Here’s the summary. It can’t protect people from sexually transmitted diseases. It works best when taken within three days of the “act”. That doesn’t mean that it won’t work after three days. It just means that the chances of success are lowered. Sometimes by upto 50%. It’s effectiveness is also watered down a bit in people who are overweight or obese according to BMI classification. Expect minimal side effects such as spotting, irregular menstrual periods (especially the next period) and other general grievances such as headache, nausea and … if you really need this medication you should be on your way to the chemist by now. Three days is three days. Don’t forget to tell the pharmacist if you are taking any other drugs such as anti-seizure medication, antiretrovirals, anti-clotting agents… any drugs. It’s important. You don’t need a prescription for it. Safe journey.
Those of us who are just here to enjoy the ride you can read on. Or maybe you are back from the chemist. Unwanted pregnancies carry a lot of risks and potential misery. People have been trying to prevent them since the days of Pharaoh. Weird and jaw dropping means have been employed to varying successes. I don’t want to spoil the fun for you but vegetables were considered an option. As well as elephant dung. So congratulations for living in this century. If a single pill to prevent ‘catching a ball’ isn’t the epitome of convenience then I don’t know. The side effects are minimal. The effectiveness is in the high nineties for those of us who like percentages. What more could you want?
How does it work? It’s the work of a genius of course. It is no coincidence that when a lady is pregnant she can’t conceive until the baby is delivered and even after delivery there’s a grace period. There’s science working in the background to prevent the chaos. A hormone tells the hormones that make you release an ovum not to do so because the womb is occupied already. Being the brilliant scientists we are, we humans copied that mechanism and used it to as an emergency birth control method. We went into the lab and whipped up a chemical that mimics that hormone that tells the other hormones to chill. So the body thinks you are pregnant and stops any other pregnancy from happening. But you were never really pregnant in the first place. Neat, isn’t it?
Can it work as an abortion pill? Nope. You may have noticed that from the explanation of how it works. If conception has happened already then too bad. This drug is not in the business of pregnancy termination. It only prevents fertilization from happening. If you are pregnant it won’t make your pregnancy go away.
We need to lay down a few disclaimers though. This isn’t something that you want to take regularly. Maybe an accident happened when using a barrier method. Maybe you missed a few of your birth control pills. Maybe it was just a bad day. Like a really bad day. The P2 birth control pill is a failsafe. A plan B. It was never meant to be a plan A. That’s why it’s such a high dose drug. Frequent ingestion will make your periods chaotic. You will also be increasing your chances of getting side effects and reducing the effectiveness of the pill. Regular birth control methods are better suited for you if you find yourself in situations where you need this pill a lot. Walk into a clinic or hospital that offers birth control methods and educate yourself on the many options available. Discuss with the healthcare provider and find out what works for you. Take a step to make your life better. Self-improvement is never a bad thing.
BY DR. DENNIS WERE
PHARMACIST AND CHIEF EDITOR,
PLANET WIZARD AFRICA.