Oh my god I’ve got so many 😭

  • Lemisset@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    236
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    I learned in college (from my nurse girlfriend) that if a girl is taking antibiotics that it invalidates her birth control pills for the month and you need to use condoms until after her period.

    Spread the word, brothers.

    • BreadOven@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      101
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      That’s not really true.

      Sure it’s true for rifampicin and rifabutin (and maybe one more similar one). But those are used to treat TB.

      All the standard ones you’d take are fine for birth control.

      Edit: Thanks to some people who are more knowledgeable than me on the topic, there are some others, or secondary effects you should consider.

      Moral of the story: if in doubt ALWAYS use more contraception. Best to be safe out there.

        • SpiderShoeCult@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          19
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s easier to tell people to just use a rubber when on antibiotics rathern than explain to them that it’s only for some unpronounceable substances for most of the population and have them memorize a list of substances for which it’s safe to go on as usual - azithromycin is safe, amoxicillin is not. They may sound fairly similar to a layman.

          It’s because some substances (in this case, antibiotics) mess with the units in your body that process them and prepare them for excretion. They may inhibit or induce them, but these units process a whole load of other stuff. Including birth control, which can lead to less activity from the birth control pills because they’re inactivated quicker (in case of induction) or the biotransformation to the active form is slower (in case of inhibition, for prodrugs that are inactive as is, but have active metabolites, no idea if this is the case for birth control though).

          A similar thing happens with alcohol, for example, which is why you should always be honest with exactly how much alcohol you drink or what other drugs you take when talking to an anaesthesiologist, or any doctor prescribing you any sort of medicine, lest you risk ineffective anaesthesia or treatment (the first one is worse imo).

          • BreadOven@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            100 % agreed. I was just being pedantic I guess. Sorry for that.

            I really should have said ALWAYS use more contraception if you’re unsure about anything. Best to be safe.

            Good thing about this is now I have some interesting things to read up on.

      • philpo@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        1 year ago

        It has two components. While Rifampicin and Rifabutin (and Penicillin,Amoxi and a few others) are directly showing effects on the contraceptives drugs effects, there is another factor that shouldn’t be underestimated: ABs can and will cause digestive symptoms, fastening gastric passage and that alone is known to reduce the effectiveness of hormonal contraceptives countless times.

        • BreadOven@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          That is true. I didn’t think of it from that angle. I haven’t read too much into that. But now I will. Thanks for the info.

          For the record, always use secondary contraception if you’re in doubt. I should have said that in my first post.