What Are Your Options for Emergency Contraception?

There’s no getting around it; contraception is vital to your sexual health. Without birth control, you are putting your wellbeing at a high risk of unwanted pregnancies. Without a barrier method of contraception, your wellness may also be affected by a sexually transmitted infection (STI). If you don’t want to get pregnant it’s good to think in advance about what contraception you will use. You might want to use more than one in case one method proves ineffective, or if your primary method doesn’t protect against STIs. That said, in emergency situations where you don’t use birth control or your contraceptive lets you down, there is a solution: emergency contraception.

 

There are many reasons why you might need to use emergency contraception; your condom bursts or rips, you forget to take your Pill or you have unprotected sex and regret it later. While emergency contraception should never be used as an alternative to normal contraception – and I can’t stress this point strongly enough – it is possible to get emergency contraception that will work to stop pregnancy after you’ve had sex. These emergency contraceptives can be broken down into two types. First, you have emergency hormonal contraceptives (sometimes known as ‘the morning-after pill’). Or, there’s the intrauterine device (IUD). It’s important to note that neither kind of emergency contraception (pill or IUD) offer protection against sexually transmitted infections.

 

Let’s take a look at both of these kinds of emergency contraception in a little more detail:

 

1. Emergency hormonal contraceptives: This kind of emergency contraception breaks down into two emergency oral pills; Levonelle and ellaOne. Sometimes known as “the morning-after pill”, both of these varieties are available from doctors, community pharmacies and sexual health centres. If you have unprotected sex, you need to take Levonelle within 72 hours (three days) or else it won’t work. The ellaOne pill, on the other hand, can be taken within 120 hours (five days) of having unprotected sex. You can get the Levonelle pill for free without a prescription from most pharmacies, your GP or local sexual health clinic. The ellaOne is also free of charge, but you will need a prescription from your GP or sexual health clinic.

 

2. Intrauterine device (IUD): The IUD is a small, plastic and copper device that can be fitted into your womb by a medical health professional. Just like the ellaOne pill, you can use an IUD up to five days after having unprotected sex. IUD’s need to be fitted by a trained doctor or nurse and this can be done at your GP’s, local GUM or Sexual Health Clinic.

 

You should never use emergency hormonal contraceptives (“morning-after pills”) as your regular method of contraception – really, the clue is in the word “emergency”. If you do need to take the morning-after pill, it should serve as a wake-up call and cause you to re-evaluate your approach to contraception. Now is a good time to think about what contraception might be best for you to use on a more regular basis. If you go the IUD route for emergency contraception, on the other hand, you can keep the IUD in as your regular method of contraception. However, if, for some reason, you do not want to do this, a healthcare professional can remove it during or after your next period.

 

While you can take an emergency hormonal contraceptive pill within three to five days of having unprotected sex – depending on which pill you use – they are more effective the sooner they are taken. If used correctly and taken within 24 hours of having unprotected sex, emergency hormonal contraceptive pills prevent around 95% of pregnancies. However, the IUD is the most effective type of emergency contraception and prevents up to 99% of pregnancies if used correctly.

Categories: Emergency contraception, emergency hormonal, health clinic, hormonal contraceptive, hormonal contraceptives, intrauterine device, Intrauterine device (IUD), Morning After Pill

Are You Thinking of Visiting a Sexual Health Clinic?

Sexual health clinics are very important for those who want to look after their wellness and wellbeing whilst enjoying an active sex life. They are often invaluable for young people in particular, who can visit them for contraceptive advice, sexual health advice, testing or treatment. Some places are for all ages and some are specifically for young people. You can get free condoms from a sexual health clinic, and many places also offer pregnancy testing, contraception prescriptions and advice and testing for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

 

If you have never visited a sexual health clinic before, you will probably be a little nervous, but there is really no reason to worry at all. Sexual health clinics will be friendly, welcoming and non-judgemental of you; the staff are trained professionals who just want to help.

 

No matter what age you are when you visit the sexual health clinic, your visit will be confidential, which means that nobody else will have to be informed that you have visited the clinic. If you are under 16, however, the staff will probably want to make sure that you have understood any information which could relate to your ongoing wellness. The only time that staff may have to break your confidentiality is if you tell them something which could mean that they have serious concerns about your safety or the safety of someone else, but even in these cases they will explain to you why further action needs to be taken, and why.

 

Relationship abuse is also something that a sexual health clinic can help you deal with. If you are worried that you are in an abusive relationship, you can talk to staff without fear of judgement and they will direct you towards further help and support.

Categories: Advice, clinic, health, health clinic, health clinics, Sex, sexual, sexual health, staff, young people

What Everyone Ought to Know About Sexual Dysfunction

Male and female sexual dysfunction can be a really serious problem, affecting the wellness and wellbeing of otherwise perfectly healthy people. In men, it can include things like impotence or erectile dysfunction (being unable to get or maintain an erection) or something like premature ejaculation, where a man ejaculates far more quickly than would normally be expected. It usually means that he comes/ejaculates within two minutes of penetration and can be linked to being very aroused but can also be a problem when it becomes a regular thing.

 

Male sexual dysfunction can be caused by various things, including diabetes, drugs and alcohol, raised cholesterol, psychological problems around sex and low testosterone. Men who are worried about sexual dysfunction should see their GP asap or go to a sexual health clinic to undergo testing for underlying causes. If there are no physical causes found, they may need to seek some form of sexual counselling.

 

Female sexual dysfunction is just as common in women and generally includes things like a loss of sexual desire, lack of orgasm during sex, pain during sex or a loss of arousal during sex. Problems get worse as women get older, and can also be linked to excessive drug and alcohol use. In addition, women can have sexual problems as a result of depression, problems within the relationship, heart disease, disorders of the hormones, traumatic previous sexual experiences or a natural drop in testosterone levels.

 

Women who are experiencing sexual dysfunction should also visit their GP or a sexual health clinic, where they can undergo testing to find out if there are any underlying medical conditions that are causing the problems.

 

Treatment can involve hormone replacement therapy, the treatment of other conditions (such as depression, heart disease or diabetes) and also sex therapy, if the problem is not a physical one.

Categories: Dysfunction, female sexual, health clinic, heart disease, problems, Sex, sexual, sexual dysfunction, sexual health, undergo testing