subject: What You Need To Know About Plan B Side Effects [print this page] Plan B is the name of a contraceptive that is more casually referred to as the morning-after pill. But, as with the majority of non-prescription contraceptives, the Plan B side effects could possibly lead to issues for some females.
Based on information from health experts, however, the Plan B side effects are milder than the ones that come with other morning-after contraceptives available today. Here are a few of the more prevalent Plan B side effects:
1. Abdominal pains. Some women report cramp-like pains in the lower abdominal region while others say that shooting pains usually happen near the lower end of the obliques or the side muscles of the body. In many cases, these abdominal pains would normally recede in intensity and frequency 6 to 12 hours after taking the pill.
2. Change in menstruation pattern. Like all female contraceptive products, Plan B can also affect regular menstrual flow and frequency. This is to be expected since the drug tends to target the egg cells in the woman's reproductive system. Some women have unusually heavier or lighter menstruations, while others experience infrequent menstrual cycles for at least 2 to 3 months afterwards. Blood spotting in between menstruation is also considered normal.
3. Dizziness and nausea. About 23.1 women in a controlled group reported feeling bouts of dizziness, which leads to nausea or vomiting several minutes after taking Plan B. However, rest and sleep are the usual recommendations to ease such symptoms. Withholding food for one to two hours would also help keep the person from throwing up.
4. Excessive Tiredness Certain females experience fatigue when they take the Plan B medication. Some other females report some tiredness in their arms or legs, or full-body tiredness. To eliminate these side effects, simply take a rest or sleep for an entire 8 hours overnight.
5. Headaches. 16.8% of women reported getting varying degrees of headaches when taking the morning after pill. Health care providers advise against taking any form of headache pills or pain relievers to ease such symptoms. These could adversely react with the morning-after pill and cause other unwanted side-effects to appear. Usually, the headaches would go away on their own after a few hours.
Some additional Plan B side effects are sore breasts, and loose stools, but they happen only infrequently according to reports. For those of you who are taking the Plan B pill and are having some other concerning effects, you should call your physician right away.
