A woman's long-term use of oral contraceptives caused pulmonary infarction? You must know the truth about contraceptives

Expert of this article: Wang Xiaohuan, Doctor of Medicine, Fudan University

Many people have been discussing a hot topic on Weibo these days. What is it about?

A girl in Zhejiang had irregular menstruation. She heard that oral contraceptives could regulate menstruation, so she started taking them. However, she ended up suffering from pulmonary infarction.

What? Contraceptive pills can regulate menstruation? Long-term use of contraceptive pills can cause lung infarction?

There are many claims about birth control pills, such as relieving menstrual cramps and improving skin. Are they true?

Some people still can't tell the difference between various contraceptive pills. You must know these truths today.

How do birth control pills prevent pregnancy?

There are many types of contraceptives. The common contraceptives in life are mainly divided into three types: long-acting contraceptives, short-acting contraceptives and emergency contraceptives.

Different types of contraceptive pills have different specific ingredients, such as:

1. Short-acting contraceptives are made of estrogen and progesterone, and the types of estrogen and progesterone contained in different brands of short-term contraceptives are also different.

2. Long-acting contraceptives have the same ingredients as short-acting contraceptives, but their content is dozens of times that of short-acting contraceptives.

3. Emergency contraceptive pills are a type of unconventional contraceptive pills. Their ingredients can be divided into two categories. One is a large dose of progestin, which contains levonorgestrel, and the other is an anti-progestin.

Different types of contraceptive drugs have different ingredients and contents, and use different principles to affect different reproductive links such as ovulation, sperm and egg transport, and fertilization, thereby achieving the purpose of contraception. For example:

Short-acting contraceptives inhibit ovulation by regulating the secretion level of hormones in the body to hinder the growth and maturation of follicles.

Long-acting contraceptives have the same ingredients as short-acting contraceptives, but the content is increased, so the changes in their hormone regulation are greater and the effect of inhibiting ovulation is more obvious, so the corresponding side effects are also greater than those of short-acting contraceptives.

Emergency contraceptive pills can quickly change hormone levels in a short period of time, inhibit ovulation, and change cervical mucus, making it thicker, blocking sperm from entering and hindering sperm-egg combination.

When choosing contraceptives, you should choose the appropriate contraceptive according to your personal situation under the guidance of a doctor.

If you are a healthy woman who can take the medicine regularly and have regular sex, you can choose short-acting contraceptives. For women who have not given birth, long-acting contraceptives are large in dosage and have strong effects, so they are generally not recommended. If you need to remedy an "emergency", you can choose emergency contraceptives. However, emergency contraceptives are not recommended under normal circumstances.

Can taking birth control pills cause lung infarction?

Birth control pills have other functions besides preventing pregnancy.

1. It has a certain effect on regulating the menstrual cycle

Under normal circumstances, after a woman ovulates, the corpus luteum will secrete progesterone to stimulate the growth of the endometrium. The life cycle of the corpus luteum is generally 14 days. If the egg is not fertilized during this period, the progesterone concentration will decrease.

The growth of the endometrium depends on progesterone. When the endometrium loses the support of progesterone, the endometrium will shed and bleed, thus forming menstruation.

Oral contraceptives are equivalent to artificially supplementing progesterone, allowing the endometrium to continue to thicken and grow firmly on the uterine wall, thus achieving the purpose of delaying menstruation.

However, when a woman suddenly stops taking the medicine during the regular medication period, the progesterone concentration suddenly decreases, and the endometrium loses the support of progesterone, resulting in a small amount of menstrual bleeding.

2. Relieve menstrual pain

Because birth control pills contain progestin, they can cause the lining of the uterus to thin.

The endometrium contains less arachidonic acid. Prostaglandins are metabolites of arachidonic acid and are closely related to pain.

Therefore, birth control pills can relieve menstrual pain by lowering prostaglandin levels.

3. Improve skin problems

Birth control pills can inhibit the secretion of male hormones, thereby reducing acne.

However, to solve the above problems with contraceptives, you need to take the medicine under the guidance of a doctor and do not abuse contraceptives, which may backfire.

As for the recent incident of "a woman's long-term oral contraceptives regulating her menstruation leading to pulmonary infarction", we should actually look at it dialectically.

Contraceptives contain estrogen and progesterone, which can increase the concentration of coagulation factors and platelet viscosity, but this rarely happens clinically.

The woman in the incident weighed 160 kilograms and had a BMI of 29.4, which put her at a higher risk of thrombosis.

Therefore, this incident also gives us a certain warning. Before using contraceptives, we must choose carefully based on our own physical condition.

What should I pay attention to when using contraceptive pills?

Of course, "all medicines are poisonous", and the side effects of birth control pills are also very obvious. Including dizziness, headache, weight gain, edema, etc. Therefore, when using birth control pills, pay attention to the following matters:

1. Follow your doctor’s advice

It is best to take the medicine under the guidance of a doctor based on your own situation.

2. Strictly follow indications and contraindications

For example, some patients with thrombotic diseases, kidney diseases, and malignant tumors cannot take birth control pills. Some patients with endocrine diseases are better off not taking combined birth control pills.

3. Use the medicine strictly according to the instructions

For example, short-acting contraceptive pills should be taken from the first day of menstruation and continuously for 21 days without interruption. And the dosage should be taken according to the instructions, and the dosage should not be increased or decreased without authorization.

4. Be careful when using emergency contraceptive pills

Because emergency contraceptive pills have significant side effects, it is recommended not to take them as regular medicines.

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