Can I Get Pregnant After Implant Removal
Once the contraceptive implant is removed your normal fertility will return to normal and you may be at risk of pregnancy. If you would like to learn more about the process of removing the implant, then check out our full guide on contraceptive implant fitting and removal.
If youre looking for further information on this form of contraception, then our blog on the contraceptive implant everything you need to know covers fitting and removal plus pros and cons of this method of contraception.
Other sources:
Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health
Reviewed and edited on 04/02/21in line with our content policy.
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Early Signs Of Pregnancy
If a person is concerned about contraceptive failure and the possibility of being pregnant, they should speak to their doctor. However, there are also some early signs that can indicate pregnancy:
- Bloating. While bloating is often a symptom of premenstrual syndrome, it can sometimes also be a sign of early pregnancy.
- Breast tenderness. Raised levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone can cause breast tenderness early in pregnancy. Some women may also experience symptoms, such as tingling, heaviness, or feelings of breast fullness.
- Light spotting. A small amount of bleeding or spotting can occur when an egg attaches to the uterine lining. If spotting occurs outside of an expected menstrual cycle, it may be an early symptom of pregnancy.
- Unexplained fatigue. Hormonal changes that occur in the body during pregnancy can make a person feel tired, even during the early stages.
- Urinating more often. Hormonal changes can increase a womans need to urinate during early pregnancy.
Anyone who thinks they could be pregnant may wish to take an at-home pregnancy test. These tests have become more sensitive to a persons hormone levels and better at detecting pregnancy in its earliest stages.
However, at-home pregnancy tests still may not reliable if an individual takes it too early or does not follow the instructions correctly. According to the United States
Am I Pregnant Did My Birth Control Fail
Thinking that you may have gotten pregnant while on birth control and do not want to be can be stressful. To add to the confusion, many early pregnancy signs can also be due to other reasons.
But, in general, the most common cause of a missed period is pregnancy. It is also important to note that many women who are pregnant may have spotting or staining right around the time they are expecting a period.
Hormones can complicate the issue further. When your period is just late , your body may just be affected by premenstrual anxiety .
Also, if you begin to stress about a missing period, you can further prevent your period from coming. On the flip side, if you are pregnant, hormones associated with pregnancy can make you feel stressed.
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Signs You Might Be Pregnant On Birth Control
This can be tough because many side-effects of birth control mimic pregnancy. The only sure way to tell if you are pregnant while on birth control is a positive pregnancy test. Women on birth control may miss periods once in a while, they may feel nausea from the hormones, and possibly have light spotting in the middle of the month and there is no way to know if this is a side-effect or implantation spotting. Birth control pills can also cause breast soreness, altered sense of smell, and mood swings. If you are taking the pill and suspect pregnancy, see your doctor or take a home pregnancy test to prevent complications. But it helps to understand the early signs of pregnancy.
Lots Of Women Take Birth Control Incorrectly
If women follow the exact instructions for taking birth control pills every day, at the same time they prevent pregnancy in 99 percent of all cases. But lots of people don’t do that. In real life, birth control pills have a 9 percent failure rate. That means nine of every 100 women using birth control pills as their only means of contraception become pregnant in any given year.
“It’s hard to actually when you’re living a busy life,” Cullins says. “If you take these pills every single day, the chances of getting pregnant is 1 percent. But typically the chance is much higher than that, because people miss pills. This isn’t just true with birth control pills. It’s true with any prescription medication.”
Birth control pills have a higher failure rate than other contraceptives, like intra-uterine devices or birth control rings.
The main difference: Pills have to be taken every day, which leaves more room for human error.
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What Happens If Youre Pregnant On Nexplanon
If you are pregnant while on Nexplanon than you have higher chances that you pregnancy will be ectopic than the women who do not use birth control. Ectopic Ectopic pregnancy A condition where fertilized egg attaches outside the uterus. pregnancy occurs when the fertilized eggs gets attached to any place other than the uterus .
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How Is It Possible To Get Pregnant On Birth Control
We know that it is possible to get pregnant on birth control, because we all know people who have.
But how does it happen?
Surely the whole point of birth control is that you dont get pregnant! Well go through all the ways that birth control can go wrong, so that you can avoid making mistakes that could result in an unplanned pregnancy.
Be assured though, that if you use your birth control correctly, the chances of becoming pregnant are minimal.
No doubt you already know that there are a number of different kinds of birth control to choose from.
Thanks to modern science, theyre becoming increasingly effective at stopping you from getting pregnant.
But with so many options, it can be hard to know which method is most reliable should you take the pill or get a IUD? A patch in your arm or injections in your butt? Can you just keep using condoms forever?
Choosing a method that suits you, your lifestyle, your biology and your family set up will lower the chances that youll get pregnant.
If youre not sure what type of birth control to use, the best thing to do is make an appointment with your doctors surgery to talk it through.
A medical professional will go through the pros and cons with you and help you decide on the right method for you.
But lets get back to the important question How is it possible to get pregnant when youre using contraception?
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Not Taking The Pills At The Same Time Each Day
In addition to taking birth control pills daily, a person should also take the pills at around the same time each day. This can maintain their hormone levels more consistently.
A person should always take the minipill within the same 3-hour time window every day. Someone who misses their window should use a backup birth control method for the next 2 days or avoid having sex.
Many people set a daily alarm reminding them to take their pill at the correct time each day.
Take The Placebo Pills
Combination pill packs typically contain three weeks of active pills that contain hormones and one week of inactive, or placebo, pills. Although it isnt medically necessary to take the placebo pills, doing so can help you stay in your routine.
If you choose to skip the placebo pills, theres a chance that you may be late in starting your next pill pack. This can interrupt your bodys expected level of hormones and cause you to ovulate. Ovulation increases your chances of being pregnant.
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Who Might Choose To Use The Contraceptive Implant
A woman who:
- wants effective, long lasting and reversible contraception
- is willing to accept changes to her menstrual cycle.
The implant may be especially suitable if you:
- have difficulty remembering to take birth control pills
- dont like other contraceptive methods or find them unreliable
- cant take the hormone oestrogen.
The implant is one of many different contraceptives. Talk to your health practitioner about the choices available and the one that suits you best.
How Well Does It Work
Over the course of 1 year, about 9 out of 100 typical couples who rely on the Pill to prevent pregnancy will have an accidental pregnancy. Of course, this is an average figure and the chance of getting pregnant depends on whether you take your birth control pills every day. The Pill is an effective form of birth control, but even missing 1 day increases the chance of getting pregnant.
In general, how well each type of birth control method works depends on a lot of things. These include whether a person has any health conditions or is taking any medicines or herbal supplements that might interfere with its use . Talk to your doctor to check if anything you take could affect how the Pill works for you.
How well a particular method of birth control works also depends on whether the method chosen is convenient and whether the person remembers to use it correctly all the time.
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What Are The Different Types Of Birth Control
Women can choose from many different types of birth control methods. These include, in order of most effective to least effective at preventing pregnancy:
- Female and male sterilization Birth control that prevents pregnancy for the rest of your life through surgery or a medical procedure.
- Long-acting reversible contraceptives or “LARC” methods Birth control your doctor inserts one time and you do not have to remember to use birth control every day or month. LARCs last for 3 to 10 years, depending on the method.
- Short-acting hormonal methods Birth control your doctor prescribes that you remember to take every day or month. The shot requires you to get a shot from your doctor every 3 months.
- Barrier methods Birth control you use each time you have sex.
- Natural rhythm methods Not using a type of birth control but instead avoiding sex and/or using birth control only on the days when you are most fertile . An can help you find your most fertile days.
How To Prevent Your Birth Control From Failing
The best way to make sure your birth control works is to pick the method thats right for you. For example, if you dont think youll be able to remember to take a pill every day, you’d be better off using a semi-permanent option, such as an IUD or implant. These also are the most effective options.
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Birth Control Can Mask Menstrual Cycle Irregularities
One of the benefits of taking birth control can be a regular, predictable menstrual cycle. However, sometimes this can mask menstrual irregularities. If a woman has amenorrhea, bleeds irregularly, or has heavy periods, these issues can all contribute to infertility. Once a woman stops taking birth control, these irregularities may become apparent, making conception more challenging.
What Does Early Pregnancy Feel Like On Birth Control
It is common for premenstrual symptoms, side effects from hormonal birth control, and early pregnancy symptoms to look the same or similar bloating, sore or swollen breasts, fatigue, and mood swings. It is possible that these symptoms are also signs of other conditions, and they may not always indicate that you are pregnant.
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How Birth Control Pills Work
Oral contraceptives work by providing your body with just enough hormones to block ovulation. Ovulation is when an egg is released from the ovaries. Ovulation usually occurs between day 11 and day 21 of the menstrual cycle. Women are most fertile during the two to three days before ovulation.
When you take your pills as prescribed, your body will have a steady supply of medication to keep you from ovulating. We refer to this as maintaining the therapeutic drug level, or how much of the drug needs to be in your system for it to be effective.
To achieve the best results, you will need to take one pill at the same time every day. Missing or delaying doses allows the therapeutic drug level to drop.
- Over the course of an hour, the drop may not be significant.
- Over 24 hours, the drop could very well be significant.
Ultimately, there is a point at which drug levels drop low enough that ovulation can occur. This can vary from person to person. The levels drop more quickly in some women than others.
The pill does not terminate a pregnancy it prevents ovulation. If an egg is released, pregnancy can occur.
Experience Of Getting Pregnant On The Pill From Others
I got pregnant after three months on birth control. I took them every single day without missing a dose. I dont understand what happened. I didnt take any other medications and took the pills the same time every day. The only thing I can think of is I like to have a beer once in a while. Anyways, I had a son and he is such a blessing to our lives.
Amber, 23
I became pregnant while taking birth control and had an ectopic pregnancy. I had taken a course of antibiotics for a sinus infection and I am pretty sure that is what caused it to happen. Im just more careful now if I have to take other medications.
Sonja, 19
I had a pregnancy while taking the pill after 20 years of being on birth control. I missed a few days while we were on vacation. It was surprising because if you are on the pill a long time, you may not ovulate right away. I guess I did! Our baby is wonderful and we are so happy to be parents.
Gloria, 39
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Stis Can Cause Infertility
Some women who take birth control may be less likely to use condoms. While condoms, IUDs, and the pill all prevent pregnancy, only condoms protect against sexually transmitted infections . Many STIs that are left untreated, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea, can lead to problems with fertility. Women who are on birth control should still use condoms to protect against STIs in situations where infection may be a risk. Women should also get tested regularly for STIs and treated immediately if an STI is found.
Will Contraception Ruin My Fertility
First of all, lets get this out of the way birth control methods do not harm your long-term fertility. Some research used to suggest being on hormonal contraception for a long time increased your risk of infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects.
But do you know what else coincides with being on contraception for a long time? Being older.
It has long been known that the more outside the age range of 20 to 35 you are when you are trying to become pregnant, the higher your risk of infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects. Quite simply the slightly higher risks are just the normal risks faced by women of that age. Nothing to do with contraception!
Older forms of contraception also may have affected womens fertility, but what was true in 1970 or 1990 is not true in 2021. All these decades of research and new developments mean most contraception is very, very safe to use.
In fact, there have been studies that show increased fertility with prolonged use of birth control. One study showed that women who have been on birth control for five years before attempting to get pregnant had a better chance of becoming pregnant than women who were not using birth control .
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When Using Condoms Improperly
They seem pretty easy to use, and hey, we all tested them out on bananas in Health class back in the day. How can anyone screw them up? Heres the short list: using them with oil-based lubricants, like petroleum jelly or coconut oil, which erode latex using expired condoms or any that have been exposed to extreme temperatures accidentally ripping them with teeth, scissors, or a nail when opening the packet not leaving enough room at the tip and not pulling out quickly enough after sex. Maybe thats not such a short list, after all.
Is It Safe To Leave The Implant In If I Am Pregnant
Depending on the implant you have, there are some distinct risks associated with leaving it in when pregnant.
If you become pregnant with an implant inserted, you have a higher-than-average risk of ectopic pregnancy. This is when the fetus implants outside the womb, which can put your life at risk. Your risk of miscarriage is also elevated, even if the fetus implants normally.
For these reasons, it is essential to see your doctor if you feel cramps, have bleeding, or get a positive pregnancy test when you are on the implant. They will then advise you about removing it .
Implants and injectable progestins like DepoProvera will often stop your periods, making it difficult to know if you are pregnant. For this reason, Id advise paying attention to things like nausea and breast tenderness as possible signs indicating you should take a pregnancy test.
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