Editor’s Note: Alex’s last name has been omitted to protect her identity.
A 4 a.m. venture to Wal-Mart for a pregnancy test was the final straw that caused Alex to ditch her birth control for an alternative.
Alex, then a junior studying education at Ohio University, took a positive pregnancy test in January, despite taking the oral contraceptive Beyaz for four months.
“(My boyfriend and I) weren’t using condoms because we expected the birth control to work,” said Alex, who was 16 weeks pregnant when she missed her first period.
Now with a baby, Alex, 22, is commuting to Northern Kentucky University from her hometown of Cincinnati.
Experiences such as Alex’s unplanned pregnancy are one of a number of situations that might prompt a woman to switch her birth control method.
Jane Broeker, an OB-GYN at River Rose Obstetrics and Campus Care, said many women choose to switch birth control or ditch an oral contraceptive altogether.
“I would say less than 60 percent of people who start the pill are still on any pill a year later,” Broeker said. She noted it is common for someone to switch or completely halt their oral contraceptive routine because of side effects produced by the pill, among other reasons.
According to a recent column published in The New York Times, researchers at the Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation found that discontinuation rates of certain contraceptive methods are as high as 90 percent, with 61 percent of unmarried women in the study having switched methods during the course of two years.
The column also noted that a misunderstanding about how to effectively switch birth control methods could put a woman at risk for unplanned pregnancy.
Broeker said that to switch birth control methods effectively without risking pregnancy, a new birth control pack should be taken on the same day the old pack of birth control would have been started.
Women risk becoming pregnant when they adjust their entire birth control routines in order to switch packs, she said.
“Going more than seven days without a hormone pill is really going to leave you at risk for follicle development, and once it develops, it’s going to leave you at higher risk to ovulate,” Broeker said.
Hayley Fwartz, a certified medical assistant at River Rose Obstetrics, said it is not uncommon for patients at River Rose to switch birth control methods, especially when deciding to move from an oral contraceptive to a shot or to an intrauterine device.
“I feel like a lot of people do switch birth controls,” she said. “I don’t feel like we have many who switch pill to pill.”
Though Alex never considered aborting her unplanned pregnancy, she said she will be searching for a more reliable method of contraception to replace Beyaz.
“(My gynecologist and I) have discussed different options,” she said. “There are shots you can get every three months. I definitely don’t recommend Beyaz.”
sg409809@ohiou.edu
