Category: Handbook

People usually associate this word with the white wedding dress and innocence. However, today it is not as important and widespread as it used to be. To put it in a term, a girl is a virgin until the moment she has sex for the first time.

Losing virginity

The process of losing virginity is explained clearly from the physiological point of view. During the first sexual intercourse the hymen or a membrane is physically torn. A hymen is a part of vulva and it in a way closes the entrance to vagina. Therefore, after the first time penis goes into vagina and membrane is torn woman is considered not a virgin any more. However, the absence of hymen doesn’t necessary mean that women had sex already. It can happen that woman was born without it or the hymen disappeared itself during the lifetime. Women can also loose hymen in the process of exercising or using a tampon. It is also possible the women can have very thick membrane. In this case, she needs surgical cutting or total removal of hymen.

Second virginity

Some people wish to get back their virginity. Therefore, they choose to become virgins for the second time. They succeed achieving this by abstaining from sex . Some choose to do it for several month, others needs years while third category of these people choose to have sex only after marriage.

People decide to renew virginity for several reasons. Firstly, it can happen that you had your first sexual intercourse too early. Despite of this fact, person wants to have normal further sexual life and tries convincing itself and a new partner about being virgin. Secondly, many people consider virginity being a symbol of power – the physical and mental power to control your body. We can also look at the etymology of this word. The origin comes from old Greek word ‘Virgo’ that associates with the ancient goodness of power. Finally, it can happen that you lost your virginity because of the rape or any other kind of pressured sex. It is normal that you still want to have your real first time with the person you love.

Men virginity

From the medical point of view, we can indicate if the man had sex before. They have a skin, in a way similar to the women’s hymen, and they loose it during the first sexual intercourse. This piece of skin is called ‘frenulum’ and it is situated immediately below the tip on the underside of the penis. It is not a true indicator; however, absence of this piece of skin shows that man has a little or no experience in sex.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) include infections, which are spread through a sexual contact from one person to another. These diseases are a serious problem to people who decide to be sexually active. Statistics shows that there are 15 million of new cases of STD’s are recorded every year in the United States of America. Most of these cases are among the age groups from 15 – 24. Therefore it is very important to understand how to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and protect against them.

Most of STD’s can cause health problems to infected people, especially women. Some of them may result in infertility, others may even be fatal. These diseases may result in pelvic inflammatory disease in women if untreated, which could cause infertility. Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) also transmitted through sexual contact is one of the main causes of cervical cancer. Unfortunately, there is no cure for it as for a few other STD’s. Therefore it is very important to understand how to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and protect against them.

Human Papilloma virus

At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women are said to have Human Papilloma Virus — the main cause of cervical cancer. The only way to protect against this disease is to avoid sexual contact. However, those who decide to be sexually active should at least have a steady partnership and only one partner. Although if the partner had at least one sexual contact before, there is no guarantee that he/she is not infected already. Still, monogamous relationships are said to lower the risk and spread of HPV.
Those, who are not in a monogamous relationship, should have as few partners as possible. They should also choose reliable partners, who have had fewer sexual contacts. However, this could be hard to judge, since HPV usually develops no signs, except for warts that may occur in some cases, and a person may not know if he/she is infected. The use of latex condoms is known to reduce the risk of HPV. But there is no 100 percent efficient protection against this particular infection since the virus also occurs in the genital areas not covered with a condom.

Huma Immunodeficiency virus

Another serious STD that many people fear off is Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) the cause of AIDS. The virus can be spread through vaginal, oral, anal sexual act, and blood. It cannot be transmitted through other human fluids, like saliva and tears. Although there are certain medicines to prolong an infected person’s life, there is, however, no cure for the infection. The only way to protect against HIV is to abstain from sex . If a person is sexually active but is in a long-term monogamous relationship with a person who is negative for HIV, he/she is considered to be safe.

However, if a person decides to be sexually active but is not in a monogamous relationship, he/she is at risk of STD’s, including HIV. The only way to protect against the virus is to use latex condoms properly every time a sexual contact occurs. During oral sex a person should use Saran or plastic wrap to be protected against STD’s and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In addition, the presence of other sexually transmitted diseases usually increases the risk of acquiring HIV infection.

Hepatitis B and C

Although many people do not realize that viral Hepatitis B and C is also a type of a sexually transmitted disease. B and C type Hepatitis may be spread through sexual contact and blood. One of the ways to prevent the spread of this disease is to abstain from sex. If a person decides to become sexually active, the use of latex condoms reduces the risk to acquire Hepatitis. A significant mean to protect against this disease is to be vaccinated for Hepatitis B. This vaccine is accessible for people of all age groups.

And finally, it is important for people to understand that frequent testing for STD’s is one of prevention methods to stop the spread of these diseases. Another method, in general, is to abstain from sexual contact or — if a person is already sexually active — to abstain from sex with unreliable or infected people. Remember, whenever you have sexual intercourse –wear a condom .

If you are a teenage girl, you have probably started having a period already. If you are still waiting for your first menstrual bleeding, you might be anxious about this topic and want to know more about it. Menstrual cycle is quite a complex physiological process in a woman’s body but it is very interesting and important for you to understand.

Menstrual cycle

What is a menstrual cycle? It is a periodic cycle of certain physiological changes in women’s body. Menstrual cycle is closely associated with female fertility. Reproductive hormones, such as estradiol (estrogen), progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, are responsible for recurring changes during this cycle.

Menarche is the first period in a woman’s life. The age of menarche depends on diet, genetics, environment and health status. The average age for the first menstrual bleeding is 12 years worldwide. However, this age ranges from 8 to 16 and is considered normal. Menstrual cycle continues during the whole woman’s reproductive life, the end of which is called menopause , and most commonly starts at the age of 51 years. This is when the menstrual cycle stops occurring and a woman cannot get pregnant anymore.

The length of a woman’s menstrual cycle is very individual – it can be shorter or longer. Normally, less than eight days between the longest cycle and shortest one are allowed to consider the menstrual cycle as normal.

Girls, who have their menstrual cycle for the first time in their life, should learn how to count their cycle. You should start your cycle from the first day of menstrual bleeding. Menstrual cycle is divided into several phases, which differ in physiology and hormones that regulate menstrual cycle.

Menstruation phase

First phase is menstruation. Normally it lasts from 3 to 5 days (but 2-7 days duration is also normal). During this time a woman experiences uterine bleeding of about 35 milliliters and therefore, may require more iron in her diet to avoid iron deficiency. Uterine cramps are also very common during period, and might require the use of some medications to soothe them.

Follicular phase

After menstrual phase is over, follicular or proliferative phase starts under control of the rising follicular-stimulating hormone on the 5th day through 13th day of the menstrual cycle. During this phase, the amount of estrogen increases and, therefore, uterine lining becomes thicker. In addition, due to the action of the follicle-stimulating hormone follicles begins to develop in the ovary, until there is only one of them, called the dominant, left. This dominant follicle continues to grow and soon is able to ovulate, meaning to leave the ovary.

Ovulation phase

Ovulation is the next phase of the menstrual cycle and it is when a mature ovum is released from the ovary to the abdominal cavity. This is due the action of estradiol, which triggers the luteinizing hormone that helps an egg to become mature and weakens the membrane of the follicle, so that a mature ovum could be released. Fallopian tubes must catch this released egg and bring it to the site of fertilization. If a woman has sexual intercourse during ovulation or a few days before or after it, then sperm is able to join the egg, and a woman becomes pregnant. If sperm is not present at the time of ovulation, an egg will not get fertilized and eventually it will dissolve in the uterus.&

During the phase of ovulation, this usually occurs on the 14th day of the menstrual cycle , a woman experiences changes in vaginal discharge, which then becomes profuse, stringy and clear in color. Also, some women may experience a dull pain at the lower part of the abdomen, lasting for a few hours. In addition, some women may have a light mid-cycle bleeding. Scientists say, that at the time of ovulation women have a greater smell ability.

Luteal phase

After the ovulation phase is over, luteal phase starts from the day 15 through 28 of the cycle. Parts of the follicle that are left in the ovary become a so called corpus luteum, that produces large amounts of progesterone. Progesterone is necessary for the uterine lining to proliferate, in order to become more suitable for implantation of a fertilized egg. If an egg is fertilized then it gets implanted in the uterus and corpus luteum continues to produce large amounts of progesterone and, therefore, when a woman becomes pregnant one of the first signs is absence of a period. If an egg does not get fertilized, corpus luteum diminishes in about two weeks and stops secreting progesterone, therefore menstrual bleeding occurs on the 28th day of the menstrual cycle.

During ovulation and luteal phase, the woman’s body temperature rises by one quarter to half a degree Celsius, which is important for women who use temperature method as a natural birth control method.

Duration of the menstrual cycle

The duration of the follicular phase and the menstrual cycle varies. The luteal phase usually lasts the same number of days in the same woman. Its length is from 10 to 16 days depending individually. Sperm is known to be able to survive in a woman’s body from 3 to 8 days. The period when a woman is most fertile, meaning the highest possibility of sexual intercourse to lead to pregnancy, is 5 days before ovulation and 1-2 days after it. There are certain natural methods of birth control that try to detect accurate time of ovulation and determine fertile and infertile days of the menstrual cycle.

It is, however, a mistake to take into account that ovulation always occurs on the day 14 of the menstrual cycle. There are several methods, such as basal body temperature measurements, vaginal discharge observation, observation of the cervical position. And there are also certain detection kits that help women to determine the exact day of ovulation.

However, women should be aware that natural birth control methods have a very low practical efficiency in contraception. And also, a woman must have a regular menstrual cycle in order to use natural birth control method effectively.

There is also a phenomenon known for women, who live closely together, for example, roommates, to have menstrual cycles similar in length. Although this was not 100% proved, it can still be observed, and thought to be due to the action of pheromones.

There have been made lots of scientific reports on the reaction of alcohol and drugs, on the alcohol influence on human body overall. Also many people especially youngsters are wondering how alcohol affect birth control . Good to know that people care about that. In most cases it is concentrated on the pills interaction with alcohol. But there is also another side of other contraceptives and alcohol.

To begin with alcohol does not decrease the effect of the birth control pills . The 99% effectiveness stays the same using alcohol or not together with the pills. But on the other hand it makes you get drunk much more quick. Also it might be that alcohol can make you sick and by vomiting the pill will be thrown together. Of course in this case it will not have any protection.

Second thing to discuss is the indirect influence of alcohol on the birth control . What does alcohol make you feel? Probably more relaxed, happier, not so concentrated as being sober. It has been determined that women even agree to have sex with the accidental partner rather than not being drunk. As a rule condoms or other types of contraceptives are forgotten. As a result in many cases it appears that woman gets pregnant. In such kind of situations people risk to catch the sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

Of course every situation is individual and those who really care about themselves and the person they are interacting with will not blame alcohol for not preventing from the gestation. Actually there has been a study on alcohol and birth control which showed that alcohol had no affect on condom or any other type of contraceptive use. And it also appeared that women were more likely to discuss birth control and STD prevention .

So take care of yourself, respect your body. Even if it happens that you decide to have sex being drunk, try to remember to use the condoms or any other kind of birth control methods .

 

The contraceptive patch has his one big advantage – once you placed it, you don not need to do anything for the whole week. However, women really have unlimited fantasy about the contraceptive patch – they think if you take a birth control pill, it means that you use a drug, but if you stick contraceptive patch, it does not mean that you use drugs, because we do not stick drugs directly on the skin. In addition, there is a disinformation that the patch is non-hormone birth control method , because it contains something like “special non-hormone substance”. That’s why many women think that contraceptive patch is “something special” and is safer then birth control pills. However, it is not true.

The similarity between contraceptive patch and birth control pills

It is not difficult to list the similarity between contraceptive patch and birth control pill . Firstly, they contain the same hormones in the same doses – estrogen and progestin. Also both of them work in the same way – prevent ovulation, the liver turns both hormones in inactive form and they are eliminated from organism through kidney and intestine. In addition, both of them have the same side effects and similar reliability.

Difference between contraceptive patch and birth control pills

You can see a clear-cut distinction between these birth control methods when the contraceptive patch is compared with new generation of birth control pills. Birth control pills can treat acne, while contraceptive patch can cause it; birth control pills treat or reduce PMS symptoms, while contraceptive patch doesn’t have such effect. New progestin, which is used in birth control pills, does not have any influence on metabolism, so you can use pills as long as you would like to do it, while the patch contains progestin, which splits in liver into a substance that have strong androgenic effect.

This information will let you know which method of birth control has the highest reliability and efficiency and which one you should avoid to use.

Birth control methods	Reliability/Efficiency
Tubal ligation /vasectomy	99.6 – 100%
IUD "Mirena"	99.8 – 100%
Copper IUD	98 – 99.7%
Injectables	99.4 – 99.9%
Birth control pills	99.8 – 100%
Contraceptive patch	92 – 99.7%
Contraceptive ring	92 – 99.1%
Progestin-only pills	92 – 98%
Cervical cap	90 – 95%
Male condom	88 – 95.8%
Female condom	79 – 95%
Natural family planning	80 – 86.6%
Spermicides	79 – 99.7%
Emergency contraception	75 – 80% (onetime)
No birth control	15 – 56.9%

Sometimes it happens that women forget to take a birth control pill or to use another birth control method or just family decided to have a baby. The result is the same in both situations – no menstruations and nausea. Well, it looks you may be pregnant! How to check it without going to gynecologist? Home pregnancy test (HPT) will help to test the presence of a pregnancy after 2-3 weeks after ovulation.

The history of pregnancy test

Women tried to test the presence of pregnancy even in Antiquity – the ancient Egyptians watered bags of wheat and barley with the urine of possibly pregnant woman. In the beginning of XX century, there were used so-called “rabbit tests” – it was discovered that it is possible to test pregnancy if you inject the urine possibly pregnant woman into a rabbit. There would be corpora hemorrhagica in the ovaries of the rabbit. To see bulging masses on the ovaries, it was necessary to kill the rabbit, so even if woman was not pregnant, poor rabbit would die.

Fortunately, today we don’t have to kill any rabbits to find out the pregnancy. Pregnancy tests today look for Human Chorionic Gonadtropin (hCG) – a hormone produced during pregnancy and to tests are easier to perform – all you need is blood or urine.

Home pregnancy test – how to take it?

New home pregnancy tests can find out the presence of pregnancy even after 2-3 weeks after ovulation. These pregnancy tests are sensitive to measure the hCG hormone in woman urine. Testing kit is very easy to use. First what you have to do – check the expiration date and make sure that testing kit is still valid to use. Read the directions carefully, because they can vary from brand to brand, for ex., some brands recommend to value results after 5 min, another after 10 min. In addition, some tests vary in the displaying results – one show pink lines on the test strip, another reveal a red plus or minus sign.  Next step – make a pee and drop as many urine drops to indicator as it’s written in directions and wait 5-10 min (as it is recommended in directions). Usually for better and more accurate results, it’s recommended to use morning urine. Remember, do not read results after 10 minutes!

Now you can value the result – positive pregnancy test result – two coloured lines on the test strip, negative pregnancy test result – one coloured line on the test strip. The result is invalid if no red line appears on control window or if a line appears only in test window.

False positive result

A false positive result – when test shows the presence of pregnancy, but woman is not pregnant. It may happen when woman have so-called “chemical pregnancy”. It means, that a fertilized egg implanted into woman’s uterus and developed enough to start producing hCG, but then stopped developing. If it happens, woman will go on having menstruation. Whereas new generation of pregnancy tests is sensitive to measure pregnancy in an initial stage, it’s recommended to wait for about a week after period is due.

So, if you pregnancy test result is positive, you have to immediately consult with your gynecologist about your pregnancy. Even if your pregnancy test result is negative, but you feel being pregnant, you should take another test some days later and consult with gynecologist.

It was discovered that males are suffering from the menopause as well as women do. They even share the same symptoms. Men can experience it even at the age of 30; however, usually it appears when he is between 45 and 60 years. After the years of 40, the male hormone testosterone produces noticeably less than before. Testosterone motivates the sexual drive, and is responsible for bone and muscle development in male and sexual development while he is still a boy. However, even the healthiest man by the age of 80 will have amount of testosterone at the level of pre-puberty.

Male menopause causes

There are some factors, which can have an affect on the man’s heath and can cause male menopause. These include smoking, intensive consumption of alcohol, obesity, hypertension, poor or incorrect diet, lack of exercise, psychological problems and, eventually, a mid-life crisis. But all mentioned causes are treatable.

Male menopause symptoms

As it was mentioned before, the symptoms are very similar to those that women have. However, the difference is that not all the men experience it. Only 40 % out of all men that are between 40 and 60 will suffer for stress, depression, mood swing, irritability, sleep disturbances, reduced libido and potency. Even 51 % of healthy man can experience certain degree of impotence. Age is not the problem – 40 % of man can perform normal erection up to 70 years or more. It can happen by combination of other diseases. Total impotence and sexual frustration can become a problem because of the lack of understanding of the partner.

Male menopause treatment

First of all, it is very important for a man to admit the chance that he might be suffering from male menopause . Moreover, he should realize that it is a simple disease and is treatable. Man should choose the effective way to reduce stress as much as possible. Spend more time for pleasure and get enough hours to sleep. They also should change their diet into healthy one – eat more nutritious, low-fat, high-fiber products. It can also cured by reducing the amount of alcohol and caffeine and start drinking more water, exercising. Finally, this is extremely important, to find people to talk to, have a friendly chat about the concerning problems.

Male menopause risks

The male menopause should be treated very carefully. Otherwise, it can result in diseases that are worse than this one. Increasing level of testosterone might result even in prostate cancer. By increasing androgen level male might also start suffering from heart diseases or liver diseases. Therefore, it is very important to start treating male menopause carefully.

Recommended e-books:

1. How to conquer menopause
2. Menopause relief secrets

Throughout many years people tried to find ways to control fertility and prevent pregnancies. Even though in the earliest times people had little or no idea how women became pregnant, there were many mechanisms and various birth control methods used in many ancient cultures to avoid pregnancies.
Many of these methods had nothing to do with sexual intercourse or the act of conceiving a baby and, obviously, had little if any effect on birth control. Such methods were dances, amulets and rituals. Some methods, however, even if they were used without any knowledge about how to get pregnant, were ancient modifications of modern methods of birth control used even today.

In the times when pregnancy was believed to be controlled by spirits, the moon or the sun, rituals, myths, dances and amulets were popular means to control fertility. Those were the times when pregnancy and childbirth were dangerous to women’s lives. The death rate during childbirth or after it was high, and women tried to avoid pregnancy especially when they had already many children. The birth control methods were passed on from woman to woman quietly. It is known that in cultures where the moon was believed to be the power of conception, women tended to sleep out of the reach of moonlight in order to avoid pregnancy. In some other cultures throwing corn kernels, apples, or nails into a well or springing at a magical hour was believed to help a woman to stay un-pregnant for a month. Another ritual that was thought to help prevent unwanted pregnancy was walking over graves of dead female ancestors.

Birth control in Ancient Rome

Ancient Roman women put a leather pouch filled with cat’s liver on their left foot during sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. Some women believed that spitting three times into a frog’s mouth was a good method of birth control. European women thought that they could prevent pregnancy by turning backwards a wheel of a mill at midnight. And in many cultures women constantly wore various necklaces and amulets, which were supposed to have the power of controlling the act of conception.

Birth control in Ancient Greece

Some time later natural family planning techniques came into the minds of ancient women. The rhythm method, known and used by some women even nowadays, was introduced by a Greek gynecologist Soranus in the second century CE. He suggested that women should avoid sex during the days when ovulation occurred because he thought they were then most fertile. However, he was absolutely wrong assuming that ovulation occurred during the days of menstrual bleeding. In addition to the rhythm method, Soranus advised women to hold the breath and draw their bodies back during sex in order to stop the sperm from entering a woman’s body. He also suggested a woman to jump backwards seven times after sexual intercourse or sit down on bent knees to cause sneezing. These methods had no scientific basis and thus were not effective in birth control .

Another method, with the knowledge of ovulation and its effect on conception was continuous breast-feeding until a child was three years old. Somehow women knew that breast-feeding had to prevent ovulation and therefore they were not able to conceive.

The only method that had then and still has now a hundred percent efficiency in birth control was abstinence . Therefore many women had joined the monasteries and became nuns. For other women complete abstinence was not possible on a long-term basis but some religions and ethical groups had periods when sex was prohibited, such as during Lent or different religious or ethical holidays. However, these had no effect on birth control.

Birth control in Ancient Egypt

One of the oldest methods, that had something to do with the knowledge of how women became pregnant, was used in Egypt around 1500 BC. It is thought to be the oldest contraceptive. Suppositories made out of crocodile dung or honey, were used by women. It was believed that the sticky substance could stop the white fluid from a man entering a woman’s body. This probably only discouraged a man from having sexual intercourse with a woman who used these suppositories.

Birth control methods

The history of suppositories in birth control is large and modern science has approved the efficiency in birth control of some of them. For example, women used to grind acacia tree bark, dates and honey together and apply such a paste on the vulva before sexual intercourse. Since acacia tree bark has some lactic acid that is used even in modern spermicides, such suppositories had some scientific basis in preventing unwanted pregnancy.

The oldest modification of an intrauterine device (IUD) used today was suggested by Hippocrates who thought that inserting different objects into the uterus could make pregnancy impossible. Additionally, Arab camel drivers placed stones into the uterus of their female camels in order to prevent pregnancy in them. However, the founder of a modern IUD was German gynecologist Grafenberg, who developed the first IUD in 1920. Unlike in today used IUDs he took silkworm and silver wire, which was soiled into a ring, to produce the very first IUD.

The history of female pessaries reaches even the second century BCE. Even though pessaries are used in modern times as well, ancient pessaries were produced from rather different materials than they are now. Ancient pessaries were produced out of elephant dung, seaweed, and leaves. Also women used to put different substances like sea sponges or soft wool. You can only imagine how painful sex must have been those days. W. J. Rendel was a man who developed the first modern pessary and introduced it into the market in 1800s. It was made out of quinine or cacao butter and like the modern ones had to be inserted into the vagina before sexual intercourse.

There were various oral substances that ancient women in different cultures used to take to prevent pregnancies. Some of the substances not only prevented pregnancy but were also unhealthy or even lethal. Chinese women drank mercury whereas Indian women took carrot seeds and women in Eastern Canada made tea out of beaver testicles and drank it to avoid pregnancy. Even in older times poisonous substances including mercury, arsenic and strychnine were used as a form of oral contraceptives. However, it took a lot of time and effort until a modern oral contraceptive – the birth control pill – came onto the market.

Men also used different methods in order to prevent pregnancy in their female partners from occurring. The oldest method of birth control known is coitus interruptus, which means that a man pulls his penis out of the vagina before ejaculation. Although it is used by some even nowadays, coitus interruptus is, however, a poorly effective method of birth control since a small amount of fluid released prior to ejaculation contains some sperm. Another form of male birth control was squeezing the base of the penis so that a man does not ejaculate. This is called coitus reservatus. Although neither coitus interruptus nor coitus reservatus could be efficient enough in birth control.

Men also used cruel methods to prevent conception. This includes a so called sub-incision. In some tribes they used to cut a small hole in the male urethra at the base of the penis, so that semen discharges through the hole instead of entering the vagina during ejaculation. A man had to put a finger on the hole when urinating as well as when he wanted to make his female partner pregnant.

Condoms

Condoms , still present today, were first produced in 1562. However, they were very different from those used today. Firstly, condoms were made out of animal intestines, goat bladders or blowfish intestines. Secondly, they were used many times washing them after each use. Condoms even those days were used to protect not only against pregnancy but also against venereal diseases. Latex rubber condoms were first produced in 1840s and have been used and efficient ever since.

Modern-day birth control

Medical progress and modern technologies have made a lot of differences in sexual lives of men and women. Women have a lot of birth control methods they can choose these days in order to protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Scientists are about to introduce a new method of contraception for men – the male birth control pill. However, there are a lot of people in the world today, who still use various old birth control methods to avoid unexpected pregnancies. How far have we really come from ancient times?

All the people having sexual intercourse consider the chance of pregnancy. Therefore, the majority of them are using contraceptive methods. However, not all birth control methods are equally effective or ineffective at all.

DOUCHING

Some women also use misleading method which is called douching. It is used right after sex when women expects to ‘clean’ vagina and vulva from sperm by vaginal douche. However, this method is completely ineffective as this process, on the contrast, puts sperm only deeper in vagina which is followed by a huge chance to become pregnant. In addition, the organism of every woman has an ability to clean itself. Therefore, there is no need for vaginal douche.

WITHDRAWAL

This method is used by immense amount of couples since they discovered that pregnancy is that result of man’s ejaculation into vagina. This is the natural way to avoid pregnancy as it doesn’t require any other additional costs or contraceptives. If any other birth control methods are not available at certain moment, man just has to take out his penis from vagina just before he ejaculates and ‘come’ somewhere away from vulva. However, man must be familiar to his body as much as possible to ejaculate in time. Moreover, there must very strong trust between partners of intercourse. Therefore, all these aspects influence this method to be considered as ineffective birth control. The rate of failure is as high as 19%. It is also very important to emphasize that during the intercourse before ejaculation certain ‘pre-ejaculation’ fluid comes out of sperm. Usually it is lubricating fluid; however, it happens that some sperm can also be present. Hence, man who is has not familiar to his body enough or has no experience or ejaculate prematurely should not practice the method of withdrawal.

OTHER INEFFECTIVE METHODS TO AVOID PREGNANCY:

• Pills and antibiotics. Both of the drugs used together can result in pregnancy. Some antibiotics and drugs can make birth control pills ineffective; therefore, it is important to ask the doctor before taking antibiotics.
• Stand up after intercourse. Some misguided women think that you should immediately stand after sexual intercourse in order to stop sperm going towards uterus. However, sperm start moving at the same moment it is inside.
• Man having hot bath before sex. It has no connection with avoiding pregnancy.
• Refraining orgasm of women or breastfeeding. Totally ineffective!