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. Scientific reality is nevertheless a bit different, and the following lines should help you understand that.

antibiotic and birth control

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. Even if the incidence of such occurrences is reduced doctors advise for the use of a supplementary birth control method such as condoms. It is impossible to tell who will experience decreased efficiency, until it is too late.

Modern hormonal products seem to be more affected by the interactions between antibiotics and birth control. 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 represent an inconvenient medical combination because of the synthesis of the compounds in the liver. The antibiotics accelerate the breaking down of estrogens, and since these compounds are the main ingredients of birth control pills, the level of hormones in the blood will be lower. Although the situations when unplanned pregnancy appears in such conditions are not that numerous, caution is the best course of action.

So as to avoid future complications, drug manufacturers have developed the practice of specifying the potential problems of the antibiotics and birth control association in all usage instructions. 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.

antibiotics and birth control

It is not a solution to stop using birth control pills while taking antibiotics, because you will put the body through great stress by causing hormonal imbalances. Talk to the doctor before taking any drug specifying the fact that you are on birth control pills. Besides antibiotics, other medications could also reduce the efficiency of the hormonal barrier.