The Morning After: A bitter pill

I guess as people in the modern world we’ve become too dependent on aspects that make our lives easier, we probably should but I feel like it makes us dull, live without risk, people become reckless regardless of age and so forth. I’m currently a 3rd year B.sc nursing student in India and ever since I started this venture, almost every weekend I get messages from people especially from females about how they’re missing their periods you know all that related stuff. At first it seemed like a normal pattern of the usual female body but then after a while I realised something; sort of pattern of events that led to these group of problems. They all were having unprotected sex and taking the contraceptives we know today as, “Morning After” pills. I personally despise that lifestyle but that’s a story for another day and who am I to judge? The idea of a morning after pill was created an EMERGENCY contraception but sadly people now use it regularly without caution. Nowadays girls in their teens to late 20’s are taking these “morning after” pills every other day and unfortunately this has a deadly and long lasting effect on your body!! Most of these contraceptives pills cause nausea in 23% of cases, abdominal pain in 18%, fatigue or headache in 17% and vomiting in 6% of women. Some might feel tenderness of the breasts, fatigue and the biggest effects is changing of the menstrual cycle or even temporarily stopping it. Yeah, a girl I know actually had her menstrual period on hold for like 7 months. She wasn’t even pregnant. Shocking? Definitely! So, what does a “morning after” pill do to your body? After taking a “morning afrer” pill, many people notice a shift in their menstrual schedule. The most common change is that the next period arrives earlier or later than expected often by a few days up to a week. This occurs because the high dose of levonorgestrel (or ulipristal) temporarily disrupts the hormonal signals that regulate ovulation and the uterine lining. If ovulation is delayed, the menstrual bleed will be postponed; if the pill triggers an early shedding of the endometrium, bleeding may start sooner. Some users experience spotting or light bleeding in the days following the dose, which can be mistaken for a period but is usually just a breakthrough bleed. Cycle length may return to normal in the next month, but occasional irregularity can persist for one or two cycles. Only in rare cases will the delay of the period might be more than 2–3 months, by then you should visit a physician or a doctor so they can prescribe some hormonal supplements and some dietary changes to be made. Contraceptive pills or Levonorgestrel is a synthetic progestin which works by primarily preventing pregnancy. And in some cases the dose of progestogen in these pills is very high which actually temporarily “stops” menstrual cycle and causes increased abdominal pains similar to those you’d get during a normal cycle but no blood coming out. Most pharmaceutical companies intentionally increase progestin in contraceptive pills just to make them more “effective” and turning a blind eye on the aftermath, because why should they? Their job is already finished, they have stopped you from being pregnant what happens to you after that is not their problem. I’d recommend taking contraceptive pills or as you call them “morning after” pills in emergency situations only, but this is only a recommendation. YOLO right? You like it raw right? Incase any of the effects I mentioned in this article start to surface, go straight to the hospital and see a doctor. Stay away from the internet! I repeat stay away from the internet! Until next time, kudos!