The Pharmaceutical Association of Zambia President Kennedy Saini has dispelled as a myth the narrative that contraceptives are causing prolonged menstruation and excessive weight gain in most women. This follows some members of the public blaming the wide use of contraceptives to be behind excessive weight gain in women.
In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Saini stated that contraceptives behave just like normal natural hormones that a woman produces and they change the function of the hormonal balance in the body and side effects are different from person to person.
The Pharmaceutical Association President told ZBT that the narrative that contraceptives cause prolonged menstruation and weight gain is not entirely true because people react differently. If side effects are observed in patients, is not a shock because these effects are individualized.
He added that side effects have been reported for mostly those on injectable contraceptives. They are the ones that may go through prolonged periods or menses and even at that, it is not everyone. So it’s not true to generalize and say contraceptive are causing women to gain weight or have prolonged menses.
Saini further alluded to the fact that they are new formulations that are being made to suppress some side effects of some of the contraceptives, but not a reduction in the effectiveness. He added that there are a lot of such being formulated or coming on board in order to make these drugs safe and user friendly for every woman out there.
The association president added that women should normalize visiting health centers without fail to obtain their drugs or injection at any time, there is no time limit or days on when to get these injections and drugs.
He said that women should avoid taking contraceptives based on their own knowledge because there is a triage that is followed to make sure that what is administered to a patient is a type that will work effectively for them, this will prevent certain drugs to interact in one that has conditions like hypertension for example. Were proper treatment is not followed or is over looked, someone may conceive even on contraceptives.
The Pharmaceutical expert added that the myths that contraception for non-mothers causes infertility is not true, he said that what happens is secondary infertility that is reversible. He alluded that it only causes delays in” taking in”.
Kennedy added that secondary infertility is individualized from person to person depending on the lifestyle, in some it can take up to a year to conceive and some immediately they miss a pill/dosage or two, they “take in”.
