Menu:
Contraception
Sex and contraception have been hot topics today. It wasn't really the talk of the town till the U.S. government approved the birth control pill in 1960. All people welcomed the pills. The birth control pill was the first medication which was designed for social cause, than therapeutic use. Pharmaceutical companies however started lowering the dosages. Doctors advised women who were fat, women who smoked and had high blood pressure not to take the pill.
In the 1980s, the high dosage 10-milligram pill was taken off the market. Biphasic and triphasic oral contraceptives were introduced instead. Now, women can get a prescription for a Pill which is composed of 1 milligram of progestins and having as little as 20 micrograms of estrogen.
From the start, a large number of women complained about the discomfort of the pill. When they complained it to the doctors, it had hardly any impact and caused only frustration. The problem was aggravated by that fact that female patients were not always informed about some problems which could happen to women. Women had the potential for strokes, heart attacks or blood clots while they took the pill. Today, the safety is more like an assumption. It is also important to remember that the contraceptive has identical hormones which are found in Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
Today, the low dose pill is deemed to be safe. According to some doctors and experts, "women up to age 21 using the pill can increase their risk of Breast Cancer by 600%." There has to be caution exercised while considering to use the Birth Control Pill.
A recent study also says that overweight or obesity can increase the chances of pregnancy. This is while using the birth control pills. Some gynecologists say that birth control pills do not have enough effect on overweight women. Overweight women have 60% chances and obese women have 70% more chances of pregnancy than people who have normal weight women while they take oral contraceptives regularly. The risk of pregnancy is more than doubled compare to overweight for some women who missed oral contraceptive. According to a study, out of hundred overweight women using oral contraceptives, five got pregnant. Only three out of hundred normal weight women using oral contraceptives got pregnant each year.
The reason why oral contraceptives failed is not clearly known. The hormones in oral contraceptives are soluble in fat. This is found to be in high amounts in obese women. Due to this, the fat hormones dissolve in fat than entering the bloodstream.
Metabolism is also another cause. The metabolic rate increases according to body weight. The more the body weight, the more is the basal metabolic rate. The increase in metabolic rate reduces with the duration of medication effect.