Birth control

How GLP-1s Impact Birth Control

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Because GLP-1 receptor agonists slow down digestion, they may delay the absorption of oral medications like birth control pills, which could affect ovulation and fertility.

As more people begin taking GLP-1 receptor agonists and other incretin-based drugs for glycemic control and weight management, new side effects of these treatments (both good and bad) are emerging. 

Looking at the positives, a large trial of over 17,600 adults found that Wegovy reduced the rate of cardiovascular events, including heart disease and stroke, by 20%. On the negative side of things, the FDA recently updated the label for Ozempic with a warning about intestinal blockages after multiple reports of the rare but severe side effect. 

Now, there is concern about whether GLP-1s may interact with birth control pills. 

Because GLP-1 medicines slow digestion, they may affect the absorption rate of other oral drugs. By slowing the rate at which food travels through your digestive system, they could potentially delay the absorption of the hormones in birth control pills, which could affect ovulation and fertility. 

We spoke with Dr. Claire Meek, a consultant in the diabetes in pregnancy service at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and principal investigator at the Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., to explore how GLP-1s affect oral birth control. 

Do GLP-1s impact how well birth control pills work?

Overall, research on GLP-1s and birth control is “very sparse,” Meek said. On one hand, Meek said some studies conducted by drug companies have found no evidence that GLP-1s affect birth control absorption. 

For instance, a 2015 study found that Ozempic (semaglutide) did not affect the levels of oral birth control available in the bloodstream. The study was small (just 43 women) and lasted for about 23 weeks. 

However, Meek said she has received reports from patients about issues with GLP-1s and birth control. Indeed, a 2023 case study described a woman with type 2 diabetes who became pregnant while taking Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and birth control pills. 

The interaction between GLP-1s and birth control is unclear

One key problem is that the process by which GLP-1s reduce the effectiveness of birth control isn’t well understood. It’s possible that the weight loss caused by GLP-1s improves fertility, which leads to higher rates of pregnancy. 

“In the longer term, prolonged use of GLP-1 agonists appears to vastly improve fertility, even in people who previously considered themselves infertile,” Meek said. 

Preliminary research suggests that GLP-1s may improve menstrual regularity and increase fertility rates among people with obesity with hormonal disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome. 

It’s also possible that GLP-1s directly reduce the absorption of hormonal contraceptives by delaying gastric emptying, as stated on Mounjaro’s drug label.

Meek said it’s important to consider how consistently you’re taking birth control. Oral contraceptives are most effective at preventing pregnancy when taken every day. However, in real life, people may miss a pill here and there. 

One theory is that a missed dose of birth control has different effects depending on your body weight. If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight and you miss a birth control pill, it may have a greater effect on improving fertility than a missed pill would have on someone with a higher body weight. 

“It’s quite possible that missing a dose of birth control is more likely to result in pregnancy when you’re on a GLP-1 agonist, as substantial weight loss with improved glucose levels will improve fertility,” Meek said. 

“It’s a very different situation to missing a dose when you have obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia, which all reduce fertility,” she added.

Key considerations for taking a GLP-1 and oral birth control

Currently, the drug labels for GLP-1s do not include recommendations regarding birth control pills. 

However, the FDA states that Mounjaro – a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist – may reduce the efficacy of oral birth control due to delayed gastric emptying. According to the drug label, Mounjaro is most likely to reduce birth control efficacy after the first dose, with this potential side effect diminishing over time.

Monitor side effects

It’s common to experience side effects for both GLP-1s and birth control pills when starting either medication. 

Adverse reactions to GLP-1s tend to be gastrointestinal, including symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Side effects of birth control include nausea, breast tenderness, headaches, changes in your period, weight gain, and mood changes. 

“Starting a medication, there will be a period (often 2-4 weeks) when you’re getting used to any side effects,” Meek said. “There can be nausea, vomiting, and changes to gut transit, which can influence the absorption of birth control.”

After starting a GLP-1, Meek said healthcare providers should help you monitor side effects. It’s important to recognize that side effects could also arise from interactions between GLP-1s and any medications you take for other conditions.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you experience serious side effects, such as severe stomach pain, chest pain, new or worsening headaches, blurred vision, fever, severe hypoglycemia, or dehydration after starting a GLP-1 or birth control. 

Use additional protection when starting or increasing GLP-1 doses

If you just started taking a GLP-1 and are on birth control pills, you may want to add a second type of contraceptive to prevent pregnancy. 

For instance, Mounjaro’s label recommends that people taking birth control pills “switch to a non-oral contraceptive method, or add a barrier method of contraception for four weeks after initiation and four weeks after each dose escalation.”

While GLP-1 drug labels do not contain specific recommendations about birth control, you may still want to consider extra protection for peace of mind. This could include a birth control injection, implant, patch, vaginal ring, IUD, or condoms. 

Switch to a long-acting reversible birth control

Meek said she encourages planned pregnancies, rather than unplanned pregnancies, for any person with diabetes. 

Diabetes adds another layer of complexity to pregnancy and increases the risk for serious complications, such as high blood pressure, low blood sugar, and life-threatening birth defects for the baby. Therefore, it’s crucial to plan ahead and work on lowering your A1C and increasing time in range before conceiving. 

“In general, people with any type of diabetes who are not planning a pregnancy are recommended to be on long-acting reversible contraception,” Meek said. 

Examples of long-acting birth control options include an IUD or hormonal implant. These methods last for several years, provide excellent protection against pregnancy, and can be removed at any time. 

Can GLP-1s harm a pregnancy?

The drug labels for Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, and Mounjaro all acknowledge that these medications could potentially impact fertility or harm a developing fetus. 

Meek said there’s not a lot of evidence that GLP-1s cause harm to a fetus, but some animal studies have shown the possibility. 

“We’re still unclear of the risks of GLP-1 agonist use in human pregnancy, and therefore the most cautious approach is to make sure that a GLP-1 is stopped well in advance of trying for pregnancy,” Meek said.

The bottom line on GLP-1s and birth control

Having an individual conversation with your healthcare provider is key to ensure you’re meeting your diabetes and reproductive health goals. 

“I consider GLP-1 agonists a really valuable part of women’s care before and after pregnancy,” Meek said. 

Overall, it’s important to examine risks and benefits for each person individually. It’s also important to consider how risks and benefits may change during transitions from pregnancy prevention and preconception planning to pregnancy and postpartum. 

For anyone with diabetes who is considering becoming pregnant in the future, Meek recommends using preconception care to plan for a healthy pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy services are especially important for people with type 2 diabetes, Meek said, as many have had diabetes for a shorter period and might not know that they’re eligible for such services. 

Ultimately, improving reproductive health for people with diabetes is a matter of “changing conversations to make sure women can access the support and education they need both pre- and post-pregnancy,” Meek said. 

How GLP-1s Impact Birth Control

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Control

This content originally appeared on diaTribe. Republished with permission.

By April Hopcroft

Because GLP-1 receptor agonists slow down digestion, they may delay the absorption of oral medications like birth control pills, which could affect ovulation and fertility.

As more people begin taking GLP-1 receptor agonists and other incretin-based drugs for glycemic control and weight management, new side effects of these treatments (both good and bad) are emerging.

Looking at the positives, a large trial of over 17,600 adults found that Wegovy reduced the rate of cardiovascular events, including heart disease and stroke, by 20%. On the negative side of things, the FDA recently updated the label for Ozempic with a warning about intestinal blockages after multiple reports of the rare but severe side effect.

Now, there is concern about whether GLP-1s may interact with birth control pills.

Because GLP-1 medicines slow digestion, they may affect the absorption rate of other oral drugs. By slowing the rate at which food travels through your digestive system, they could potentially delay the absorption of the hormones in birth control pills, which could affect ovulation and fertility.

We spoke with Dr. Claire Meek, a consultant in the diabetes in pregnancy service at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and principal investigator at the Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., to explore how GLP-1s affect oral birth control.

Do GLP-1s impact how well birth control pills work?

Overall, research on GLP-1s and birth control is “very sparse,” Meek said. On one hand, Meek said some studies conducted by drug companies have found no evidence that GLP-1s affect birth control absorption.

For instance, a 2015 study found that Ozempic (semaglutide) did not affect the levels of oral birth control available in the bloodstream. The study was small (just 43 women) and lasted for about 23 weeks.

However, Meek said she has received reports from patients about issues with GLP-1s and birth control. Indeed, a 2023 case study described a woman with type 2 diabetes who became pregnant while taking Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and birth control pills.

The interaction between GLP-1s and birth control is unclear

One key problem is that the process by which GLP-1s reduce the effectiveness of birth control isn’t well understood. It’s possible that the weight loss caused by GLP-1s improves fertility, which leads to higher rates of pregnancy.

“In the longer term, prolonged use of GLP-1 agonists appears to vastly improve fertility, even in people who previously considered themselves infertile,” Meek said.

Preliminary research suggests that GLP-1s may improve menstrual regularity and increase fertility rates among people with obesity with hormonal disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome.

It’s also possible that GLP-1s directly reduce the absorption of hormonal contraceptives by delaying gastric emptying, as stated on Mounjaro’s drug label.

Meek said it’s important to consider how consistently you’re taking birth control. Oral contraceptives are most effective at preventing pregnancy when taken every day. However, in real life, people may miss a pill here and there.

One theory is that a missed dose of birth control has different effects depending on your body weight. If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight and you miss a birth control pill, it may have a greater effect on improving fertility than a missed pill would have on someone with a higher body weight.

“It’s quite possible that missing a dose of birth control is more likely to result in pregnancy when you’re on a GLP-1 agonist, as substantial weight loss with improved glucose levels will improve fertility,” Meek said.

“It’s a very different situation to missing a dose when you have obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia, which all reduce fertility,” she added.

Key considerations for taking a GLP-1 and oral birth control

Currently, the drug labels for GLP-1s do not include recommendations regarding birth control pills.

However, the FDA states that Mounjaro – a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist – may reduce the efficacy of oral birth control due to delayed gastric emptying. According to the drug label, Mounjaro is most likely to reduce birth control efficacy after the first dose, with this potential side effect diminishing over time.

Monitor side effects

It’s common to experience side effects for both GLP-1s and birth control pills when starting either medication.

Adverse reactions to GLP-1s tend to be gastrointestinal, including symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Side effects of birth control include nausea, breast tenderness, headaches, changes in your period, weight gain, and mood changes.

“Starting a medication, there will be a period (often 2-4 weeks) when you’re getting used to any side effects,” Meek said. “There can be nausea, vomiting, and changes to gut transit, which can influence the absorption of birth control.”

After starting a GLP-1, Meek said healthcare providers should help you monitor side effects. It’s important to recognize that side effects could also arise from interactions between GLP-1s and any medications you take for other conditions.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you experience serious side effects, such as severe stomach pain, chest pain, new or worsening headaches, blurred vision, fever, severe hypoglycemia, or dehydration after starting a GLP-1 or birth control.

Use additional protection when starting or increasing GLP-1 doses

If you just started taking a GLP-1 and are on birth control pills, you may want to add a second type of contraceptive to prevent pregnancy.

For instance, Mounjaro’s label recommends that people taking birth control pills “switch to a non-oral contraceptive method, or add a barrier method of contraception for four weeks after initiation and four weeks after each dose escalation.”

While GLP-1 drug labels do not contain specific recommendations about birth control, you may still want to consider extra protection for peace of mind. This could include a birth control injection, implant, patch, vaginal ring, IUD, or condoms.

Switch to a long-acting reversible birth control

Meek said she encourages planned pregnancies, rather than unplanned pregnancies, for any person with diabetes.

Diabetes adds another layer of complexity to pregnancy and increases the risk for serious complications, such as high blood pressure, low blood sugar, and life-threatening birth defects for the baby. Therefore, it’s crucial to plan ahead and work on lowering your A1C and increasing time in range before conceiving.

“In general, people with any type of diabetes who are not planning a pregnancy are recommended to be on long-acting reversible contraception,” Meek said.

Examples of long-acting birth control options include an IUD or hormonal implant. These methods last for several years, provide excellent protection against pregnancy, and can be removed at any time.

Can GLP-1s harm a pregnancy?

The drug labels for Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, and Mounjaro all acknowledge that these medications could potentially impact fertility or harm a developing fetus.

Meek said there’s not a lot of evidence that GLP-1s cause harm to a fetus, but some animal studies have shown the possibility.

“We’re still unclear of the risks of GLP-1 agonist use in human pregnancy, and therefore the most cautious approach is to make sure that a GLP-1 is stopped well in advance of trying for pregnancy,” Meek said.

The bottom line on GLP-1s and birth control

Having an individual conversation with your healthcare provider is key to ensure you’re meeting your diabetes and reproductive health goals.

“I consider GLP-1 agonists a really valuable part of women’s care before and after pregnancy,” Meek said.

Overall, it’s important to examine risks and benefits for each person individually. It’s also important to consider how risks and benefits may change during transitions from pregnancy prevention and preconception planning to pregnancy and postpartum.

For anyone with diabetes who is considering becoming pregnant in the future, Meek recommends using preconception care to plan for a healthy pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy services are especially important for people with type 2 diabetes, Meek said, as many have had diabetes for a shorter period and might not know that they’re eligible for such services.

Ultimately, improving reproductive health for people with diabetes is a matter of “changing conversations to make sure women can access the support and education they need both pre- and post-pregnancy,” Meek said.

What to Expect After IUD Removal: Ob/Gyn Experts Explain

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Breathe a sigh of relief: Getting it taken out is nothing like getting it inserted.
iud-removed_feature

Whether you have an IUD removal on the books or you’re just wondering what the procedure is like, you’ve come to the right place. IUDs, also known as intrauterine devices, are little T-shaped instruments that reside snugly inside the uterus and ward off pregnancy with a variety of mechanisms. The hormonal kinds release levonorgestrel, a synthetic form of the hormone progestin, to prevent ovulation, thicken cervical mucous, and thin the lining of the uterus, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The non-hormonal IUD releases copper ions, which are toxic to sperm.

IUDs sound like some impressive sci-fi invention, but they’re real, and they’re giving women excellent control over their reproductive futures. But after a certain point, the IUD has got to go, whether you’re ready to start trying for a baby or it’s just reached its time limit.

If you’ve been through the insertion process, which usually ranges from uncomfortable to downright painful, you might think about your future removal date with at least a little trepidation. Good news: Chances are you’ve got nothing to fear. Here, ob/gyns explain exactly what to expect during the removal of your Mirena, ParaGard, or other kind of IUD—both in the moment and afterward.

When do I need to get my IUD removed?

The official recommendations are to remove Mirena, a common hormonal option, five years after insertion. The same goes for Kyleena, another hormonal option from the maker of Mirena. You’ll need to replace hormonal IUDs Liletta and Skylaa bit earlier (four and three years, respectively). As for the copper ParaGard, which doesn’t use hormones? You can keep that superstar in for up to 10 years.

But, of course, you can always get your IUD removed earlier than any of these benchmarks if you want to get pregnant or if you’ve decided another birth control option makes more sense for you.

What actually happens during the IUD removal?

You know those strings hanging out of the bottom of your IUD? This is their time to shine. “The vast majority of the time, [IUD removal] simply involves doing a simple exam much like a Pap smear,” board-certified ob/gyn Antonio Pizarro, M.D., tells SELF. “If the strings are visible, the doctor grasps them using an instrument called ring forceps and gently pulls the IUD out.”

“Usually patients get really worked up, then when it’s done, they say, ‘Oh, that’s it?'” Jacques Moritz, M.D., an ob/gyn at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, tells SELF. The ease of removal comes down to a few major things, he explains: The doctor isn’t using an instrument to push past your cervix (the way they do during insertion), the IUD’s wings don’t have to open up in your uterus (ditto), plus the IUD’s arms just fold in on themselves when it’s being removed, so it’s as small as possible.

Is it painful to have an IUD removed?

“Anyone who has an IUD basically paid the price when getting it—the pain happens during insertion,” Dr. Moritz says. Keep in mind that even when rating the experience as terrible, many women say the pain of getting an IUD was well worth it since they provide such stellar protection against pregnancy.

“Everybody gets nervous about [removal], but it should almost not be felt. Just one deep breath, and it’s done,” Dr. Moritz says. Can’t you practically feel your uterus relaxing at this very welcome news? Even better, depending on your insurance, the entire cost of the removal may be covered.

Are there any IUD removal complications?

Most often, the process only takes a few minutes, then you’re good to go. But in the rare case that the doctor can’t find the strings, removal becomes a bit more involved. The IUD strings can shift a bit, sometimes curling up around the cervix so they’re harder to access, or maybe they were cut too short in the first place. In those instances, doctors can try to “tease” them out using some instruments, and it won’t exactly feel pleasant, Dr. Moritz says. “It’s not super painful, but definitely uncomfortable,” he explains. He gives himself a cutoff of 10-15 minutes to try teasing the IUD out. If that doesn’t work, other measures will.

“Rarely do IUDs become dislodged or the strings get lost,” Dr. Pizarro says. But on the off chance that something like that happens, doctors may use an ultrasound or hysteroscope (a thin lit tube that allows a doctor to see inside the uterus) to locate the IUD so they can remove it, potentially with anesthesia depending on the situation. “Even then, it’s limited invasiveness,” Dr. Pizarro says.

What kind of IUD removal side effects should I be prepared for?

You might feel a cramp as it the doctor pulls it out (again, it shouldn’t feel anything like the one some women experience during insertion) or you might not even realize it’s happened, Dr. Pizarro says. You may also experience some residual cramping or a little bleeding after an IUD removal, but as long as it isn’t severe and goes away in a few hours or, at worst, a couple of days, you don’t have anything to worry about.

One thing to really think about is that your period may change. The specific way it might change after IUD removal depends on what kind of IUD you had and how the device changed your cycle over time. Hormonal and non-hormonal IUDs change periods in different ways. You might enjoy lighter, less painful periods on a hormonal IUD like Mirena—or they may stop completely. So, when you get a hormonal IUD removed, your period will probably revert to what it was like without hormones, Dr. Moritz says.

As for the copper IUD, it’s all about how your body adjusted to it over time. Copper IUDs can make periods heavier and crampier at first, but for some women, that abates, while others deal with more intense periods the entire time. After getting a copper IUD removed, your period might become lighter and less annoying or not change much at all, the experts explain.

How long does it take to get pregnant after an IUD?

“Fertility is possible immediately,” Dr. Pizarro says. If you’re not ready to have kids yet or ever and your removal was normal, it might make sense for you to get another IUD in the same visit (this is often easier both time-wise and mindset-wise).

If you decide not to get a new IUD for whatever reason and you’re not interested in making babies, be sure to find another solid form of contraception you can rely on to keep you childfree.

Birth Control Could Raise Depression Risk

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If you’ve ever thought that your birth control might be messing with your mood, you may be right: The pill and other types of hormonal contraception may increase the risk of depression, suggests a Danish study of more than 1 million women and teenage girls.

Some of the highest risks were in teenage girls

To date, the research on contraception and depression has been mixed—despite the fact that mood swings are a well-known reason some women stop using birth control. In fact, as the authors state in their paper in JAMA Psychiatry, that may be a reason why science has underestimated its effects on emotional health: If women feel depressed and take themselves off of birth control, they’re less likely to be included in studies that could show a link.

To avoid this problem, University of Copenhagen scientists designed a huge, nationally representative study sample, including more than 1 million women ages 15 to 34. They grouped the women into two main groups—users and nonusers of hormonal contraceptives. About 55% of the women were in the “user” group, including anyone who’d been on birth control in the previous six months. (They were put in this group in order to include anyone who’d recently quit because of depressive symptoms.) The researchers followed the women for an average of 6.4 years.

When they analyzed the data, they found that women using combination birth control pills—which contain both estrogen and progestin (and are the most commonly used type)—were 23% more likely to have been prescribed an antidepressant, compared to nonusers. Those on a progestin-only pill were 34% more likely.

The risks for other types of hormonal birth control were even higher. Compared to women who didn’t use any hormonal contraception, the rate of antidepressant prescriptions increased by 40% for those using a progestin-only IUD (levonorgestrel); 60% for those using a vaginal ring (etonogestrel); and 100% for those using a patch (norgestrolmin).

The findings support the authors’ theory that the hormone progesterone—and its synthetic version, progestin—can play a role in the development of depression. The fact that progestin-only pills and IUDs had higher depression rates than combined pills was especially telling, they wrote. (The higher risk among women using the patch and the ring was likely due to differences in hormonal dosage, they say, rather than delivery method.)

Some of the highest risk rates were seen among teenage girls, who were 80% more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant when they were on combined birth control pills—and 120% more likely when they were on progestin-only pills—compared to those who didn’t use any hormonal birth control. For teens who used non-oral hormonal products, their risk tripled.

It’s important to point out that, while depression is a common and significant problem, most of the study participants (in all groups) were not affected. In total, about 12.5% of women—users and nonusers combined—were prescribed an antidepressant for the first time during the study period, and about 2% were given a first-time diagnosis of depression.

While the study had many strengths, including its large sample size and its exclusion of anyone with a prior depression diagnosis, the authors did note a few limitations. Not all depressed women are diagnosed or treated with antidepressants, they wrote, and not all antidepressants are prescribed for depression.

Further studies are needed to examine depression as a potential side effect of birth-control use, says lead author and clinical professor Øjvind Lidegaard, MD. But it’s not too early for doctors and concerned patients (or parents) to put these findings to use, he tells Health.

“Women who develop depression after starting on oral contraceptives should consider this use as a contributing factor,” he says. Furthermore, he adds, “doctors should include these aspects together with other risks and benefits with use of hormonal contraceptives, when they advise women to which type of contraception is the most suitable for that specific woman.”

This is especially important for teenage girls, he says, who seem to be most vulnerable to this association, and to the risk factors for depression overall. “Doctors should ensure that women, especially young women, are not already depressed or have a history of depression,” he says, “and they should inform women about this potential risk.”

Birth Control Of The Future: New Condom Mimics Human Skin, Making Safe Sex Feel Better Than Ever

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Condoms are seen as a necessary evil when it comes to safe sex. Rubbers are cheap, useful in preventing the spread of HIV and other STDs and, most importantly, 99.9 percent effective. The one caveat is that they feel like a pair of tight leather pants. A biochemist from Arizona State University has decided to make condoms more fun, and sexier to wear.

Condoms

Shengxi Chen has designed “the condom of the future” using a material that mimics human skin, making condoms feel more comfortable for both partners. Unlike traditional rubbers, Chen’s condom is made from a hydrophilic material, a smoother, water-loving material that has 1.7 times more tensile strength than normal condoms. This will allow men to better feel the sensations and not worry about breakage.

“We are trying to put it to the market because I think that it is truly interesting. It’s better than the other condoms, and we don’t want this to just stay in the lab,” said Chen, in a statement.

With his patented condom, Chen has registered a start-up company called Joys LLC. However, barely-there condoms will not be on the market just yet. The next step is to obtain funding, through grants or investors, produce the condom in a commercial setting, and run it through the safety and performance tests required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Chen is aware, like many of us, that “With condoms, for many, many years nobody changed them.”

A new condom that makes safe sex feel hotter is something worth investing in.

The Pill Remains Most Common Method of Birth Control, U.S. Report Shows

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The pill remains one of the most popular methods of birth control for women, along with female sterilization and condoms, a new report shows.

Among the two-thirds of women aged 15 to 44 who used birth control between 2011 and 2013, approximately 16 percent used the pill.

Female sterilization, where women have their fallopian tubes closed or blocked, was used by 15.5 percent of women, while 9.4 percent used male condoms, according to the report published Dec. 11 by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

But intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, both types of long-acting reversible contraceptives, are close on the heels of these other forms of birth control, with 7.2 percent of women using them.

“Use of long-acting reversible contraceptives is becoming more popular,” said report author Kimberly Daniels, of the NCHS. Their use has nearly doubled since the last report on findings from five years earlier, when approximately 3.8 percent of women were using them, Daniels said.

The most popular long-acting reversible contraception is the IUD, used by 3.5 percent of women in 2006 to 2010 and by 6.4 percent of women in 2011 to 2013, according to Daniels. The IUDs available in the United States include two hormonal versions, Mirena and Skyla, and one containing copper, ParaGard.

This increase in long-acting reversible contraception has followed changes in guidelines by leading health care organizations that now recommend their use to younger women and those without children, said Laura Lindberg, a senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute.

When IUDs came out years ago, there were concerns they might raise the risk of pelvic infection and jeopardize a woman’s fertility. But IUDs currently on the market don’t carry those risks, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The academy now recommends these contraception devices as the first option for teens.

But Lindberg added that they do not protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

“Currently, male and female condoms are the only methods on the market that prevent both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections,” Lindberg said. “Until such time as other options become available, continuing to promote and support the use of these methods, either alone or in conjunction with a hormonal method, is critical to reducing the risk of STIs.”

Studies have shown that long-acting reversible contraceptive methods are more effective than the pill, patch or ring, even in young women, according to Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for external medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

“They’re a great birth control option if you want to preserve your fertility — you think you may want kids in the future but not right now — but also desire long-term, highly effective pregnancy prevention,” Cullins said. “Their very low failure rates are because women who use them do not have to remember to do anything before sex, or daily or monthly or even every three months — once it’s been inserted, you can pretty much forget about it.”

The report found condom use to be similar, about 9 percent, across whites, blacks and Hispanics, but other contraceptive forms showed differences across various race/ethnicity groups.

Female sterilization, for example, was higher among black women, at 21 percent, than it was in white women, at 14 percent. But use of the pill by white women, at 19 percent, was almost double the use by Hispanic (11 percent) and black women (10 percent).

The reason for these differences relates to health care access, Cullins said.

“We know that black and Hispanic women are less likely to have access to regular affordable health care, less likely to have insurance, and access to contraception is part of that,” Cullins said. “Cost is a huge barrier. When a woman has to make a choice between her birth control and feeding her kids, birth control is going to get short shrift.”

Similarly, until the Affordable Care Act, uninsured women only qualified for insurance while pregnant or immediately postpartum, leading many to opt for sterilization while the health insurance was available to pay for it as a contraception method, Cullins said.

This situation applies to differences seen in educational levels as well: 27 percent of women with only a high school diploma or G.E.D. were using sterilization, compared to 10 percent of women with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

“This is one of the many reasons that the Affordable Care Act is so important,” Cullins said. “Because of the ACA’s birth control benefit, millions more women have access to no-copay birth control, so cost is no longer a barrier.”

Cullins said the popularity of the pill is predominantly due to familiarity — it has been around longer than most other methods — and pharmaceutical company marketing. But she said it’s important to recognize that women’s birth control needs change over time, so they need to pick the method that best fits their lives.

“Women who use a birth control method that fits their needs are more likely to prevent pregnancy because they are more likely to continue using their method,” Cullins said. “The easier it is for women to prevent unintended pregnancies, the better they are able to plan their futures, start their families when they’re ready, have healthy relationships with their life partners and take care of their health — and that’s good for all of us.”

Why male birth control is a million disasters waiting to happen.

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It was 100 degrees out but I couldn’t stop shivering. I wore two shirts, jeans, and a heavy hoody but was still colder than I had ever been in my life.

Several months prior to the chills I started to have trouble sleeping. The urge to urinate woke me up about every two hours. I woke up about four times a night to take a piss. Each time hardly anything would actually come out.

At first I wrote it off.

Maybe I’m drinking too much water before bed, I thought. After all, I did drink tons of water throughout the day.

Then I started having problems urinating during the day. I’d whip it out to piss and then…nothing. Sometimes it’d be a full minute until I could actually get a stream going.

The pain started a few weeks later. It felt like a burning-hot screwdriver was being shoved up my phallus every time I tried to pee. There was pain even when I didn’t go to the bathroom. The sensation was as if everything beneath my stomach was crammed into a blender, torn apart, and then lit on fire. There was also pain in my sides. I don’t have quite as dramatic an explanation for that pain. If you’ve ever been punched before, imagine that but coming from the inside.

Regular visits to the gynecologist are essentially a must for a woman. While this has to suck, the upshot is that it forces them to understand their sexual health and reproductive health better than any man understands their own. It also, presumably, makes them less afraid of invasive tests since they have to endure them on a semi-regular basis. That’s why I put off going to the urologist for so long, because I was afraid of getting a tube put in my dick. Eventually, I couldn’t stand the pain and constant chills anymore, and I saw the doctor.

The doctor said I had a severe bacterial kidney infection that spread to the bladder and prostate—so basically a kidney infection, a urinary tract infection, and prostatitis.

I took the most powerful antibiotics they’re allowed to prescribe and after a while the pain went away…but the nocturia (getting up to pee a lot during the night) and the long delay before urinating. I went back to the doctor and he said the bladder muscle had become spastic and overactive as a result of the prolonged infection.

He prescribed a medicine to help me with my symptoms. I can’t remember the name, but I know it belonged to a class of medicines calledAlpha Blockers.

“One thing about this medicine,” the doctor said as he typed the prescription into the computer. “There’s a chance it can cause retrograde ejaculation.”

“Um…what?” I asked. I obviously knew what ejaculation meant but “retrograde” could’ve meant anything.

“Dry orgasms. No seminal fluid,” he said. In more specific terms, retrograde ejaculation is when semen gets sent into the bladder rather than out into a sock, condom, or, if you’re lucky, a crevasse belonging to your significant other.

I was weirded out but he said there was only a chance, right? So that meant there was a chance it didn’t cause retrograde ejaculation.

This pathetic bit of self delusion lasted until my first jerk-off session on the medicine. I felt the familiar build-up of pleasure and tension (I call it plension) and then… nothing. Not only was there no semen, there was no electric rush, no hip-bucking, and no release.

After about a month of this, I asked to switch to a different medicine. As far as I knew, that’d be the last time I’d ever have to think or hear about dry orgasms and retrograde ejaculation.

I was wrong.

Male birth control is swift becoming a highly discussed issue among social justice circles and the Internet in general.

One proposed method of male birth control is the use of alpha blockers to intentionally cause dry orgasms. Another, more recently publicizedstrategy is using gel to block the vas deferens—the tube sperm travels through—thereby preventing sperm from ever coming out of the penis (forgive the pun). The latter product could be available in three years.

The Daily Beast’s Samantha Allen, who is also a frequent contributor at the Daily Dot, noted that male birth control could have a multitude of wondrous impacts on society, and would greatly aid women since they would no longer be subject to the deleterious affects of The Pill.

Allen’s interpretation of the facts is accurate, but it paints too rosy a picture. The coming wave of male birth control will make conversations about reproductive health more vitriolic and hateful, not less.

First, insertion of gel into the vas deferens is an invasive procedure—far more invasive than popping a pill every day. A significant percentage of America’s 150 million-plus men will not go for it no matter how economical it is or how beneficial to society it is. American culture is too patriarchal and while #NotAllMen are this selfish, most are.

The bigger concern, however, isn’t the procedure but the dry orgasm.

“Dry orgasm” is a misnomer. Yeah it’s dry, but calling it an orgasm is just wrong. My dry “orgasms” felt like being 12 again—old enough to get a boner looking at porn illegally downloaded from Napster but not actually old enough for your member to spew forth any precious fluids.

I’m not alone in realizing that dry orgasms remove pleasure from sex. Astudy performed in 2009 found that “a strong decline in ejaculatory volume is associated with reduced sexual pleasure” when they gave men alpha blockers. The study noted the men were “greatly dissatisfied with the ejaculatory dysfunction” from the alpha blockers.

I lost all sex drive almost immediately once I started having dry orgasms. I didn’t even respond to a “booty call” I got while I was on the alpha blockers because I just didn’t care. What was the point of having sex if I knew I was incapable of enjoying it?

Cynics and jokesters would say “Well, if male birth control reduces libido then mission accomplished: No kids!”

Birth control isn’t just a preventative measure; it enables people to fully enjoy sex while avoiding the grave biological and financial consequences of sex. Male birth control, however, prevents pleasure as well as pregnancy.

Look, I’m not a men’s rights activist. I’m not trying to say women should be subjugated and forced to take the pill for as long as they live. I’m just saying that male birth control is highly imperfect. If you’re expecting it to take the world by storm in 2017, don’t. Once the first crop of men feel what a dry orgasm is like, it’ll start a new culture war. Imagine the GIF vs. JIF debate, but 10,000 times worse because it’ll be filled with more hate and it’ll be an issue that actually matters.

I guarantee you there will be a contingent of men comparing male birth control to female circumcision in that it robs both groups of pleasure. The web will be inundated with articles just like this one explaining just how awful male birth control is for men’s sexual health. And maybe we don’t deserve sexual health for all the atrocities we’ve committed against females, but good luck convincing America of that.

This birth control innovation isn’t a solution, it’s 150 million problems waiting to happen.

Condom-less male birth control may be available as early as 2017

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Studies suggest a new form of reversible male birth control is working in baboons, and clinical trials in humans are scheduled to start next year.

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According to a recent statement from the Parsemus Foundation, a not-for-profit that focusses on developing low-cost medical solutions, a reversible, condomless male birth control option could be available as early as 2017.

The new birth control is known as Vasalgel, and is a non-hormonal polymer that blocks the vas deferens – the tube that’s cut during vasectomies, which transports sperms from the testes out of the penis. And trials in baboons suggest that it’ll be ready to be trialled in humans next year.

Six months ago Vasalgel was injected into three male baboons, who were then given unrestricted sexual access to 10 to 15 fertile female baboons each. Despite frequent mating, none of the female baboons have fallen pregnant, as journalist Samantha Allen reports for The Daily Beast.

The Parsemus Foundation is now going to flush the Vasalgel out of the baboons and test their fertility, to make sure that the procedure is definitely reversible. And another eight baboons are now beginning a new three- or six-month trial after being injected with Vasalgel.

“By the time the year ends, we will have a lot more information on the efficacy of Vasalgel – and, if all goes well, will be planning for clinical trials with humans to start next year,” the press release explains.

And, according to their FAQ page, the company hopes to see the treatment on the market by 2017 for less than the cost of a flat-screen TV.

Unlike most forms of female birth control, Vasalgel isn’t hormonal, and would only need to be injected once to block pregnancy for a long period of time. Basically, the polymer contraceptive is injected straight into the vas deferens, which it physically blocks up and stops any sperm getting through. A second injection flushes the polymer out when a man wants to reverse the procedure,Allen explains.

Of course, this contraceptive wouldn’t protect against sexually transmitted infections such as herpes and HIV, so condom use would still be recommended for many sexual interactions. But if all goes to plan, this will be an effective and much-needed additional option that couples can choose from when protecting against unwanted pregnancies. And more choice = more protection.

The Quest for a Male Contraceptive.

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John Amory, a doctor at the University of Washington, has been developing a male contraceptive for 15 years. Turns out, it’s harder than it sounds. We spoke with him to find out why.

PopSci: Why is it taking so long to produce a birth-control pill for men?

John Amory: Women make one egg a month, but men make 1,000 sperm every second of every day, from puberty until the day they die. Turning that off is difficult.

PS: How does hormone contraception work?

JA: If you give a man enough testosterone, the brain will shut down the secretion of gonadotropins, which are the hormones that signal the testes to make sperm. This is why most bodybuilders are infertile, by the way. But it doesn’t work in all men.

PS: How many men does testosterone work for?

JA: We have never been able to get more than 95 percent effectiveness. It’s possible to identify who testosterone won’t work for, but it involves getting a lot of sperm counts. It would be much nicer if you could just say, “Take this and it will work.” Women don’t have to undergo ovulation detections and testing to see if the Pill is going to work for them.

PS: The World Health Organization funded a study across eight countries for hormone-based contraception, but last year, it shut down the study early. What happened?

JA: There were side effects, including severe depression. Some men don’t take hormonal shifts very well.

PS: What other approaches might work?

JA: Sperm have a pretty daunting mission. There’s a lot that can go wrong. Researchers have injected monkeys with eppin, a protein that coats sperm so they can’t swim. There’s also the process by which sperm make energy. If you can block that, you’d get tired sperm. Also, the testes need vitamin A to produce sperm, and there’s an enzyme that converts vitamin A to its active metabolite, retinoic acid. No retinoic acid, no sperm. I’m developing drug inhibitors that stop retinoic-acid production in the testes. I’m hopeful that we’ll have something approved in five years.

PS: Do you expect much demand for the male pill?

JA: Yes. Men are interested in having sex. Most of the time they’re not as interested in fathering a pregnancy.

http://www.popsci.com

THERE IS NO CONTROVESY IN CONTRACEPTIVES.

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“I believe every girl and woman deserves the opportunity to determine her future.”

Why the Urgency?

Today, more than 200 million women in developing countries who don’t want to get pregnant lack access to contraceptives. This is a life and death crisis. Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death for women in Africa.

Why Contraceptives?

Contraceptives save lives. Giving women and girls access to contraceptives is transformational – families become healthier, wealthier, and better educated.

Reducing unintended pregnancies leads to fewer girls dropping out of school and greater opportunity to escape poverty. Contraceptives are one of the best investments a country can make in its future.

Contraceptives are cost-effective and deliver big savings in healthcare costs. Each dollar spent on family planning can save governments up to 6 dollars on health, housing, water, and other public services.

What Can You Do?

Surely, there is no controversy in raising your voice for millions of women and girls who want access to contraceptives.

We all have a story. Whether it’s your own story—or someone you know—chances are that contraceptives have impacted your life. Pledge your support and share your story today.

 

Watch this video on youtube. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LhAhg-PdJ1Q

 

Source: http://www.no-controversy.com/