Birth Control effectiveness

[Jellowl]

Last week, I had a mild bladder infection (3rd one this year, who doesn't love that! ) Anyway, I was giving a 3 day set of antibiotics and was told that they wouldn't affect my BC in any way. During the treatment- and still since I'm still worried about it coming back- I've been drinking a lot of water. A LOT. Im talking 4 to 5L a day so I can keep urinating and pushing out bacteria.
My question is; can drinking to much water reduce the effectivness of the pill? Dilute the medicine somehow?

[Heather]

It's actually not great for your health to drink too much water, and it also won't prevent UTIs or bladder infections to add a bunch extra. 2-3 liters is what is generally advised.

This isn't something that will impact how your BC pills work, but it also isn't advisable generally. If you want to prevent UTIs, what you want to do is what you can to reduce or prevent bacteria from entering your urinary tract, so urinating before and after sexual activity, you and any parters washing hands before any manual sex or masturbation, barrier use with sexual activities, etc.

[Jellowl]

Ah, that's good to know about the BC pills; thank you
And yes, I figured that drinking that much water wouldn't be too great for my health but it lessens the pain of UTI's for me. That's why I do it. I talked to my doctor about the returning infections to try and figure out why it happens (I urinate before and after every sexual act I'm apart of) but they said it must be some sort of bad luck with how much I get them. I've been taking steps to prevent them in the future like cranberry supplements, D-Mannose powder (supposed to prevent UTI's) and urinating frequently. However, I do admit that I should take it easy on the water

I also thought that it may be irritation from certain factors of sex, like maybe the lube I use or condoms in general. My boyfriend and I tried sex without a condom and it seemed to have less of an irritating effect on me. Is it possible I could be irritating myself with condoms in that general area?

[Heather]

Can I ask if you are only using latex condoms? And when you are, do you ever have any extra soreness, redness or swelling when you use them vs. when you don't?

Also: have you talked with your healthcare provider about the chronic UTIs and trying an ongoing, low-dose broad spectrum antibiotic? That can work well for some people. Have you been referred to a specialist?

[Jellowl]

Hmm, now that you mention it, yes there is some redness and a slight swelling feeling after using latex condoms. Could I possible have an allergy to them? If so, what can my options be when thinking about sexual health? (Like protection from pregnancy and STI's?) I already used birth control properly (i.e taking them at the same time every night and never skipping) so I have some protection against pregnancy already.

And when I went to the doctor I did ask about the low dose of antibiotics to take after intercourse, but he said that I'm not quite there yet since my UTI issue does not classify as chronic

[Heather]

An allergy or sensitivity is possible. And if you have one, then it will irritate your genitals, including your urethra, which does make infection more likely.

What I'd suggest is that you try nonlatex condoms a couple times -- with a water-based lube, used from the start, as going without until your genitals already feel dry also is a problem, if you do that -- and see. There are a TON of options now in nonlatex.

[Jellowl]

That's good to know, thank you.

However, I've recently ditched the condoms and have decided to not use them when having sex. I have zero irritation now during or after intercourse. I am still on BC (correct use and all) so I have that backup plan. Also, we do the withdrawl method to minimize the chances of an unwanted pregnancy. We are both negative for any infections so there shouldn't be any bad things popping up.

Yet, if I am allowed to ask, what are the chances of becoming pregnant with just BC and a withdrawl method? I'm not worried about it, but it would be nice to know the statistics if I choose to continue this way of sex

[Sam W]

Hi Jellowl,

If you take a peek at this article, you can find the effectiveness levels of combining different methods: The Buddy System: Effectiveness Rates for Backing Up Your Birth Control With a Second Method

If you decide you prefer the level of protection offered by the condom/other method combo, you can look for non-latex external condoms, or try the internal (aka female) condom as it's not made of latex.

[Jellowl]

Oh wow, that clears up a ton of things!
Thank you very much for the article; helps so much!

[Sam W]

You're welcome!