Many unplanned pregnancies occur because women lack information on the possible consequences of combining antibiotics and birth control pills. You can read a lot on antibiotics and birth control now thanks to the development of the Internet, but there are some very resilient myths out there. Reality is nevertheless different from the scientific point of view, and the following lines should help you understand that.

The action of hormonal pills is usually impaired by one antibiotic in particular: rifampin. Generally speaking, when antibiotics and birth control are used in parallel, the efficiency of the contraceptives gets lower in for a limited number of women. It is because of this incidence, even if small, that doctors advise for the use of an extra birth control solution such as condoms. It is impossible to tell who will experience decreased efficiency, until it is too late.

Another issue worth considering in relation to the treatment with antibiotics and birth control pills is that of modern hormonal products that are in fact prone to lower effectiveness rates. The problem is that modern birth control products have very low hormonal combinations for a reduction of the 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 do not make a good association because of the chemical reactions that take place in the liver. The antibiotics accelerate the breaking down of estrogens, and without a proper level of these chemicals in the blood, the efficiency of the birth control pills drops considerably. Caution is the best course of action under the circumstances, even if the incidence of unplanned pregnancies is not too high.

All drug manufacturers will therefore mention the potential interference of antibiotics and birth control pills with the decrease of efficiency 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 adapt to these sudden hormonal changes. Talk to the health care provider before taking any drug mentioning the fact that you are on birth control pills. There are lots of other drugs that could impair the efficiency of birth control. It’s better to seek information than be sorry later.

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