Contraceptives-Birth-Control

Many women who are taking birth control pills are very happy to avoid unintended pregnancy but are blaming oral contraceptives for weight gain and fluid retention at the same time. Well, it is the undeniable fact that pills do cause weight problems in some women but not necessarily be the prime cause for all women.

Male Birth Control: Simple Enough?

Yes, male birth control methods are simple enough and yet men still don't get it. There are only three male contraception methods, although there's news of creating a hormonal contraceptive pill for male but the development of the drug is still underway. So we are down to three male birth control methods for now.

There are a lot of contraceptives available today and choosing the right one is quite a difficult task. There are many variables to take into account such as when you're planning to have children, if at all, if you have any allergies or conditions that could cause unwanted side effects, how often you have sex, how many sexual partners you have and so on.

When you are 18 and absolutely in love, you probably aren't thinking about parenthood, you just want to make love... The world has changed, and we, as a society, are moving at a breakneck speed. Love at first sight - sex on the first date - love after your first time.

Birth control dates back hundreds of years. Though pills and various other methods are all the rage right now, they were not so much the type of birth control that used to exist in past times. As people, technology and science has evolved so too have the methods of birth control available to a couple wishing to postpone pregnancy or prevent it all together. The most common birth control on the market today is the pill. But many women do not like the pill due to side effects they may experience so they either turn to newer forms of birth control or ones that have a proven track record.

In America, the typical teenager is losing their virginity at 17 1/2 years old. Boys are typically losing it one year before girls are. Teenage and adolescent girls are not getting pregnant as often as they were in the nineteen nineties but American incidents of teenage pregnancy are at the top of the western world and this therefore remains a top health issue in America. 1,000,000 teenage girls in America become pregnant every year with 3/4 of those being unintended.

Emergency contraception (EC) is not the substitute for regular birth control methods or abortion but, in fact, is the "emergency" option for women to avoid pregnancy after contraception failure, sexual assault or unprotected intercourse. Emergency contraception, specially Progestin-only birth control pills like Plan B, are advised to women seeking immediate action to avoid pregnancy. Such pills are advised to rape victims and sexually assaulted women as well.

Vasectomy, a permanent method of male contraception, is a simple surgical procedure whereby the man's sperm-carrying tubes are litigated. The procedure takes about 30 minutes, under local anesthesia. After a vasectomy, a man is effectively sterile because the sperm produced by the testes is barred from the seminal fluid. Vasectomies do not affect a man's sex drive, his ability to have erections and orgasms or his testosterone levels.

Celibacy is the state of being unmarried or the voluntary abstention from sex. It has been practiced since ancient times for a variety of reasons.

St. Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury, abstained from sex simply because he didn't like the idea that sperm comes from the same organ that produces urine. The English writer John Ruskin married a 10-year-old girl and was shocked into sexual abstinence at the sight of his wife's pubic hair! English sexologist Havelock Ellis, on the other hand, never masturbated, fearing he would contract venereal disease that way.

Is it practical to remain celibate in order to avoid pregnancy? While there is no doubt that this is the most effective birth control method, not everyone can do it. This is because normal sexual desires are strong and may be difficult to control.

History appears to support the belief that celibacy is difficult since a number of religious personalities - the very people who supposedly abstain from sex - were involved in sex scandals.

The most notorious of these figures was the Italian Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) who bought his way to the papacy in 1492. Borgia once brought 50 prostitutes to the Vatican where he offered prizes to men who copulated the most times. His worldly and wicked ways eventually paved the way for the Protestant Reformation.

Today's birth control pills have been designed to contain much lower doses of synthetic hormones than in the 1960's when 'The PILL' (with 50 micrograms of estrogen) first went onto the market. The reason for this is to reduce the side effects of hormonal contraceptives. "That's still not helped me much", you may be saying but here's some information about low dose birth control pills that may help you to have a productive ( no pun intended!) discussion with your doctor if you're not happy with your current birth control pill.

Millions of women, in the U.S. and worldwide, use some sort of pharmaceutical birth control method or oral contraceptive such as the pill to prevent pregnancy while engaging in sex. For many years now, oral contraception has been the most popular of birth control methods, currently used by over 12 million women in the United States alone.

There are numerous constituents that come into action when a specific method for birth control is being determined. Amongst them the main determining factors are the maturity level of the individual and the number of times the sexual act is expected to be performed. All these factors lead to the choice between several contraceptives that are available in the market and have stood the test of time. Some of the most popular ones have been stated in a few words in the following paragraphs.

Spermicides are contraceptive tablets or suppositories that are placed in the vagina prior to intercourse. These substances are activated by vaginal secretions and kill sperm to prevent pregnancy.

Used alone, spermicides are not an effective birth control method - the reason why they are usually combined with other barrier methods of contraception such as diaphragms, condoms, cervical caps and sponges.

The withdrawal method, also known as coitus interruptus or onanism, is the oldest method of birth control. It got its name from Onan whose story is told in Genesis 38:8-10.

In that story, Judah told Onan to marry his brother's wife and have sex with her. Knowing that the child would not be his, Onan withdrew his penis just before he ejaculated and spilled his semen on the ground. This displeased the Lord who killed him.

Thinking of using the withdrawal method as a means of birth control? Think again for this method is unreliable and risky as I pointed out in my previous article.

Even if the man withdraws on time, he must make sure that every drop of semen is far away from the vagina as possible. That's because a few drops of semen contain thousands of sperm. If one of them finds its way on the lips of the vagina, that could result in pregnancy.

The barrier methods of birth control work by preventing the sperm from reaching the egg. The idea of inserting something into the vagina to prevent pregnancy is not new. Such devices were called pessaries and they were used by the ancient Egyptians.

Pessaries were mentioned as early as 1850 B.C. in the Petri Papyrus. The formula then was a mixture of crocodile dung and honey which was placed in the vagina prior to intercourse.

Owing to the side effects experienced by some pill and IUD (intrauterine device) users, women turned to the diaphragm or cervical cap as a means of contraception. Unlike other birth control methods, these barrier devices have no serious side effects and may protect women against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In the presence of an STD, these devices reduce the likelihood that the disease will lead to pelvic infection.

The list of substances women have placed in the vagina to prevent pregnancy is endless. In the early days, it was common to douche the vagina with wine mixed with garlic and fennel, a plant with yellow flowers. This was done by means of instruments made from the horns of animals or the bills of birds. Others exposed the vagina to fumes or gases to stop pregnancy.