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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

380 replies

christmaselfie1 · 21/12/2020 15:52

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?!

OP posts:

FromEden · 21/12/2020 20:32

Ive never taken it but I'm embarrassed to say that I thought the MAP causes the uterine lining to shed and prevents implantation that way. I had no idea it only prevents ovulation . Eye opening OP

Einszwei · 21/12/2020 20:33

I did know this, but I am aware that many women do not.

I really think it needs to be explicitly stated during school sex-ed classes.

Coffeeandaride · 21/12/2020 20:42

It's good to spread this information OP.

However most women do not know the date they ovulated. Many asking for emergency contraception struggle to say the date of their last period, or how long their cycle is. Even if they did they do not know for sure when they ovulated. So most times it is better to take it as soon as possible after unprotected sex and yes it might make no difference to outcome if later in cycle.

MotherExtraordinaire · 21/12/2020 20:47

@christmaselfie1

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

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!

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

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

Surely as an adult, the issue here isn't whether it should be stated or not, it's why you've had 3 separate occasions of needing it?

OutComeTheWolves · 21/12/2020 20:48

I've needed it 3 times in my life - on one of these occasions they asked when my period was and explained the ovulation thing, but they did t on the other two.

Pukkatea · 21/12/2020 20:53

@MotherExtraordinaire actually, I think a woman can take it as many times as she likes and it's none of your bloody business.

ShandlersWig · 21/12/2020 20:56

When I asked for it I was asked where I was in my cycle and it was explained that it wouldnt work. I was mortified at the time. I just didnt understand!

MiddleClassProblem · 21/12/2020 20:59

I was never told and never knew. I only took it once when I was 18 after being raped so I just wanted to get it in me rather than read the rest of the leaflet.

Original poster

christmaselfie1 · 21/12/2020 21:01

I've just got to wait now and see what the outcome is. I've ordered some first response tests, so I will know whether the pill has worked or not by the weekend.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter whether the woman knows she has ovulated, when her last period was, how long her cycles are. We should be informed at the point of purchase, that there is a window during your cycle when these tablets will not work. Instead we are sold these tablets on the premise that if you take it within 5 days, you have a very good chance of not being pregnant. When in reality, my chance is the same as anybody else who has had unprotected sex and didn't take any form of emergency contraception.

OP posts:

selflove · 21/12/2020 21:04

Yup, my sister got pregnant after taking the MAP and I thought "wow, what are the chances". Then a few months later, I had to take the MAP and also got pregnant. It was then that I discovered that it only delayed ovulation- neither my sister nor I was informed about this form the separate pharmacies we purchased it from.
My pharmacist asked if I wanted Levonelle which was 95% effective at £20, or EllaOne which was 98.8% effective at £35. I went with EllaOne. If she'd have asked about my cycle, I'd have known it would have had zero effect, and would have got the IUD sorted.

shereebobbins · 21/12/2020 21:04

I thought it prevented the egg from implanting too. Suppose that explains the positive pregnancy test a few weeks after then. The resulting baby is nearly 21 now.

Original poster

christmaselfie1 · 21/12/2020 21:09

@selflove Hope everything turned out ok for you and your sister.

OP posts:

LoveMyKidsAndCats · 21/12/2020 21:15

YABU OP you say you have had it before how was you not aware

Original poster

christmaselfie1 · 21/12/2020 21:19

@LoveMyKidsAndCats

I was not aware because at no point, on three separate occasions, at three separate pharmacies did they explain how and why the morning after pill works. It's not good enough in my mind to tell women 'this is effective for up to 5 days after unprotected sex', when the reality is that there are some points in your cycle where it is not effective at all!

As others have explained on this thread, oftentimes it is taken in a state of panic so you won't necessarily read through a long booklet that comes with the medication. Most women would expect a pharmacist to inform them that there's every chance they could get pregnant because at certain points in your cycle, it has a 0% effectiveness. Ellaone needs a prescription, they take you into a separate booth to discuss it, there really is no excuse not to mention this very vital fact.

OP posts:

Meandmyhamsterheadagain · 21/12/2020 21:24

I think it is outrageous that women are not being informed and it should be something pharmacists are actually doing. I personally would take it further than here.
Hope it works out OK for you!

ImEatingVeryHealthilyOhYes · 21/12/2020 21:24

Women should definitely be told. And the thing about finding out for yourself is, if you think you know how it works - as with the preventing implantation myth so many of us believed - then you wouldn’t realise you needed to find out.

ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings · 21/12/2020 21:30

Can I just add on the subject of "why do you want a pharmacist to tell you when you could read the book yourself?" that's not really any good if you have English as an additional language and arent confident with it, or don't speak English at all, or are illiterate or have a low level of literacy. The leaflet I got with mine this week was only written in English and full of jargon. Lots of people wouldn't be able to read it if they wanted to.

noirchatsdeux · 21/12/2020 21:31

My second termination was due to MAP failing for exactly this reason. I wasn't told by the pharmacist, ovulation wasn't even mentioned. It was 17 years ago, I don't even know if was common knowledge at that point... I also thought it stopped implantation. Wasn't told the IUD was an option, either...

LadyTiredWinterBottom2 · 21/12/2020 21:31

I didn't know this. MAP failed for me. I didn't know l could get a coil fitted either. I ended up at Marie Stopes. Worst experience of my life.

SilverLiningSearching · 21/12/2020 21:32

I had no idea, but it may help explain how I got pregnant after taking MAP.

Original poster

christmaselfie1 · 21/12/2020 21:34

I'm so sorry to hear of your experiences. This information really needs to be more widely known about and shared. x

OP posts:

Funneth · 21/12/2020 21:35

I only learned this today, just hours before taking the pill (Ellaone) for the first time and then finding this thread on the topic! I had a bit of a wreckless weekend just gone, and when I considered the future with the potential consequence I decided pretty quickly that the MAP was the way to go. Before going to the pharmacy I looked online to see how they worked and was surprised to read that they were both described as being effective in postponing or preventing ovulation. Like others who have posted here I somehow had some idea that they induced an early period, when from what I've read they are more likely to actually delay the next period if anything.
My cycle tracker is actually telling me that today is the day of ovulation for me (although my cycles have been a bit varied lately and seem to be shortening) so I have taken the pill on the same day that I am supposedly ovulating.
When I went to the pharmacy I had a consultation in a private place and the pharmacist asked my age, weight, BMI if I knew it (I did) and also a bit of questioning about my cycle. It was me that brought up what I'd read about how it works and he confirmed I was right that it prevented ovulation. So I asked does that mean if I happened to have ovulated already would it not be as effective and he spent a few minutes accessing something to check on this before confirming that it would be ineffective if ovulation had happened. So you are not being unreasonable at all OP, it seems that this issue is not only unclear to many women but also healthcare providers like the one I met today at the pharmacy (not that I would fault him, he was very lovely and more than willing to check up on the details).
So since I have taken the MAP at a sketchy time of the month I will be taking a test in a couple of weeks or so (which the pharmacist advised is the standard thing to do). I know that the coil is also a good option for the later part of the cycle but it's not for me personally.

Original poster

christmaselfie1 · 21/12/2020 21:38

@Funneth I am so glad that it made you more informed. That was the purpose of this thread, to let other women know this information that I had no idea about. Hopefully it will prevent other women from spending the next week panicking about an unplanned pregnancy. I thought I'd done the right thing to prevent it... now I will spend my Christmas fretting and worrying as a pregnancy would not be a good thing for me right now.

OP posts:

Funneth · 21/12/2020 21:38

*reckless

ImEatingVeryHealthilyOhYes · 21/12/2020 21:38

As we thought, not all heath care staff know this either. It’s so important

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