Is the morning-after pill safe to use? How many times can you take it? Will it affect your chances of pregnancy later? Dr. Niveditha Manokaran demystified the emergency contraceptive pill for Brut.
Thanks to Untaboos.
Thanks to Untaboos.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00So it is like a single pill that you take, let's say 72 hours after you've had sex.
00:12So it doesn't matter what part of the cycle you are or not.
00:17But what is important is though it is called the morning after pill, you do not necessarily
00:21have to take the next day morning, you still have three days to actually go and access
00:25it and take the pill.
00:27Morning after pill is a progesterone only pill, progesterone is a hormone that is already
00:33in your body.
00:34So what we're trying to do by taking the morning after pill is we are trying to increase the
00:38level of progesterone to prevent a pregnancy from happening.
00:42When you have a highly progesterone state, what happens is after a point the progesterone
00:49drops and you get what is called a false period or a withdrawal bleeding.
00:54A lot of the people may feel like I took the morning after pill and I have a big period.
01:00But then two weeks later, you might have another period, which is probably your normal period.
01:10Sometimes your morning after pill can fail.
01:15So after taking the morning after pill, first, if you didn't have what's called the withdrawal
01:20bleeding, and then second, if you were due to have a regular period and you've actually
01:25missed that as well, then definitely you need to do a pregnancy test to make sure that you're
01:31not pregnant.
01:37The most common one, which is not a side effect, which is probably the most common thing that
01:40people are freaking out about, and that is the withdrawal bleeding.
01:44So when the withdrawal bleeding happens after a week or within 10 days that you've taken
01:49the morning after pill, sometimes even less than that, and you're not due for a period,
01:53people usually freak out.
01:54That's not a side effect.
01:55And that is something that you're expecting with the morning after pill.
01:58When you're starting to take like, let's say one single pill, or you've taken it a couple
02:02of times a year, people actually do not get such immense side effects.
02:08To be honest, it is pretty forgivable.
02:10And that is why people actually misuse it almost.
02:14However, when you're having such high progesterone in people's system, some people's body are
02:20very sensitive to progesterone, I should say, and you will be experiencing all side effects
02:25that a high progesterone state can actually bring.
02:28Like for example, you will feel nauseous, you can have headache, you will feel extremely
02:33emotional, you can have mood swings.
02:36If you've got any underlying, let's say depression or underlying any other mental health problem,
02:42a high level of progesterone sometimes can actually make it worse.
02:47It is very important to read the disclaimer in a packet.
02:49These things will happen.
02:51Just because it doesn't happen to many of the people and we are misusing the drug, it
02:55doesn't mean these side effects do not exist.
03:02I would like to say twice a year is probably your upper limit.
03:07Look, I usually tell my patients this, right?
03:10So if it happens like one time out of the blue, that's okay, because it's an emergency
03:15contraceptive pill, it's made for that reason.
03:17Let's say the condom broke or tore, you were doing the absolute right thing and it was
03:22an accident, then it's okay.
03:24The second time you're doing the morning after pill, let's just say, right, is the time when
03:30we have to think what's going on.
03:32Because I wouldn't want to do more than that.
03:35So it does not affect fertility.
03:41So let's say you took it and you want to fall pregnant after six months after you've taken
03:45it.
03:46Let's say even two times you took the morning after pill and then in six months you want
03:48to fall pregnant.
03:49Yes, you definitely can.
03:51See, once the effect of progesterone is weaned off and you're having your regular period
03:55next, then you're fine to go.
03:57You don't need a prescription for it and it's easily available over the counter.
04:05And I think that is what people want, because unfortunately getting a prescription becomes
04:10a very judgmental and a very embarrassing thing, especially for youngsters who have
04:15not been married in a country like India, right?