To think women should be told this about the morning after pill?

[christmaselfie1]

The morning after pill is directly linked to ovulation, and if you have already ovulated then it is pretty much pointless!

I had sex where the condom split on Monday last week, but due to covid restrictions and living rurally I was not able to get the morning after pill until Friday (4 days after sex). I have taken Ellaone before, the brand that you can take up to 5 days after, so assumed that all would be okay. I am also tracking my cycles on the instruction of my gynaecologist because I suffer with ovarian cysts.

I got my LH surge and a positive ovulation test on Wednesday morning, which means ovulation would have occurred imminently, most likely well before I took the morning after pill on Friday evening!

Since researching, I have discovered that the morning after pill works by delaying or preventing ovulation. Therefore, if you have already ovulated, and the sperm happened to meet the egg in that time, the morning after pill has pretty much zero effect! You can read it yourself on the manufacturers website...

www.ellaone.co.uk/faqs/does-ellaone-work-if-youve-already-ovulated

I have taken the morning after pill three times and I have never been told this by any pharmacist. I have never been informed on how it works, just that is it effective up to 5 days after unprotected sex. The only emergency contraception that works in these circumstances is the IUD. I have now got the worry for the next week that I might be pregnant.

Am I the only person that had no idea how the morning after pill works?!

I keep thinking of you, @christmaselfie1and hoping you got the result you were hoping for

I fell pregnant after taking the morning after pill the morning after so I will never have faith in it again!

I knew it was pretty ineffective

I think I read it's around 84% effective? That makes complete sense about ovulation though...

@Pukkatea

I think considering you often have to answer questions about weight, bp, pregnancy history etc to get the morning after pill, it would be useful if they could reciprocate a bit of info that by the way, this doesn't actually work for half of the month.

Pharmacists and GPs spend years studying the use of medicines, what's the point if we are all just supposed to read the leaflet...

FFS Because you are supposed to take some responsibility yourself!! Why on earth would you take any drug without reading the patient information sheet?

My pharmacist told me this and I also read it myself.