How does Plan B affect your body?

Dear Student,

Plan B, or emergency contraception, is hormonal birth control that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or contraception failure. Although it has been referred to as the “Morning After Pill,” Plan B can be used up to five days after unprotected sex but it is most effective when taken within the first 72 hours. Plan B is a safe and effective way to reduce the chance of pregnancy when other contraception was not used, or incorrectly used, prior to sex.

Because accidents can, and do, happen, many people have relied on emergency contraception to reduce the chances of pregnancy and for the most part have not had any side effects. However, according to the Food and Drug Administration, some people who have taken Plan B report having an upset stomach, feeling lightheaded or dizzy or breast tenderness. Also, Plan B can slightly affect your next period – lighter or heavier, sooner or later. If an upset stomach causes vomiting Plan B may not be effective and thus, you should speak with your provider for another dosage.

In previous years, emergency contraception has been confused for an “abortion pill” but Plan B can only prevent a pregnancy, similar to a daily birth control pill, and cannot terminate one. Depending where you are at in your menstrual cycle, emergency contraception can prevent or delay ovulation or it can interfere with the fertilization of an egg, in the event one has been released.

Plan B is just one of several types of emergency contraception on the market. These are available, without prescription, at Planned Parenthood in Ellensburg and at our campus Student Medical and Counseling Center.

Dear D. H,

If it’s your first time, should a dialogue happen? Or should you just cross your fingers and hope for the best?

Dear Student,

If it’s your first time playing the Washington State Lottery, yes, cross your fingers and hope for the best. If it’s your other first time you can still cross your fingers and hope for the best but only after a dialogue has occurred. Somewhere along the way, talking about sex got a bad reputation and thanks to the movies we have this idea that “spontaneous” sex is the best sex—when it just happens. But, we’d be in a lot of trouble if we believed everything we saw in the movies.

If you’ve never had sex before, or you have never had sex with your current partner, a discussion is absolutely mandatory. In fact, it’s the law—at the very least there needs to be a dialogue about consent. Do you have explicit confirmation that your partner wants to engage in the sexual activity that you’re about to engage in? Yes? Awesome.

Next, why cross your fingers and hope for the best when you can ask your partner what they like and enjoy and plan for the best? I’ve heard students say that talking about sex “ruins the mood.” My go-to response is that if talking about the sex you’re about to have ruins the “mood,” there was no “mood” to begin with. Now, I’m not suggesting that you give a detailed play by play, forecasting your every next move but a check-in to see if your partner is enjoying what’s going on won’t hurt and it lets your partner know you care about their experience as well.

I get that talking about sex can be awkward, especially if you have little to no experience with it. I love what Paul Joannides, author of the “Guide to Getting it On,” has to say: “Imagine going to a restaurant where the chef served you whatever he or she felt like fixing instead of giving you a choice. Imagine a gardener who never asked, ‘How do you like your bushes trimmed?’ Yet, when it comes to sex, many of us assume that we know what our partner wants, or we clam up instead of giving feedback.” So, what’s there to talk about? Check out more at: http://www.ashasexualhealth.org/sexual-health/talking-about-sex/