1. Headache, dizziness, nausea.
2. Unusual vaginal bleeding, when using improper contraceptive pills or excessive use can lead to vaginal bleeding in women. Sometimes we mistakenly believe that it is just a normal bleeding, but it can also be symptoms of cervical cancer or endometrial cancer. Therefore, periodic gynecological examination is required to eliminate cancer.
3. Extracorporeal or ectopic pregnancy is also common in women who take this medication regularly for a long time.
4. Emergency contraceptives also increase the risk of vascular-related diseases four times more than those who do not.
5. Doctors also recommend those who are pregnant or suspected of being pregnant, people with epilepsy, heart disease, cerebral blood circulation disorders . should not use this medicine.

The risk of infertility for abuse of emergency contraceptives

The effectiveness of emergency contraceptives decreases if used multiple times.

According to doctors, many women now use emergency contraception without knowing its side effects.As prescribed, only up to 2 emergency contraceptive pills can be taken in one week , but many people use up to 10-15 pills / month.

Talking about this issue, obstetrics and gynecologist Le Thi Kim Dung - Thai Ha Labor Health Center said that the contraceptive level has the same composition as the daily contraceptive but the dose is 4 times higher. It has the effect of inhibiting ovulation and inhibiting eggs to attach to the lining of the uterus, thus preventing conception.

However, according to Dr. Dung, emergency contraception is not very effective (about 75%) and this effect decreases if used many times. Drugs cause some side effects such as menstrual disorders, menorrhagia, haemorrhage, headache, dizziness, nausea. So Dr. Dung recommends that women, especially young girls, be cautious when using emergency contraceptives. As prescribed, this drug is only for healthy people and should not be used more than 2 times in a month.

'In addition to unwanted pregnancies, menstrual disorders are the most common' accident 'for those who abuse emergency contraceptives. No official conclusions have been made so far about the abuse of emergency contraceptives that can cause infertility. However, if using too much medicine will limit the development and ovulation, when the drug is stopped, the ovaries need a relatively long time to recover. Therefore, should only consider emergency contraception as a last resort when trying to prevent pregnancy, should not abuse " - Dr. Dung emphasized.

Obstetricians recommend that if abortion is a leading risk leading to infertility, the abuse of emergency contraceptives often puts the risk of infertility immediately following. Therefore, unaware teen couples also use regular medicine, replace condoms, so it should be terminated, so go for a health examination for advice on safe and secure contraception.