Every year on Valentine's Day and holidays, there is only one most popular drug sold in pharmacies: contraceptives!
As the name suggests, the contraceptive pill is to prevent pregnancy and developed drugs, so far, male contraceptives have not developed a more satisfactory type, so contraceptives are generally used by women.
The main ingredient of the contraceptive pill is a variety of hormones, and most of them are made of estrogen, progesterone and other compatibility. After entering the body, contraceptives can affect different parts of the reproductive process, thus playing an effective role in contraception and anti-fertility effects.
Nowadays, there are three main categories of common contraceptives on the market, namely long-term, short-acting and emergency contraceptives. Among them, the highest usage rate is the last category.
Emergency contraception refers to drugs taken to avoid unintended pregnancy after having sex without any contraception.
The mechanism of action of emergency contraceptives is to allow women to supplement with oversized doses of progesterone in a short period of time, which then plays a role in rapidly suppressing ovulation, making cervical mucus thick, avoiding sperm passage, and preventing the fertilized egg from implanting. In general, it needs to be taken 72 hours after contraception failure, and the earlier it is taken, the better the effect.
Everyone knows that emergency contraception works well, but they don't know that the drug also has side effects, such as the following:
1. Irregular vaginal bleeding
After taking emergency contraception, some women develop bleeding from the private parts, which is clinically called withdrawal bleeding.
However, taking emergency contraception at different times of the menstrual cycle may also have different bleeding performance, such as taking emergency contraception in the first half of the menstrual cycle, which interferes with the menstrual period of women, prone to withdrawal bleeding, and taking it in the second half of the month has less interference with menstruation.
If the amount of bleeding is almost the same as the usual menstrual volume, it can also be regarded as a menstrual arrival;
2. Menstrual disorders
After all, emergency contraception is a hormone drug, and if you take emergency contraception multiple times in a short period of time, it may cause menstrual disorders. Some women will have symptoms such as early and delayed menstruation.
It should be emphasized here that if a woman's menstruation delay exceeds 1 week, a urine pregnancy test should be done as soon as possible to determine whether emergency contraception has failed;
3. Digestive tract reaction
Some women have typical gastrointestinal reactions after taking emergency contraceptive drugs, such as nausea and vomiting, which are related to hormone stimulation of the digestive tract. As a rule, symptoms of nausea generally last no more than 24 hours after taking.
If this reaction is strong, women may choose to take it with food or take medication at bedtime. If vomiting within 1 hour of oral contraceptives, it should be made up as soon as possible;
4. Changes in ovulation period
Taking emergency contraception may affect the menstrual cycle. Once the menstrual disorder occurs, it means that the ovaries have changed the pattern of egg release. Therefore, women should try to use more efficient contraceptive methods after this, and can no longer blindly take emergency contraceptives or choose unscientific contraceptive methods such as safe periods and external ejaculation;
5. Other effects
In addition to the above four side effects, after taking emergency contraceptive drugs, women may also experience breast swelling, dizziness and headache, fatigue, decreased libido and other side effects.
However, these symptoms are generally mild and last no more than 24 hours. If breast swelling and headache are severe, the patient may take other relevant pain medications as recommended by their doctor.
Finally, it should be reminded that since it is named emergency contraception, it means that it is a contraceptive drug taken in an emergency, rather than a long-term contraceptive option for women.
If you want scientific contraception, the best way is to take short-acting contraceptives and wear condoms. In particular, the use of condoms can not only isolate the contact between sperm and eggs, but also block the mutual transmission of pathogens, which is the best contraceptive choice.