Problems of the Antibiotics and Birth Control Association in all Usage
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. Reality is nevertheless different from the scientific point of view, and here are a few things that may help you better understand how things stand.
The action of hormonal pills is usually impaired by one antibiotic in particular: rifampin. 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 advise for the use of an extra birth control solution such as condoms. It is impossible to tell who will experience decreased efficiency, until it is too late.
Another issue worth considering in relation to the treatment with antibiotics and birth control pills is that of modern hormonal products that are in fact prone to lower effectiveness rates. The explanation for this inconvenience comes from the low concentration of ingredients used so as to minimize side effects. Besides rifamin, other medicines with a higher risk of interference include amoxacillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, minocycline, penicillin and sulfonamide.
Antibiotics and birth control pills do not make a good association because of the chemical reactions that take place in the liver. The antibiotics stimulate a more rapid 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. Caution is the best course of action under the circumstances, even if the incidence of unplanned pregnancies is not too high.
So as to avoid future complications, drug manufacturers have developed the practice of specifying the potential problems of the antibiotics and birth control association in all usage instructions. Check with your physician about the importance of continuing the supplementary birth control use after the end of the treatment with antibiotics.
Some women choose to stop taking their birth control pills while following a treatment with antibiotics, but this is hardly a solution given how difficult it is for the body to adapt to these sudden hormonal changes. Talk to the health care provider before administering 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.
Tags: birth control, birth control pills, condom, pregnancy
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 1:46 am and is filed under loose pregnancy weight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.