# Bubastis and the Hunt for the Morning After Pill **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553 "2006-06-06T00:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/1 "2006-06-06T00:12:37Z")
So, me and Hardship(T.M.) had a bust-up. And not in the usual shouting-contest way. That, I could live with. Nope, this was the oh-shit-it-burst moment. I wouldnt mind, but since she came off the pill I’ve switched to extra-safe durex. Never had a burst with featherlite, now this. And I wasnt going hard, either. Nice, n gentle, y’know. Showing off. And what does it do? Burst. Extra safe my arse. This is our first burst, so we didnt really know what the fuck to do. We panic and shout at each other, then settle. We dont want a baby. We need a plan. Any of our life-long Irish catholic morning-after-pill-is-bad doctrine went out th’ window. Get us to a pharmacy, but QUICK. Its a public holiday in Ireland today, so most pharmacies are closed. Got to get to a big chain pharmacy in the nearest mall. Go. An hour later, in the nearest Boots, I slide up to the counter. hardship(T.M.) wouldnt even come into the store. She gets embarressed about these things. me, I go crimson buying rubbers, but I’m curiously cool about this. The pharmacist is a guy. We’ll be cool. So I give him th’ole “eh, have you anything for eh, have you a pill, not for me now, for her, you know, the after pill, like, the morning after, y’know. i’m just getting it for my girlfriend, eh, like, y’know”. I’m REAL cool. :smack: He on the other hand, IS real cool, and instructs me that the morning after pill is not available over the counter in ireland, we need a prescription. Bollox. I feared this. With it being a bank holiday, every doctors clinic definatley is shut. Doctors only work on call-outs on such occasions. cant ring a guy up and say th’ johnny bust, and even if we could, Boots would be shut before we could fill said prescription. then, the pharmacist tells me that, in the black Mordor-esque realm of Northern Ireland, the Morning After Pill is available over the counter no bother. I’m out the door before he’s finished talking, making a mental note to shop in Boots more often. So, its going on five, giving us an hour to get up North. its not a bank holiday there, so most pharmacies should be open. Time to bend a few speed laws. True ebnough, we get across the border, and find an open pharmacy. My increased cool manages to beckon the male pharmacist out from behind the counter and away from his elderly female co-worker long enough to give him the ol’ uh-duhh pill please speech. He’s very nice, but claims that he’ll have to speak to Hardship herself. I assure him that we wont sue if she grows another boob and he agrees to sell direct to me. Yay!! What a nice man. There y’go honey. Phew. With a bit of luck, thats all we’ll hear from that. However, my sperm, if they take after me at all, will be resiliant spitefull contrary bastards, and dodge all contraception, probably lay in wait untill tonight, leaving me with a child concieved on 6/6/06… How very very apt. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/2 "2006-06-06T00:53:26Z")
Heh. Good luck with that. No trouble getting back across the border with your contraband, eh? Good, that. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/3 "2006-06-06T01:04:14Z")
Damn them sperm. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/4 "2006-06-06T01:28:04Z")
Sounds like y’all are good to go–if it’s Plan B (the brand name of EC used by Planned Parenthood) you’ve got 72 hours for maximum efficacy: 75-89%. She can take it up to 120 hours later with diminishing returns. I hope you picked up a few extras to have on hand to avoid speeding tickets in the future 😉 . If not, she can get an Rx to have filled in case of an emergency… but having a pack or two around for those bank holidays is quite a relief. A bit of random other information (NOTE: none of this is considered direct medical advice pertaining to a specific person, just general EC use guidelines found in PP’s patient handout on Plan B) she should be aware she may have some early bleeding, or late bleeding, or heavier than expected bleeding, none of these should be alarming unless she’s bleeding very heavily–but if she doesn’t have a period in 3-4 weeks as expected, hie thee to a medical provider for a follow-up pregnancy test. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/5 "2006-06-06T01:33:37Z")
Perhaps you should go back to the other kind of condoms, or use more lube. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/6 "2006-06-06T01:56:30Z")
I think they’re going to make morning-after pills available over the counter in Canada, too. 'Bout damned time. We had to use those once in a similar situation - you might warn your girlfriend about the nausea, **bubastis**. Have the pepto-bismol handy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/7 "2006-06-06T05:36:01Z")
Yeah, you may wanna get a couple more of them pills too for rainy days. Write a letter to the pill people saying how happy you are you got their product. You can be a testimonial on a box in the future! ---
**Author:** ![sleeping\_mud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@sleeping\_mud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping_mud)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/8 "2006-06-06T06:12:44Z")
Is it okay for it to be legal? I’ve heard women have died from it. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/9 "2006-06-06T06:24:36Z")
> [@sleeping mud](#): > > Is it okay for it to be legal? I’ve heard women have died from it. I haven’t heard that about the “morning after pill” and a quick search didn’t turn up anything. There have been a few deaths from the “abortion pill”. Maybe you’re thinking of that? A lot people get the two pills confused or don’t realize that they’re two different things. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/10 "2006-06-06T08:14:33Z")
**sleeping mud** - no one has died from [Levonelle](http://www.levonelle.co.uk/output/page1.asp), which is the emergency contraceptive pill which is available over the counter. It is the same as the Plan B pill available in the USA. It is NOT RU-486, it does NOT cause an abortion. It works by preventing implantation, like an IUD. Levonelle has no effect on an already implanted embryo. It contains 1500mcg of Levonorgestrel, a synthetic progestogen. Unlike older emergency contraceptive pills (such as Schering’s PC4) it contains no oestrogens and is taken in a single dose. It is equivalent to taking 50 progesterone only contraceptive pills in one go, and has been proven to be very safe. The main side effects are nausea, headache and transient menstrual irregularity. I have checked my BNF (a drug formulary) and can see no serious side effects listed against Levonelle- which means that so far none have been reported, anywhere in the world. All that is listed is “menstrual irregularities, nausea, low abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, dizziness, breast tenderness, vomiting.” Compare and contrast, if you will, with the side effects of paracetamol (acetominophen), a drug which I’m sure the vast majority of us have used at least once. The possible side effects listed for that are “rashes, blood disorders (including thrombocytopaenia, leucopaenia and neutropaenia); hypotension reported on infusion; liver damage and renal damage.” **bubastis** - Thank goodness for the Drogheda by-pass, eh? Best wishes to you and **Hardship** , I’m sure everything will be fine. Just be thankful this happened today and not 30 years ago, or you’d have had to go North for the condoms too! ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/11 "2006-06-06T11:22:04Z")
I hate condoms. Thank god for the pill! And for the morning after pill for that matter. Luckily I’ve never needed it though. I hope she’s not suffering any ill effects from it. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping\_mud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@sleeping\_mud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping_mud)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/12 "2006-06-06T15:17:32Z")
Thanks for clearing it up for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/13 "2006-06-06T16:13:16Z")
Oh, _God_, I remember having to do this. Scene: right after **Angel’s** first time ever. After the initial panic of OMGitbrokeandohcrapandheymaybebleachwouldhelp, I remembered reading about the morning-after pill somewhere. _Hey,_ I think, _that could help. I’ll call CVS and see if they have it!_ Whereupon much wailing and gnashing of teeth occurs, for this particular pill is Not Available Without A Doctor’s Prescription. Now, I think that this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. I mean, really; I have to go to the doctor for _this_? It’s freakin’ 2 AM on a Sunday. There isn’t a doctor anywhere. So, at the end of the day (Sunday evening), I go back to my college and my dorm room, where I am car-less. One taxi ride, Planned Parenthood visit, and $125 later, I have the damn pill. I take it. Don’t know if it worked, or if I wouldn’t have been pregnant anyway, but I started bleeding a week later. It’s been almost five years, and no kid, so I figure I’m safe. And I’ve been on BC continuously since then. But, jeez, was that pill a pain to get. I lucked out in that I had a large amount of ready cash, and didn’t have to hit insurance (which would’ve alerted my parents–that would’ve been fun). Getting in to a doctor at the last minute is also Not Fun. You have my sympathy, **bubastis**. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/14 "2006-06-06T18:04:02Z")
Sounds like maybe you need to have the Well Woman Clinic’s number on speed dial. 'Coz you never know … ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/15 "2006-06-06T19:40:08Z")
My “holycrapthecondombroke” moment happened the night before Thanksgiving in 1998. I had to wait until the day after Thanksgiving and spent something like seven hours sitting around the county hospital to be seen, have a pelvic exam (?!), get the prescription, and get it filled. Plus, I was just 18 at the time, and had to borrow my dad’s car in order to go do all this. I didn’t tell him where I was going or what I was doing until I got home. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/16 "2006-06-06T19:50:32Z")
[The story of a Virginia woman who wound up having an abortion after not being able to get Plan B](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201405.html) > [@](#): > > Meanwhile, I hadn’t even been able to get Plan B with a prescription that Friday, because in Virginia, health-care practitioners apparently are allowed to refuse to prescribe any drug that goes against their beliefs. Although I had heard of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control on religious grounds, I was dumbfounded to find that doctors could do the same thing. > > Moreover, they aren’t even required to tell the patient why they won’t provide the drug. Nor do they have to provide a list of alternative sources. I had asked the ob-gyn’s receptionist if politics was the reason the doctor wouldn’t prescribe Plan B for me. She refused to answer or offer any reason, no matter how much I pressed her. By the time I got on the phone with my internist’s office and found that he would not fill a Plan B prescription either, I figured it was a waste of time to fight with the office staff. To this day, I don’t know why my doctors wouldn’t prescribe Plan B – whether it was because of moral opposition to contraception or out of fear of political protesters or just because they preferred not to go there. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/17 "2006-06-06T20:51:48Z")
I’ve had two occasions to need this- one breakage and one slippage. Both times the most harrowing part was fining a pharmacy open (one was Thanksgiving day and the other just a sunday). After a brief consult with the phramacist (wihich I was excluded from) the pill was procured and taken and no ill effects by either of the girls. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping\_mud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@sleeping\_mud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping_mud)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/18 "2006-06-06T22:25:07Z")
Its best to have sex on a weekday when doctors are IN. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/19 "2006-06-06T23:59:02Z")
> [@Angel of the Lord](#): > > Now, I think that this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. I mean, really; I have to go to the doctor for _this_? It’s freakin’ 2 AM on a Sunday. There isn’t a doctor anywhere. Nothing personal people, but please, fer’ chrissakes, pay attention to health news and politics. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003017193\_watch25.html](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003017193_watch25.html) > **[Google News](https://news.google.com/search?hl=en-US&q=FDA%2Bplan%2BB&btnG=Search%2BNews&gl=US&ceid=US:en)** > > Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world by Google News. The FDA’s medical review board has recommended making emergency contraception available over the counter but political appointees to the agency have indefinitely suspended the decision. Write your congresscritters/president/FDA appointees. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553/20 "2006-06-07T00:32:57Z")
What **threemae** said. Plan B should be OTC. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bubastis-and-the-hunt-for-the-morning-after-pill/359553.md?page=2)