How Do I Get Pregnant

Posts Tagged ‘condom’

Many unplanned pregnancies occur because women lack information on the possible consequences of combining antibiotics and birth control pills. You can read a lot on antibiotics and birth control now thanks to the development of the Internet, but there are some very resilient myths out there. Scientific reality is nevertheless a bit different, and here are a few things that may help you better understand how things stand.

Clinical studies indicate that only one antibiotic is proved to impair the action of the hormonal pill: rifampin, yet exceptions do exist. Generally speaking, when antibiotics and birth control are used in parallel, the efficiency of the contraceptives gets lower in for a limited number of women. It is because of this incidence, even if small, that doctors recommend the use of a supplementary birth control solution such as condoms. It is impossible to tell who will experience decreased efficiency, until it is too late.

Modern hormonal products seem to be more affected by the interactions between antibiotics and birth control. The problem is that modern birth control products have very low hormonal combinations for a reduction of the side effects. Besides rifamin, you should also be cautious when using amoxacillin, penicillin, sulfonamide, ampicillin, minocycline, tetracycline and barbiturates.

Antibiotics and birth control pills represent an inconvenient medical combination because of the synthesis of the compounds in the liver. The antibiotics accelerate the breaking down of estrogens, and since these compounds are the main ingredients of birth control pills, the level of hormones in the blood will be lower. Although the situations when unplanned pregnancy appears in such conditions are not that numerous, caution is the best course of action.

All drug manufacturers will therefore mention the potential interference of antibiotics and birth control pills with the decrease of efficiency for the latter. It is also important to talk to the doctor whether you have to continue using the extra birth control method after the cessation of the antibiotic treatment or not.

It is not a solution to stop using birth control pills while taking antibiotics, because you will put the body through great stress by causing hormonal imbalances. Talk to the health care provider before taking any drug specifying the fact that you are on birth control pills. There are lots of other drugs that could impair the efficiency of birth control. It’s better to seek information than be sorry later.

Technorati Tags: birth control, birth control pills, condom, pregnancy