That’s about every 3 months, or 4 times a year. To get the shot’s full birth control powers, you have to remember to get a new shot every 12-13 weeks. The other great thing about condoms is that they also protect against pregnancy, which means that using condoms along with the shot gives you awesome pregnancy-preventing power! How do I make the shot work best for me? Luckily, using condoms every time you have sex really lowers the chance of getting or spreading STDs. The shot is really good at preventing pregnancy, but it won’t protect you from sexually transmitted infections. And when the sperm and the egg can’t get together, pregnancy can’t happen. When the mucus on the cervix is thicker, the sperm can’t get through. It also works by making cervical mucus thicker. When there’s no egg in the tube, pregnancy can’t happen. Progestin stops you from getting pregnant by preventing ovulation. The birth control shot (sometimes called Depo-Provera, the Depo shot, or DMPA) contains the hormone progestin. Find Abortion Provider How does the birth control shot work? (If you've had a second trimester pregnancy loss, you will likely have the same birth control options, but if you choose to have an IUD inserted right away, you may be at a slightly higher risk of it being expelled.AGE This field is required. When that's the case, your provider may recommend an additional waiting period before placing an IUD. Miscarriages, Lawson notes, can be more prolonged and leave the cervix open longer, which can increase the infection risk. Once all tissue has passed following a miscarriage or abortion, IUDs are safe to use. People who've had a first trimester miscarriage or abortion usually ovulate about two weeks after losing their pregnancy (some a little sooner, some a little later) as the body simply restarts its menstrual cycle. The majority of miscarriages take place during the first trimester, as well as the majority of abortions. That's because the same blood clotting risk that's associated with the postpartum period isn't found after a first trimester pregnancy loss, according to Lawson. If you want to go back on birth control following any type of pregnancy loss, it's safe to start birth control pills right away. The majority of these losses happen when the embryo doesn't develop properly, completely out of the pregnant person's control. About 1 in 10 pregnancies will end in a miscarriage (the risk increases with age), and some estimates say the general number is actually much higher given the amount of losses that happen soon after conception, before many people even realize they're pregnant. Pregnancy loss or miscarriage is also a common experience. If you've experienced a pregnancy loss and would like to start birth control for whatever reason and for whatever length of time, you can safely do so. Nathan says she avoids Depo-Provera for patients with mood issues, however, because the shot can exacerbate the symptoms.īecause everyone's health history is unique, talk with your doctor about finding the right birth control for you if you're concerned about postpartum depression or are experiencing mood changes. In general, Nathan says, the birth control pill and IUDs are well-tolerated by women with postpartum mood issues, and birth control is still recommended for those patients because having an unintended pregnancy "would cause a lot more mental stress than going on medication that may or may not cause any problems." Many people experience postpartum depression or other mood issues during the dramatic hormonal and lifestyle changes that drive new parenthood. Leena Nathan, an OB-GYN at University of California, Los Angeles Health, says she doesn't recommend breastfeeding alone as a contraceptive method to patients because it can be hard to predict when ovulation will start up again.Ĭarol Yepes/Getty Images What if I'm at risk for postpartum depression? Interestingly, pumping is thought to interfere with the birth control effect because it doesn't send the same signal to your brain as an infant's suckling, so it doesn't keep ovulation suppressed.ĭr. This is nature's cool way of preserving your resources by spacing out pregnancy, and it can work for about six months.īut nursing on demand every few hours during the day and night isn't sustainable for many people, and using breastfeeding as birth control won't work if you also feed your baby formula for some meals, if you use a breast pump or do anything other than exclusively nurse. If you exclusively and frequently breastfeed (which, according to the American College for Obstetricians and Gynecologists, means at least every four hours during the day and every six hours at night) your body won't ovulate, which means your menstrual cycle won't start and you can't get pregnant.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |