A recent study led by Professor Anna Glasier, at the University of Edinburgh, suggests that morning after pill is less effective on women weighing more than 75kg and ineffective on women weighing more than 80kg.
When we asked the Health & Nutrition panelist Dr. Avan F. Dadina, Obstetrics & Gynecologist, about her views on the same, here’s what she had to say: “It is true; the efficacy of the morning after pill depends upon the weight of the woman taking it. Obesity plays a vital factor not only in the morning after pill, but also the normal or regular contraceptive pill.”
Dr Anjali Talwalkar Obstetrics & Gynecologist, at Kohinoor Hospital warns that a morning after pill is to be taken only as a standby in an emergency as it is essentially swallowing extra doses of contraceptives “which could lead to thromboembolism”. This is potentially dangerous condition in which a clot can break loose and travel to the lungs to trigger pulmonary embolism or to the brain to cause a stroke.
Even in a less dire scenario, says Dr. Talwalkar, the morning after pill is unreliable, because the amount of hormones produced by the ovaries is much more than that supplied by the Pill, thereby rendering it ineffective. “It may cause a woman to believe she’s not pregnant (because the Pill triggers periods) when in fact she may be,” she adds.
Which is why, adds Dr. Sukriti Jain, Consultant Gynecologist attached to SSD Hospital, she never recommends it to her patients.
The take home lesson: Never take the Pill – morning after or the regular kind – without a prescription. You may just end up getting a nasty surprise 9 months down the road.
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