Birth Control and Antibiotics

Do antibiotics and birth control mix? There's proof that taking antibiotics can meddle with the efficiency of birth control pills as well as other hormonal process.

Be careful with Antibiotics

Birth control pills stop pregnancy wonderfully. Used in the approved manner, they're more than ninety-nine percent effective. But, few things can meddle with efficiency. For instance, many ladies forget to take their pills on a regular basis. Few medicines, including herbals and over-the-counter drugs, may as well cause the pill to function less well.

Few doctors always warn ladies who are taking both antibiotics and hormonal birth control to use an encouragement method. However, other doctors don't talk about it. What's the fact? If you are on the pill and you have to take penicillin for a painful throat, do you want to worry about becoming pregnant?

What the Investigation Shows

For many ladies, most antibiotics and most birth control pills, there mustn’t be a dilemma. The pill must continue to function well during the week or two you are taking the medication. Nevertheless, medical studies have found that in few ladies, common antibiotics can decrease the hormone in birth control pills or the quantity of estradiol, in the bloodstream. If the estradiol level gets too low, the drug won't function to stop pregnancy.

How do you recognize if you're one of the ladies who will be affected? Unluckily, there's no means to tell. For this cause, it's a good thought to use a second way of birth control while you are taking antibiotics.

One definite antibiotic, known as rifampin, is particularly possible to decrease the pill's efficiency. This drug is frequently given for tuberculosis, and it's as well used against a type of bacteria that reasons meningitis. Your physician may recommend it for other infections as well. Ladies taking rifampin must always use a backup process.

Making Use of a Backup Method

Your physician can assist you decide whether you want to use a backup process when you're taking antibiotics and hormonal birth control. A common suggestion is to use the backup process, together with your birth control pills, just for two weeks. On the other hand, what you in fact need to do will rely on what antibiotic you are taking and how long you are taking it.

Your doctor will perhaps suggest that you continue taking your pills but as well use a diaphragm, condoms, or another barrier process. Antibiotics can also affect other hormonal methods, like the patch or the ring, so you mustn’t use one of those as your backup.