Can You Take Plan B Before Sex
⚡ ALL INFORMATION CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
Can You Take Plan B Before Sex
Can You Run A Marathon While Pregnant? Experts Say It Depends
Can Sex Positions Determine A Baby's Gender? Experts Weigh In
Pregnancy Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: How To Find Relief
Everything To Know About Pilates During Pregnancy
What Parents Are Talking About — Delivered Straight To Your Inbox
© 2022 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
It can help prevent pregnancy after sex, but before is a different story.
It happens: a condom breaks, pull-and-pray becomes more pray than pull, or you realize you skipped a birth control pill. Thankfully modern medicine has made it so that if you’re not trying to get pregnant and you think there’s a chance you accidentally did, you can take emergency contraception, like Plan B, that significantly lowers the chances of getting pregnant. But if you’re wondering if you can have sex after taking Plan B (sometimes called the morning after pill), then you’ve come to the right place.
Romper spoke with Kelly Cleland, executive director of the American Society for Emergency Contraception , and Dr. Kelly Culwell , board-certified OB/GYN and women’s health expert to find out everything you’ll need to know about having sex after taking Plan B.
You can have sex after taking Plan B if (and this is a very big if!) you have protected sex. Plan B does not work to prevent pregnancy when taken before intercourse. “Plan B only works for a single act of sex and only within five days of unprotected sex (though it is much more effective if you use it as soon as possible after unprotected sex, preferably within three days),” Dr. Culwell says. “If you have sex later in the cycle after taking Plan B and without using another form of contraception, you can definitely get pregnant.”
“Plan B is meant to be used after unprotected sex, not before,” Cleland adds. So in short, you can have protected sex after taking Plan B if you’re up for it (though in the days after you may experience some side effects, like nausea, headaches, abdominal pain, breast tenderness, dizziness, and vomiting—which probably won’t make you super in the mood). If you’re not trying to get pregnant it’s really important to use a condom or a diaphragm, even if you’re on birth control, as it takes seven days of taking consecutive hormonal pills for the body to become protected again after skipping two or more birth control pills , per Cornell Health.
It’s a common misconception that Plan B is the same as the abortion pill, but that is not true; Plan B does not cause abortion or miscarriage. Instead, Plan B has an active ingredient called levonorgestrel, which works by delaying ovulation .
“Given that Plan B delays ovulation, having sex without contraception after Plan B might end up increasing your chances of getting pregnant by timing intercourse around the time of ovulation,” Dr. Culwell says.
There is also a chance that the opposite could be true, though it’s not smart to bank on this happening. “Depending on where someone is in their cycle, it’s possible that Plan B could still prevent pregnancy if they have sex after taking it, but this hasn’t been studied and it’s not worth the risk. To be on the safe side, avoid having unprotected sex after taking Plan B,” Cleland tells Romper.
It’s also important to note that once your luteinizing hormone (LH) surges, which means ovulation is imminent, Plan B can no longer delay ovulation as the drug actually works by suppressing the rise of LH, so the brain does not get the signal to drop an egg (aka ovulate).
“It’s all about timing,” Cleland says. “Plan B only works if it’s taken before the luteinizing hormone (or LH) surge begins. Once the LH surge has started, Plan B can’t prevent ovulation anymore; that’s why it’s so important to take it right away, especially since most people don’t know exactly where they are in their cycle.”
While rare, it’s still possible to get pregnant after taking Plan B, and keep in mind that Plan B can make your next period unpredictable; you may be late or experience spotting, so there may be a reason you’re late after taking Plan B that is not because you’re pregnant.
Plan B can be a lifesaver in those panicky hours when you realize you’ve had unprotected sex. It’s available over-the-counter, and it’s not age or sex-restricted. Essentially anyone who needs it can get it. And while it’s a convenient and safe emergency contraceptive, it’s not the only one out there.
“The prescription pill ( Ella ) is more effective for everyone because it works closer to the time of ovulation. You have up to five days after unprotected sex to take it, but Ella should also be taken as soon as possible,” Cleland says. She adds that you can also get a copper IUD inserted after sex. “It’s nearly 100% effective as an emergency contraceptive and provides at least 12 years of great contraceptive protection if you want to keep it, and effectiveness isn’t impacted by weight.”
The good news is that “there are no serious adverse events from frequent Plan B use,” Dr. Culwell says, but frequent use can get expensive and “it’s far less effective than regular contraceptive methods. If you are using Plan B a lot, you might consider getting on a regular contraceptive.”
Dr. Kelly Culwell , board-certified OB/GYN and women’s health expert
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Angle down icon
An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down.
Home
Chevron icon
It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.
Health
By
Ashley Laderer
Twitter icon
A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting.
Twitter
Snapchat icon
A ghost.
Snapchat
Fliboard icon
A stylized letter F.
Flipboard
Pinterest icon
The letter "P" styled to look like a thumbtack pin.
Pinterest
Link icon
An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url.
Copy Link
This article was medically reviewed by Lauren Demosthenes, MD, OB-GYN, senior medical director at Babyscripts .
Our stories are reviewed by medical professionals to ensure you get the most accurate and useful information about your health and wellness. For more information, visit our medical review board.
Ashley Laderer is a freelance writer from New York who specializes in health and wellness. Follow her on Twitter @ashladerer
HEALTH
7 important things to know before taking Plan B, according to OB-GYNs
HEALTH
Common Plan B side effects and what to expect after you've taken it
HEALTH
Does Plan B expire? Yes, and it may be less effective if you take it
HEALTH
Bleeding after Plan B: When it's normal and when it's an early pregnancy sign
Reference Library
Reproductive Health
Chevron icon
It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.
Close icon
Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.
Plan B, commonly known as "the morning-after pill," can effectively prevent you from becoming pregnant, but only if you take it at the right time.
And while there's no limit to how many times you can take Plan B, that doesn't mean you should treat it like a standard birth control pill that you take regularly.
The sooner you take Plan B after unprotected sex, the better. "The efficacy of Plan B is the best when you take it within 12 hours , and it goes down from there," says Nichole Butler, MD, board-certified OB-GYN at Weiss Memorial Hospital's Women's Health Center . You can take Plan B up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. However, the pill's effectiveness at preventing pregnancy dwindles the later you take it:
It only takes a couple of hours for Plan B to kick into effect, says Butler. A 2018 review found that peak levels of levonorgestrel (the active ingredient in Plan B) in your blood will typically be around 1.7 hours after taking the pill.
Note : If you weigh 155 pounds or more, you should opt for another kind of emergency contraception pill called Ella . Ella can be used up to 120 hours after unprotected sex, though it's more effective the sooner you take it.
You only need one dose for each episode of unprotected sex. "Taking more than one dose of Plan B after one episode of unprotected sex is not going to make a difference in its effectiveness," says Aparna Sridhar, MD , an OB-GYN at UCLA Health.
But there are some exceptions to this rule, like:
That said, Sridhar also advises against taking Plan B multiple times a week. While it's not technically dangerous to your health, you may experience short-term side effects like headache, fatigue, nausea, and temporary changes in your menstrual cycle.
Moreover, if you find yourself in the situation where you're taking Plan B multiple times a week, you should strongly consider going on
birth control
regularly for a couple of reasons:
If you wait multiple days to take Plan B, chances of preventing pregnancy aren't great.
A 2011 meta-analysis found that taking emergency contraception on the fifth day (120 hours) after unprotected sex makes you five times more likely to get pregnant than if you took it within 24 hours.
Waiting five days increases the odds that you ovulated in that time period, and therefore, there's a chance that a sperm may have already been able to fertilize a released egg, Butler says.
Furthermore, sperm are able to live inside your body for up to a maximum of five days . The bottom line is, waiting five days after unprotected sex to take Plan B is leaving a lot up to chance. "At 120 hours, you're really crossing your fingers," says Butler.
Additionally, taking Plan B will not harm or terminate an existing pregnancy, Butler says, and it does not act as an abortion pill. "If there is an embryo implanted in the lining [of the uterus], there is nothing that Plan B is going to do to prohibit that. It's already happened," says Butler.
The main way plan B works to prevent pregnancy is to delay ovulation. It cannot stop the ovulation process if it's already started. Therefore, if you take plan B a day or two after you've started ovulating, it will be less effective.
How much less effective is unclear but according to one small 2011 study :
It can be tricky to know if you've already ovulated or not if this isn't something you typically track. Ovulation happens about a week after the last day of your period and you might experience symptoms like:
Despite being less effective if you've just ovulated, plan B also thins the uterine lining. So even if you have recently ovulated, you should still take it since your chances are better at preventing pregnancy than if you don't take it, Butler says.
Note: You can also consider a copper IUD, though you will need to schedule a doctor's appointment to get one. The copper IUD may be more effective at preventing pregnancy during or right after ovulation, since it may prevent implantation, even if fertilization has occurred.
Plan B can be very effective at preventing pregnancy if you take it within 72 hours of unprotected sex, and preferably even sooner.
While you can take Plan B multiple times, it is meant to be emergency contraception and not a replacement for birth control.
If you find yourself using Plan B often, talk to your gynecologist about long-term contraception options.
EN
ENGLISH
DEUTSCH
ESPAÑOL
Couldn't find what you looking for?
TRY OUR SEARCH!
An overview of emergency contraception
Emergency Contraception: The Difference Between The Morning-After Pill And The Abortion Pill
Hot Porn Site
Femjoy Hunter
Nude Contortionist