|
|
Modern contraception allows men and women to have…
Date Recorded
June 27, 2022 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Family Health and Wellness
Womens Health Transcription
A baby that is wanted and planned for, a child by choice and not by chance, that is what modern contraception offers men and women. But you have to know what's out there, how it works, and where to get it. This is really important now more than ever.
This is Dr. Kirtly Jones from Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Utah Health, and this is the "7 Domains of Women's Health" on The Scope.
Women and men all over the world have wanted to plan their families for thousands and thousands of years, but methods used in Cleopatra's time in ancient Egypt probably weren't as effective as what is available now. If no method of contraception is used, women in sexual relationships that would make them pregnant could expect to have more than 11 babies. That's in these days of good obstetrical and pediatric care, where women are less likely to die in childbirth and babies are much less likely to die in the first five years of life. Eleven babies sound like too much? One more baby sounds like too much right now?
Let's talk about contraception. It's an egg and a sperm problem. You need to stop egg production, stop sperm production, or stop the sperm from getting to the eggs. These are the main ways that modern contraception works.
About 50% of unplanned pregnancies happen to people who are "using" contraception but using it incorrectly. This is the most common reason that methods like abstinence or periodic abstinence, think natural family planning, or methods like barrier methods like condoms or diaphragms actually fail. They weren't used correctly or at all. Methods that you have to think about at the time of sex are more likely to fail because you're more likely to fail to use them. If you combine two methods, abstain during your fertile period and use condoms all the rest of the time, your chance of getting pregnant by accident is much lower. Two methods are better than one, and this is a combo where men can be the important user. You can get condoms most anywhere, and anyone with some smarts and gumption can figure out their fertile period.
So let's talk about hormonal pills, patches, and rings. They are considered moderately effective methods or ones that have an annual failure rate between 1 in 10 to 1 in 100. That means if women use them, the chance of getting pregnant is about 1 in 10 to 1 in 100 per year. Of course, you might be at risk for pregnancy for multiple years, so these chances literally add up. Considering a lifetime of contraception using these methods, it was calculated that women would have about two unplanned pregnancies. These methods work by blocking ovulation and by changing cervical mucus so sperm cannot get to the eggs, but women don't always take the pills, or patches or rings correctly. They miss some days or they stop for a week as directed, but they stop for longer than seven days, and they are very likely to ovulate. But you could team up with your sex partner and use a moderately effective method and condoms and get much more bang for your buck birth control-wise.
Hormonal methods aren't right for everyone, and you should know by reading up or asking knowledgeable clinicians if they're right for you. Now, there may be immense hormonal contraception on the horizon, transdermal hormones to block sperm production. If it has about a 10% failure rate per year, and women taking the pill as they will, not perfectly, have a failure rate of about 10% per year, if both members of the sexually active couple use the method not perfectly, the failure rate would be about 1 in 100 per year. The two methods multiply in terms of their effectiveness. If they both used effectively, if they both, men and women used hormonal methods effectively, it would be about 1 in 10,000 women per year, and that is effective contraception.
Now for highly effective methods, these methods have failure rates of about 1 per 1,000 women per year. They are so good because you don't have to think about them and using them correctly almost always happens. These include copper IUDs, hormonal IUDs, and hormonal implants under the skin. The hormonal implants' primary method of action is to work by blocking ovulation. The IUDs' primary method of action is by blocking sperm. Copper in the copper IUD kills sperm on their way up to the egg, and the hormonal IUD blocks sperm from getting through the cervix. The IUDs and implants are highly successful at preventing pregnancy but require a trained clinician to put them in. They last a long time, the copper IUD for 12 years, the hormonal IUD for 5, and the implant for 3, but they are immediately reversible as soon as they come out.
Now, all contraceptive methods have some side effects and risks, but none have as many risks and side effects as an unwanted pregnancy. Uh-oh, did you just say, "Oops?" Did you forget to take your pills? Did the condom slip off or stay in his back pocket? Was sex forced on you and you weren't using anything? Emergency contraception is for people who had unprotected or under-protected sex. They are pills over the counter or by prescription, that must be used in the first three to five days after the unprotected sex act, and the earlier, meaning the next day or the day after, the better. The copper IUD and hormonal IUD can also be used for emergency contraception, but they aren't FDA approved for that use, and you have to find a clinician to place one in a timely manner.
Using contraception means some work on your part. You have to know what you can use and want to use. You need to know where you can get them. You need to know how you can pay for them. All this information is available from many sources, but an overall good resource is bedsider.org. Many clinics around the country provide contraception on a sliding fee scale based on the ability to pay. Most insurance plans pay for a significant amount of the cost of contraception. There's a national family planning grant called Title X, that provides low-cost contraception to anyone who needs it, and it's available in most states. But you have to lace up your boots or put on your flip-flops and do it. Children deserve to be by choice and not by chance now more than ever. Thanks for joining us on The Scope. MetaDescription
Modern contraception allows men and women to have a child by choice, not by chance. But what family planning options are available? And how effective are they? Learn the most common contraceptives available and how to choose the best one for you and your family.
|
|
|
They’re young. They’re spontaneous.…
Date Recorded
December 09, 2021 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Family Health and Wellness
Kids Health Transcription
Interviewer: Poison prevention strategies for parents whose kids just started crawling, walking or climbing.
Sherrie Pace is a health educator for the Utah Poison Control Center.
Interviewer: You broke out these three segments. Why?
Sherrie: I did because development kind of changes through those three areas. With the crawlers, they're super excited to get moving. They've been looking around and seeing all these things that they want to explore for a long time and all of a sudden, they can move.
Interviewer: Yes. So before they can move, do you really have to worry that much as far as poison?
Sherrie: Well, it's always good to make sure older sibling aren't getting anything in their way. And making sure you're correctly dosing if there's medication to be given. Those are typically the infant top poisonings.
Crawlers
Interviewer: What should you do to protect crawlers?
Sherrie: They can reach things on low shelves, low cupboards, low drawers, anything that's left on the floor. Kind of think of it from a child's point of view as you look around your home. And then, you'll want to make sure that you put things up and out of reach of those little crawlers and then use child resistant closures because when they get a hold of medicine bottles, believe it or not, even little, tiny people can sometimes get those open.
Interviewer: And they're persistent. And I think if nothing else, that's in their favor. They will sit there and work on it for hours.
Sherrie: Putting locks on the cupboards and below cupboards. Keeping things out of their little reach.
Interviewer: Are locks are pretty effective? I've gone to other people's houses and those locks sometimes, I feel like I didn't realize it was there. I pull the door and I get it open pretty easily.
Sherrie: It's a deterrent, but nothing is childproof. It's child-resistant so it gives you a little more time to catch them in the act.
Interviewer: I even thought, like if you're cleaning around the house and you leave your cleaners out on the floor, you might not think of that. But, quickly, somebody could get into that, a little crawler.
Sherrie: It just takes a couple of seconds. and that's one of the biggest problems with the kids getting into the things, is it happens a lot at times and when things are out and in use. Even if we're good about putting things up high, when we're actually cleaning the floor and we've got that cleaner out and we're distracted for a split second, it can happen.
Interviewer: So think like a crawler. Get down on your hand and knees and crawl around and see what you see. Let's talk about walkers.
Walkers
Sherrie: Walkers. The peak age for poisoning is 18 months. And that's usually new little walkers. They can reach higher. They actually on their tippy toes can reach pretty deep onto a counter top. And that's something where we see some difficulty. They can certainly get to higher cupboards, higher drawers than crawlers. So you have to think of it from their perspective as well. But they have a little more breach than those crawlers did.
Interviewer: The stuff on the bathroom counter, for example, nail polishes. Is toothpaste bad?
Sherrie: Toothpaste, we get a lot of calls on toothpaste. Certainly, call us if that happens because you never know what's in that. If there's fluoride in it, there could be more problems. It's just something to call us about.
Interviewer: For walkers, you've got to not only think like a crawler but like a walker and a reacher.
Sherrie: A reacher, absolutely.
Interviewer: Are there any other tips you have for the walkers?
Sherrie: Yes. Definitely with older siblings, that can be a problem too. I've definitely heard stories where an older sibling leaves something on the counter, doesn't think their little toddler sibling can get it and they do.
Climbers
Interviewer: The next one: climbers and, obviously, extending the reach a little bit.
Sherrie: Right. So nothing's off limits at this age.
Interviewer: How old is a climber, generally?
Sherrie: Honestly, that depends. Some kids never really are big climbers and others, they are just so motivated to get whatever they can see. So they are scrambling up drawers, stepping drawer to drawer like stairs, getting up on counter tops in high cupboards. And if you have the climber, it's very challenging.
Interviewer: What do you do what are some tips for that?
Sherrie: I would recommend keeping especially medications locked up. Under kind of lock and key.
Interviewer: That sounds really extreme. Do people really do that?
Sherrie: It's an extreme, but it's not a bad idea, especially with your medications.
Interviewer: Especially, if you have some of those powerful painkillers. Those can be deadly.
Sherrie: They can be particularly problematic. But definitely using the child-resistant closures that can slow them down and the child protective locks that can slow them down. All those things help a little bit to catch them in the act. And obviously, adult supervision, you can't ever say enough about that.
Interviewer: It sounds like a lot of these strategies are more about slowing somebody down than really maybe getting something completely out of reach. Or is it a little bit of both?
Sherrie: Well, it's a little bit of both. When things are out of sight too, that's something where the kids aren't as enticed to get something. So a really high shelf and a cupboard with the door closed, they're less likely to be going for something that they can't see.
Biggest Poisoning Danger for Kids Under Six
Interviewer: All right. When does it get better? At what point do you not have to worry quite so much that your child might get into something particularly bad?
Sherrie: Our statistics show that the majority of our calls are for kids under age six. We really recommend a lot of these strategies for under age six just because cognitively, their functioning, they can't read yet. It's difficult for them to maybe distinguish between things that are safe and things that aren't. And everything goes in the mouth when you're a little kid. It's how they explore. It's always a good idea to keep things up and out of reach.
Interviewer: After six, not quite as bad, but still probably, you need to keep an eye on things.
Sherrie: You still need to be cautious.
Contact Utah Poison Control First. It's Free and More Reliable than searching the Internet
Sherrie: Give us a call if you need us. That's what we're there for. We know that things happen. We don't judge you. We understand things can go wrong and that's why we're there. The number is 800-222-1212.
updated: December 9, 2021
originally published: March 20, 2016 MetaDescription
When your new toddler and infant finally starting moving around on their own, it can pose new dangers when it comes to poison prevention in your home. Learn about the concerns you should have as a parent for every stage of your child’s development and tips to keep your kids safe.
|
