ive been taking birth control for a full month now. and im not a regular smoker, but every once in a while i'll have a few. but since ive started the pill, all of the information they give me has strongly advised me not to smoke. i don't know if this is just something they have to tell you because there are rare risks or if it really is a serious problem.
2007-03-03 05:14:06 · 8 answers · asked by ravanicolec 1 in Health ➔ Women's Health
Well i wont start this long borring talk that you not suppose to smoke period because i bet thats what other people will do before they even get anywhere close to answering your actual question. I am a regular smoker and i been on birth control pills and depo shot before and i am not saying that one day it wont hit me but it is definitely not as serious as they are trying to put it. Half of the time the concern is in women who smoke and are over 35 y o. Also how do you react if you have a crazy headache and you take a pain medicine and then you go out and end up drinking. When we all know most of pain medicine instructions do advice not to consume alcohol while on this medicine because it can cause inner stomach bleeding. But as we all know it never happened to one of us, unless you took whole a lot of medicine and drank whole a lot of alcohol. So again it is not a serious problem as they state but they are trying to escape possibilities which are rare but are there is overdose on one of two things, or both.
2007-03-03 05:32:09 · answer #1 · answered by BK thang 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It lowers the effectiveness of the birth control significantly, and yes, it causes other complications, more often than rarely but not 100% of the time. You shouldn't be doing something that is known to cause a drug interaction (nicotine and the hormones in the pill) and smoking is bad for you, anyway, so why not just stop?
2007-03-03 07:09:49 · answer #2 · answered by Cat Loves Her Sabres 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yep, really.
The reason is blood clots and possibility of stroke. It happens, I've seen it but it is rare. If you smoke less than a pack a week I wouldn't put you in a 'risk' category; but heads up girlfriend--taking BC even without smoking women have had strokes. It's a risk for taking the BC. If you don't like the risks consider not using BC prescribed and find other alternatives which are plenty available.
Blessings
2007-03-03 05:22:13 · answer #3 · answered by Michelle_My_Belle 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
the primary reason you are warned not to smoke is because nicotine is a vaso-constrictor (that means it makes your blood vessels smaller).
it decreases the capillary circulation throughout the body, minimizing blood flow to the periphery etc.
birth control pills are hormones that increase the clotting tendency of your blood.
increased tendency to clot combined with vaso-constriction can cause more circulatory problems and can lead to something called a thrombosis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrombosis
the warnings for bc about stroke, etc. are warnings based off the possibility that you could develop a clot in a small vessel in your brain.
as for the frequency with which this occurs...its really not that common. the only concern is that smoking can increase the risk...what it increases it to, I honestly don't know.
2007-03-03 05:23:38 · answer #4 · answered by sheeboobles 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It increases the risk of blood clot, stroke, and heart attack already associated with hormonal birth control.
Don't do it.
2007-03-03 05:26:59 · answer #5 · answered by Carrie M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
U R not supposed to smoke at all.
smoking affects liver which is the site of metabolism of many drugs including pills
2007-03-03 05:21:54 · answer #6 · answered by william n 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It says right in the little info. guide that smoking while taking birth control increases the symptoms....breat cancer...stroke...bla bla bla you get the pic.
2007-03-03 17:06:21 · answer #7 · answered by Christina U 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Clearly if they are telling you this there is a reason for it.
2007-03-03 05:19:32 · answer #8 · answered by theartisttwin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋