Almost every woman is familiar with the fear of unwanted pregnancy, which, by the way, can occur in all sorts of situations that at first glance are quite difficult to foresee. After all, you can get pregnant even at the very first sexual contact in your life; before the arrival of the first menstruation; even during menstruation; after childbirth during breastfeeding; immediately after an abortion before the onset of menstruation; regardless of the position in which sexual intercourse occurs; even if you take a shower or bath after intercourse; even if the sexual intercourse was interrupted; during sexual contact, when the penis was not inserted into the vagina, but the sperm was in the vulva. And also when the condom breaks or the vaginal diaphragm is displaced; if you forgot to take a hormonal contraceptive; if they made a mistake in the definition of “dangerous” and “safe” days; if, God forbid, there was a rape … But you never know what other situations occur in the life of a modern woman?
So, what to do if an unplanned and therefore unprepared sexual intercourse that has happened threatens with a possible and unwanted pregnancy? First, you should not resort to any kind of folk methods, such as jumping on one leg around the bed or sitting to exhaustion in a hot bath. All these methods, in addition to being absolutely ineffective, in addition to that, are far from being safe for health. Secondly, you should not immediately prepare yourself to run headlong to have an abortion, and bitterly regret what happened.
It is better, without losing precious time, to resort to methods of so-called urgent contraception, which is used immediately after “unprotected” intercourse (as we have already said, in the event of a condom rupture, missed pills and other adverse circumstances) and which, unlike abortion, does not interrupt, but prevents the onset of pregnancy. And if we consider that this actually occurs somewhere on the fifth day after fertilization (it is at this time that the embryo attaches to the wall of the uterus), then urgent contraception can prevent it, as it acts at earlier stages.
It should be said that the method of “fire” contraception is effective if no more than 72 hours have passed since the moment of “unprotected” sexual intercourse. The fact is that taking hormones can cause such a strong storm in the body – as a result of which the process of fertilization and the movement of the egg through the fallopian tubes is disrupted – that there can be no talk of pregnancy. The probability of pregnancy in this case is 1-3 percent, but the pills drunk later are not able to have any significant negative effect either on the further course of pregnancy or on the fetus itself.
Currently, quite a few hormonal methods have been developed for emergency contraception. Each of them has its pros and cons. However, a knowledgeable gynecologist is able to choose a woman, taking into account her health and age, the method most suitable for her. But if in the very near future, for some reason, it is still not possible to consult a doctor, then it is necessary:
These are quite gentle drugs, which cannot be said at all about the well-known Postinor or Dinazol, which are also used in such cases (no more than four tablets per month), but far from being safe for the woman’s body due to the large number of complications and adverse side effects. For example, menstruation caused by the wrong dose can turn into real bleeding.
More than half of women experience nausea while taking pills. To reduce its manifestations and prevent vomiting, a few minutes before taking the pills, you should eat something salty, meat or drink a glass of milk. In the event that vomiting occurs less than an hour after taking the tablets, the second dose should be taken against the background of antiemetic drugs. 1-2 days after the application of this method, a menstrual-like reaction occurs, indicating that fertilization has not occurred. In its absence, you need to turn to pregnancy tests.
If you have taken the pills, then you should know that:
Women who are contraindicated in hormones, as well as in case of lost time, you can use another method of preventing pregnancy. Namely, no later than the fifth day after the “unprotected” sexual intercourse, introduce an intrauterine device. The reliability of this method is very high – 99.9 percent. However, it should not be used in young and nulliparous women, as well as those women who have a large number of sexual contacts and partners, as the IUD increases the risk of inflammation of the uterus and appendages.
And, as if summing up, it is worth noting once again the fact that all the same, urgent contraception should be resorted to only in the most urgent cases and in no case should it be used regularly instead of the usual “protection”.
