Emergency contraception is not for everyday use

A romantic encounter is something that you cannot plan but you are, unfortunately, not left with many choices that can save you from its consequences. Oral contraceptives or combined oral medications may keep you free from the risk of unwanted pregnancy but what if you forget to take your pills for a couple of days and engage in unprotected sex? Let’s consider a situation or two. There may be such a situation that you and your beloved stay at different places due to professional reasons and both of you get the chance to spend some intimate time only in the weekends. You can’t always spoil the intense moments just because you forgot to take your oral contraceptives for a couple of days. In case of teens this problem is more frequent as they often ignore the consequences of unprotected sexual activity with their youthful vigor. Emergency contraception or the morning after pill, in such cases, can provide protection against the threats of pregnancy.

Morning after pills like ellaOne and Levonelle, at the early dawn of their inception, used to be prescription medications but since January 2001 onwards these medications are sold as over the counter medications. The year 2004 and 2005 witnessed huge sales of the emergency contraception medications throughout the UK. In 2005, to be specific, sales of these medications almost doubled than that of the previous year, as stated by the Daily Mail sources, and it has also been reported that one percent of all users accepted that they used these medications more than twice in a year. Since that time onward it has become a matter of serious concern that incidents of unprotected or irresponsible sexual activity are increasing. Women, consequently, are using these medications quite randomly.

Morning after pills or urgent contraception medications like ellaOne and Levonelle are compositionally similar to the mini pills or progestogen-only pills. However, compared to the mini pills, dosage of progestogen used in these medications are higher. The name of this class of medications clearly suggests that these medications need to be taken immediately after having unprotected sex. Actually you have a maximum of 72 hours (three days) to receive the benefits of the medication. The producers of the emergency contraception medications state that a user can be 95% secure from the risk of unwanted pregnancy if she takes it within the first 24 hours. The chance of being safe from pregnancy may reduce to 85% and 58 to 49 percent if they are ingested within the next 48 and 72 hours, respectively.

The morning after pills must not be used on a regular basis or else a very high dosage of progestogen may cause certain physical complications that in the long run may continue to cause trouble. Frequent use of this medication is most common among teenage girls and consequently stability of their sexual health has already become a matter of serious concern. There is no doubt that compared to the late 90s, availability of the emergency contraception as an over the counter medication has reduced the rate of teenage pregnancy considerably. However, irresponsible and prolonged use of these medications may cause persistent problems like physical discomfort, dizziness, headache, abdominal pain and irregular periods.