GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There are a lot of choices for women when it comes to contraception, but one thing you may not take into consideration when weighing your options is your weight.
There's an important piece of information that's sometimes overlooked when it comes to the emergency contraception Plan B.
If you weigh over 165 pounds, it may not be as effective and you could end up with an unwanted pregnancy.
Dr. Sue West, OBGYN with Spectrum Health, explains why your weight matters.
"We're finding that both of them and shown in women whose BMI is greater than 30, which is about 165 pounds, give or take how tall you are, that the level of the medication in your blood is half that of what it is, and women who have a body mass index of which is normal, which is 25 or less," she says. "So there, they both are affected with your BMI greater from 25 to 30, but significantly affected if your BMI is 30 or higher."
Dr. West says that doubling the emergency contraception prescription Plan B is an option but you would need to discuss that alternative with your doctor.
"It's not FDA approved to double the dose. It would be something that a provider would do off label, so they'd have to talk to the patient about going off label. This isn't approved by the FDA, but it's how you're going to get the most effective treatment," she said.
Dr. West also says it's important to clarify that Plan B only delays ovulation.
"They do not interfere with the pregnancy, it suppresses ovulation. If you ovulate, you have just as high a chance of getting pregnant with a viable pregnancy than if you hadn't taken the medication."
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