Plan B is a form of emergency contraceptive; it is a concentrated dose of progesterone. Progesterone is a steroid hormone that, in women, has effects on the uterus and vagina. Progesterone helps the endometrium in the uterus be more receptive to egg for implantation. Progesterone also helps raise one’s body heat. Both of which help one’s body get pregnant. Progesterone also thickens the vaginal walls, making the journey of sperm through the vagina more difficult. If the levels of this hormone drop, along with the hormone estrogen, then ovulation occurs. If there is no fertile egg and implantation of such egg, menstruation occurs. Hormonal contraceptives maintain a high level of these hormones so that ovulation does not occur. However, contraceptive is not human proof, so mistakes happen. The condom breaks, or falls off. The woman might forget to take the pill the day of intercourse, or the following day. In such cases, emergency contraceptives might be necessary, if pregnancy is not ideal.
There are a few different kinds of emergency contraceptives; Plan B is just one of them. As stated previously, Plan B is a high concentration of progesterone, which thickens the vagina’s mucus leading to difficulty with fertilization. Plan B does this effectively the day after; however, if one waits to take it, its effectiveness decrease with each day. After three days, it will not work. If fertilization and implantation already occurred, this contraceptive will not help with “getting rid of the problem”. It will not harm the embryo, but it will hurt one’s pocket (being worth fifty dollars for one pill). Taking this contraceptive may hurt in other ways, since there are side effects including nausea and pain.
I myself have taken this pill before, and more than once. Every time, the side effects changed slightly. The first time I took it, I was sixteen and in my first serious relationship. The condom broke, and I was never good at remembering to take my birth control pills. we started to freak out. We saw a commercial for this emergency contraceptive, and decided it would be better (and cheaper) to get this than wait and see if we have a baby. Well, one cannot obtain Plan B over the counter, unless one is seventeen or older. So, I had my then boyfriend purchase it for me. Although being a male, he was nineteen, so the CVS pharmacy sold it to him. Almost immediately after taking the pill, I began to feel extremely nauseous. I had sever abdominal cramping. I was very fatigue. I looked on the box for the warning of side effects; I had them all. The worst part was, when I was sixteen, Plan B came in two different pills. One you took immediately, and other you waited twelve hours to take. I felt all the side affects for the second time, when I had to take pill number two. Afterwards, I was very careful of making sure we were protected, not just out of fear of baby, but out of fear of Plan B.
I did, however, have to take it again. As previously stated, I took it about three times in my life, with side effects being different each time. While I had all the side effects each time, they ranged in severity. The most recent time I took Plan B, I feel a little abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue. The biggest side effect I experienced was a delayed period. I had taken Plan B closer to the seventy-two hour deadline, as opposed to taking it immediately after intercourse with fail contraceptives. I didn’t receive my period for almost eight weeks afterwards. There was spotting in-between then, but I didn’t receive a normal period for two months. This is not a very common side effect, but it is one of Plan B.
To sum up, Plan B is an emergency contraception composed of concentrated progesterone. Progesterone is a hormone that thickens the vaginal walls, so that sperm cannot travel through, preventing fertilization. Progesterone is in regular birth control pills, as well. Birth control pills keep the hormone levels high so ovulation does not occur; once these levels lower after a few days, menstruation will occur. One can take Plan B if one’s regular birth control, i.e. condoms or birth control pills, fails. There are side effects of Plan B including but not limited to nausea, abdominal cramping and fatigue, all of which I personally experienced with additional side affects when I took Plan B.
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