How does a morning after pill work?: How does a morning after pill work?:
Several ways exist to prevent pregnancy, such as oral contraceptives, condoms and contraceptives injected. However, if contraception fails (from a broken condom) or if no contraception was used first, and pregnancy is not desirable, then morning after pills come in the picture.
Emergency contraceptive pills are available over the counter for women 18 years of age or older.
To understand how a morning after pill works, you must first try to understand the female reproductive cycle.
The menstrual cycle consists of many hormones and the female reproductive system is very complicated.
The pituitary gland secretes follicle stimulating hormone a woman shortly after the beginning of his periods. The function of this hormone is to instruct the ovaries to prepare a follicle for ovulation.
After a follicle grows, it begins producing the hormone estrogen. estrogen thickens the lining of the uterus and prepares it to accept a fertilized egg. Before ovulation, the ovaries secrete the hormone progesterone.
When the level of estrogen in the blood is sufficiently high, the pituitary secretes luteinizing hormone (LH). This hormone causes the follicle to release the egg into the fallopian tube. If a sperm is able to successfully fertilize the egg and other conditions are also favorable, egg implants itself in the uterine wall and pregnancy occurs.
If fertilization does not occur and the woman does not get pregnant, she starts menstruating.
Only a window of 24 hours for the egg is fertilized to obtain, but the sperm can survive for 3-5 days in the body of a woman.
Emergency contraception or morning after pills work by either preventing ovulation or fertilization or by preventing the attachment of the fertilized egg in the lining of the uterus as the stage of menstrual cycle in women.
The morning after pills containing levonorgestrel or delay or completely prevent the release of an egg. You must take two pills containing 0.75 mg levonorgestrel in each dose. The first dose should be taken soon after intercourse and the second dose should be consumed at a gap of 12 hours of the first dose.
How does the levonorgestrel is not yet clear, but is believed to disrupt the meeting of sperm and egg in the fallopian tubes. This is caused due to the artificial increase in hormone levels in the body. Levonorgestrel is less effective if ovulation has already taken.
Mifepristone is also another ingredient used in some types of pills the next day. It is a steroid that causes abortion in early pregnancy.
Posted on March 12, 2010.