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Getting pregnant: Yes you can!
As a doctor, one of the things that most surprises me is the number of women who don’t use birth control because they think they can’t get pregnant. Risk can be tricky to understand and we all want to believe that things like car wrecks and debilitating diseases never happen to us or to the […]
Earth Day Reminder: Birth Control is Green!
Kirsten Moore is a consultant for the Reproductive Health Technologies Project (RHTP). It’s almost Earth Day and you’re thinking about what you can do to help the planet. An article blaming your birth control pill for a plethora of environmental woes, from intersex fish to male prostate cancer, shows up in your twitter feed. So, […]
How to talk doctor
Talking about sex can be tough enough in bed—even worse in a doctor’s office. Fortunately there are some dos and don’ts to make your visit easier and more productive for you and your health care provider.* Part 1: Before the visit (Prepare, prepare, prepare…) There are a few simple things you can do before seeing […]
Birth control spotlight: The implant
Even if you’re squeamish, you can handle learning a little bit more about the implant. It’s a super-effective method. It’s an ultra-tiny rod that gets inserted under the skin of your upper arm. It’s smaller than a match and practically invisible once you get it (so nobody ever needs to know you have it). And […]
Before you panic about condom problems…
If a couple uses condoms correctly every time they have sex, they have only a 2% chance of pregnancy in one year. That 2% represents a problem with the condom—most likely slipping or breaking during the act. But a recent review of the problems people report when using condoms found a much high proportion of […]
Sex ed: A gift that keeps on giving
Stay in school, kids! A new study from the Guttmacher Institute shows that men and women who got formal sex education in school had long-term benefits in terms of their birth control use and relationships. It’s not news that sex ed has positive results, but this was the first study to look at long-term benefits […]
Condoms in college
A few weeks ago, headlines blared about a new study that found women to be less likely to use condoms by the end of their freshman year of college. The study asked how frequently women had used a condom during sex in the last month. They could select one of five answers ranging from “never” […]
Herpes blues
Once you get it, it’s with you for life—so about 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. has genital herpes. Two prescription-only medications, acyclovir and valacyclovir, help make outbreaks of the virus less frequent and less painful. Acyclovir and valacyclovir are good at reducing the amount of herpes virus present in the genital area, so […]
Should the pill be available over the counter?
In 2012, a small Pennsylvania college made national headlines for putting packs of the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B in a vending machine in their student health center. Imagine the uproar if that vending machine had packs of the pill in it, too. Selling the pill in a vending machine wouldn’t be legal in the […]
Risky business 2: Migraines, high blood pressure, and blood clots
I’ve written before that accidental pregnancy is the most serious health risk of many birth control methods. But there are other risks to consider, too. All modern methods of birth control can have positive and negative side effects—Bedsider has information about both for each method. Hopefully anyone who wants to avoid a pregnancy can find […]
