Emergency Contraception

In this episode I discuss what you options are after having unprotected sex if you want to prevent pregnancy.

Transcript

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of four vaginas Only. This is episode number 29 in this episode we are going to be talking about emergency contraception like the Plan B pill or the ocean pill after you have unprotected sex. So there's a few things I need to know about it, where it's located, how to get it, how much it costs, how it works. And we'll dive right into that for anybody that wants to know a little bit more about emergency contraception. But first, let's bop in our seats a little bit to the intro music Hello and welcome to Four vaginas only the podcast about everything. Female. I'm your host, Dr Celestine, bringing you important information about understanding your health and body in the way you wish your doctor would actually explain it. All right, guys, welcome. And thank you so much for listening to another episode of four vaginas on Lee. I am your host, Dr C or Dr Celestine. You can catch more about four of Jenna's only and me on my instagram page at form China's only also on the Facebook Group of Four vaginas only and four widows only. website at none other than for vaginas on lee dot com. Alright, so let's jump right into it. And this episode we're gonna be talking about emergency contraception. So basically what emergency contraception is is something that you can take or use after having sex without being on any type of regular birth control or if your birth control didn't work, such as if you had sex and the condom broke or if you missed your birth control pills for a certain amount of time and then you had unprotected sex. These are the things that you can do to prevent pregnancy if you want Thio. Now the reason I think that this is so important, why I'm giving it its own podcast episode is because I am always surprised. And so how many people don't even know that this type of emergency contraception even exists? So I wanted Thio designate a four vaginas only podcast episode to this to anyone out there that is just stumbling across the podcast or actively follows me and wants to learn a little bit more about what they can do to prevent pregnancy in an emergency situation, Um, also I find that a lot of people don't understand how it works and how it may or may not affect a pregnancy that has already formed, which I get a question about a lot. So if you stay tuned for the rest of the episode, will touch on that a little bit at the end. First, I want to get into the different types of emergency contraception. Okay, so I'm gonna kind of break it down. I think I'm gonna put a chart or something like that on the form of China's only Instagram page, because it's kind of hard to listen to all this and to fully grasp it just on one. Listen. Also, feel free to listen to the episode again if that helps. But so let's go into the first time I want to talk about it. Has a big name. It's called Hewlett Crystal, and it's short and name. When you're purchasing it, just it's kind of brand name is called L. A, which is a lot easier to remember. So what L A is is just one tablet that you can take up to five days after having unprotected intercourse or unprotected sex, and it can prevent pregnancy if it's taken within that time frame. The thing about L. A is that it's a prescription, so you usually have to get a prescription from your doctor. Um, but I've also seen that it is sold online. So it has, I think, to designated online pharmacies that you can go on to there, answer a bunch of questions. Get the L A mail to you. From some reports I've been reading, it looks like it comes to you within, like, 24 hours, but also, I think, requires somebody from the online pharmacies and to call you to verify certain things and ask certain questions before mailing it out to you if you do get approved after all of that. So that is another option. I know online makes things a lot easier for a lot of people. So I wanted to just put that out there. So that's L. A. Or you look Krystal, the second method I want to talk about is the copper I u D. So the copper I E. D. Is something that you actually have to go to your doctor's office for, and then they insert it into the uterus. It's also used just as a birth control. People use it, and it can prevent pregnancy once it's in for at least a week. And you can leave that rud and for up to 10 years. But it's also used as emergency contraception, and it can be used with also within five days of having unprotected intercourse just like the Ella. Now what's interesting to note about that is it's actually the most effective form of emergency contraception, meaning that it prevents a pregnancy from happening within those five days. The best out of all the options I'm gonna talk about today and the L. A is actually number two. But L A is the number one in terms of pills that you can take without having to go to your office and get this I u D. Okay, so the number, too, in terms of pills and number three effective overall is the progesterone pills. So these I find the most commonly known names. So this one is like Plan B, um, or plan B one step. There's also lots of other generic names for these now as well, but I'm just gonna use the name plan B because it's the easiest to remember, is this to say and the most commonly known. But we'll talk about both types. So Plan B has Plan B one step, which is a one tablet that you take, and it just 1.5 milligrams of progesterone. It's just a progesterone hormone similar to what's in a lot of regular birth control pills that people take on the other kind is a generic Plan B or has many other names as well. And it's actually two tablets of progesterone hormone of 20.75 milligrams each. Now the Plan B one step, I know for sure, is over the counter No age limit. And, um so it doesn't matter what age you are. You can get it over the counter both of these progesterone type pills used as an emergency contraceptive. You have to take it within three days of having unprotected intercourse event So it's actually a shorter time frame or a shorter window that you have to take it then compared to the Ella or the copper I u D. Which was five days. But the good thing is that it's over the counter, so it's easy to get your hands on. There's also 1/3 type, which is using kind of a combined estrogen and progesterone method. I wouldn't go. I'm not gonna go into too much detail about that now. There's different kind of ways to do that. I would recommend that if you want to do something like that, you talk to your doctor. I do have a lot of friends that think they can just take their own birth control in a different fashion, and that's supposedly going to prevent their pregnancy. But I just urge you to talk to your doctor before trying that. And I don't really want to go into the regimen on this podcast episode, if that's okay with you guys, okay? And just to kind of summarized, they're all very effective. The copper I E. D. Is the most effective. The L A or you look. Krystal is technically the second most effective, and the Plan B type methods are the third most effective. But all are you know better than nothing. If you, if that's where your goal is, is preventing pregnancy after unprotected sex, Then I would say the one you can get your hands on the fastest is probably gonna be the best for you. I've also seen some things that, uh, some of them differ depending on your weight. So it's been noted that with these pills, especially that if you have a high B. M. Meyer hi body mass index if you're considered obese based on that, ah, lot of times they're not as effective. And some people recommend doing the copper I u d. Instead. But I would still stick to my general statement of if preventing pregnancy is your goal especially. We don't have time to go to the doctor and get an I u D. That using one of these, especially over the counter methods or something you can get your hands on the fastest with in that window would be the best bet. It's just my general advice, but also, as usual, with any advice that I gave on social media on this podcast. You know, talk to your doctor first. I This is my personal opinion, yet has some medical background, but I don't know each and every one of you individually, so I would talk to your own personal doctor and get their opinion, and a lot of times you can get these pills even though over the counter ones ordering online and just have it at home in case you need it. You don't have to worry about, you know, having a rush to get it at the exact moment. And you need it. You just know that you have at your house. And I know in my last office that I worked in, we had it there, and we were able to give it out to certain people that requested it as well so they could have it at home, just in case. So, some side effects of these I just want to touch on really quick. Nausea can happen. Headaches, irregular bleeding. Sometimes after you take it, it'll kind of mess with your period a little bit after and costume. Irregular bleeding. Also, some people report abdominal pain, cramping, discomfort and breast tenderness. So those are just some general things to know as well. All right, So how they work and the reason I want to talk about this is because I have a lot of people coming to me, saying that they don't want to do something that's going to kill their baby. Okay, I'm just gonna speak in general terms. That's what people tell me. That's not necessarily the wording I would use. But, you know, a lot of people do think that out there, and I just want to kind of put that myth to the side in this podcast by saying that generally speaking, they don't do that. So for the L. A. And the Plan B versions specifically, how they work is that they stop or delay opulence ation, meaning that they inhibit the sperm from ever coming in contact with the egg s O that the pregnancy does not even form. Okay. And with the i u D, it's known to inhibit the sperms function. So another way of stopping the sperm and the egg from coming together. None of these methods have ever been proven to prevent an actual fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, meaning it does not stop a pregnancy that has not only that has already occurred. Also, another little myth to dispel is that it does not increase your risk of having an ectopic pregnancy, which is a pregnancy that develops and forms within the fallopian tubes, which is not a normal pregnancy, so it does not increase the risk of that either. Which some people think. So I just wanted to put that in here as well. Another thing I'd like to say is that there are studies of early pregnancy where people are exposed to the regular birth control pills that people take all the time. That indicate that there's no increased risk for a pregnancy that's exposed to those regular birth control pills. So although none of the studies really exist for the progesterone Onley pills, I would say that's the closest comparison exposure to the progesterone. Only pills. And let's say you, the pregnancy had already formed and you took it anyway, just trying to prevent it. But it didn't really work. Um, you know, there's no increased risk to the early pregnancy development for that types like the Plan B types in terms of the ULA per stall and or the L. A. Rather and the copper I u D. That might be a little bit different. So that's the kind of things I just wanted to mention about how they work and what they do and don't D'oh! Okay, so how do you get them? So, like I mentioned previously, you could go to your doctor's offices. Some of them provide them for you, just based on asking. Sometimes we have free samples and things like that that you can get without even paying. Um, over the counter at a lot of pharmacies, especially the Plan B is over the counter at a lot of places. You can get them online with certain types I actually saw after pill dot com sells it, and they even have a button all the way on top of their Web page. You can click if you need it like in a hurry, it says, and it takes you to Amazon and they have an Amazon page, and it's also included under Amazon Prime. So I thought that was pretty interesting as long I didn't go through the whole thing to see if it's a verified seller. I'm assuming it is. It's it's come from It's, um, official page. But that's just one interesting thing to mention as well. Also, you can go to Planned Parenthood's. A lot of Planned Parenthood's across the country have them for low cost or no cost, and I thought was interesting. Planned Parenthood has a quiz on their website where you can answer questions like your height and your weight and how long ago you had unprotected sex. And it'll tell you what is the best form of the emergency contraception for you. So if you had any questions about that, um, and say you're too shy or nervous, actually talk to your doctor about it so you can get some guidance. You can go to the planned parenthood dot org's Web site and take that quiz as well. And last but not least, let's talk about the money, money, money, money, eh? So these things, a lot of times aren't free, Okay, but I will say that a lot of them, especially under the Affordable Care Act thes emergency contraception options can be covered under your insurance. So whether you get an actual prescription from your doctor, or sometimes if you buy it over the counter, you can even get reimbursed by your insurance after you submit a bill or some sort of invoice for it. But I would talk to your particular insurance company first, if that's something that's of concern to you, Um, but in terms of the cost, technically, if you get it completely covered, it can be free and a lot of the pills over the counter. Even ordering online seemed to be about 60 to $90. And the U. D for example, if you have no insurance coverage, sometimes people have to pay $1000 out of pocket for that. But luckily, like I said, it's usually covered our low cost, no cost special. You go to places like Planned Parenthood, but just to give you an idea of the range of prices you can be encountering for emergency contraception. But a baby is more expensive, I would say so if you really don't want a baby, is not the right time for you. You know I'm not no judgment here. Everybody can make their own decision. I'm just trying to give you the information to help you make an informed decision, and that's my little spiel about that. Also, my lash feel about emergency contraception, which I tell everybody all of my patients, all of my friends even, is that it should not be used as a long term method of birth control You. If you don't want to have a baby, you should be doing things such as either not having sex at all. Using condoms regularly or being on some other type of long term birth control until you decide you're ready to have a child is my personal opinion and little message to the world and, as always, any questions that you have any concerns about it or anything you want to know before taking any type of emergency contraception. Please, please, please talk to your own doctor. I wish, like I always say, I wish I could be everybody's doctor out there and talk to you all about all of your medical problems. But I cannot give any actual medical advice directly to you online or via this podcast. I can only speak in general terms and from my own experience. And that's it. Thank you guys. So much for listening to another episode of four vaginas on Lee. I hope that you learned a lot. I hope that you take this information and use it to not only benefit yourself but drop. Bring other people to the podcast as well that they can learn or talk to them about it. Your friends, your mother, your brother, your sister, your cousin, anybody. And also don't forget that even If we talk about this stuff here, it's always great to talk about with your own doctor that knows you and knows what's best for you. All right, so thank you guys again so much once again, if you wantto listen to any other podcast episodes, please take a listed on apple podcasts or I'm also on Spotify tune in Google Play. It's all out there. Follow me on at former China's Only On Instagram or the four Vaginas only Facebook group Feel free to D. M Me or comment on any of my posts or whatever you want to do interact with May. I love to talk to you guys. Love to hear what you think about the podcast and about the episodes, and I really look forward to talking with all of you guys soon. So stay tuned for another four vaginas on Lee episode in a few weeks, and I'll catch you on the flip side.