Postella-1 Morning After Pill Fail?

Hello Forum,

I am clutching at straws here, but has anyone taken the Morning After Pill, like Postella-1 or any that are Levonorgestrel, and had it not work?

DP and I DTD on Sunday night and completely didn't use any contraception at all. According to may period tracker app, I was fertile. We talked about it and decided to use the MAP as its not the right time for us to have another baby. So I took it last night, about 22 hours after DTD. Of course since then, my mind has been thinking of where I would be in terms of conceiving, if in fact we did conceive (which I know we may not even have conceived).

I've googled, like any sane women would (lol) and have read about many women taking the MAP as directed and going on to have healthy babies. I have also read it only works if you take it prior to ovulation. I also have read it can prevent implantation.

So I am curious, has it worked for you? Did it fail? When did you take it in relation to DTD? And when did you take it in relation to ovulation?

I'll be sure to post here either way, whether I get my period of get a BFP in about 2-3 weeks.

The MAP is said to prevent 5/6 pregnancies that would otherwise occur. So a 1:6 chance it won't work. It also had no affect on an already established pregnancy.

I took it once and it didn't work. From memory it was taken about 2.5 days later (no access over the weekend), but the effectiveness of the MAP does decline quite rapidly with time.

OK so I had extremely sore boobs for three days, and this morning they are less ore. Also, I have been exhausted, falling asleep at 8pm. And feeling on and off nauseous. All of these symptoms are side effects of MAP.

I am slightly obsessing though :/ We will see if my period comes around 30 April. Or if I test prior to then lol.

Your period may be late too, also a side effect of the MAP. Just throwing it out there in case you end up in a limbo land of BFN and no AF.

I've taking something similar. It was two pills though. One immediately and one 12 (?) hours later. Or something like that. It did work for me. I took the first pill about 12 hours post dtd. Not sure what point of my cycle I was in. Fx it goes your way.

The MAP is usually a dose of progestogen. The sore boobs and fatigue you are experiencing are from the pill itself and are very common side-effects of taking it, so as you say, I would not be making anymore out of it than that. Within 24 hours it is 95% effective, and 85% and less over the next 24 hours. So given your timeline, you should be fine.

How the pill works is unclear, as it is unclear with the the regular contraceptive pill, in that its primary role is to prevent the fertilisation in the first place, but it may also cause changes in your endometrium that inhibit implantation from occurring (hence the philosophical debate around the pills and the references to it causing "abortion").

The only ongoing concern you may like to consider is the risk of ectopic pregnancy. Because the pill works by interfering and altering the paths to fertilisation, it does increase the risk of ectopic pregnancies in the instances of the pill not working completely. About 10% of women who do become pregnant despite taking the MAP will have an ectopic pregnancy.

TBH there is nothing else you can do, so I would simply wait for your period, read the leaflet in the box your MAP came in again to reassure yourself, and discuss ongoing contraception options with your husband.

Good luck.

I have used it a few times and it has worked... I am curious to know if it works in your case... If anything it sounds like it has opened a new conversation between you and your partner about being ready to expand your family and the timing of that... how are you feeling now?

Well, my period has arrived, one day late and with a vengeance. I took two tests prior to that and of course they were negative. It would appear the MAP worked as it says it should.

I haven't started any further conversations with DP about baby #3, he did say we would have another, just not now. And now my period is here I'm feeling the same, I could wait a few months before having another baby :)

Glad it all went the way you wanted :)