Antibiotics and Birth Control
I hope that the following article will help you to better grasp antibiotics and birth control and theconsequences it can have on you.
Many unplanned pregnancies occur because women lack information on the possible consequences of combining antibiotics and birth control pills. Stories have been created over the years and lots of stories now dominate the Internet with serious warnings about the inefficiency of birth control pills when administered in conjunction with antibiotics. Reality is nonetheless different from the scientific point of view, and the following lines should help you comprehend that.
The action of hormonal pills is usually impaired by one antibiotic in particular: rifampin. Principally speaking, when antibiotics and birth control are used in parallel, the effectiveness of the contraceptives gets lower in for a limited number of women. Even if the incidence of such occurrences is diminished doctors advise for the use of an extra birth control method such as condoms. No one can really tell who is more exposed to this lowered efficiency until actually facing the situation.
Modern hormonal products seem to be more affected by the interactions between antibiotics and birth control. The explanation for this inconvenience comes from the low concentration of ingredients used so as to minimize side effects. Besides rifamin, other medicines with a higher risk of interference include amoxacillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, minocycline, penicillin and sulfonamide.
Antibiotics and birth control pills represent an inconvenient medical combination because of the synthesis of the compounds in the liver. The antibiotics stimulate a more rapid breaking down of estrogens, and since these compounds are the main ingredients of birth control pills, the level of hormones in the blood will be lower. Although the situations when unplanned pregnancy appears in such conditions are not that numerous, caution is the best course of action.
All drug manufacturers will therefore mention the potential interference of antibiotics and birth control pills with the decrease of effectiveness for the latter. It is also important to talk to the doctor whether you have to continue using the extra birth control method after the cessation of the antibiotic treatment or not.
Some women choose to stop taking their birth control pills while following a treatment with antibiotics, but this is hardly a solution given how difficult it is for the body to adjust to these sudden hormonal changes. Talk to the doctor before taking any drug mentioning the fact that you are on birth control pills. Besides antibiotics, other medications could also decrease the effectiveness of the hormonal barrier.