Welcome to Insomnia and Sleeplessness

How many sleepless nights do you have worrying about you might be pregnant? A survey in Scotland involving nearly 4000 women found high rates of unplanned pregnancies, even among women who decided to go ahead and have baby.  Other study in Edinburgh hospital involved 2900 women found that only 65% of these women had intended to become pregnant.  Interestingly, only 1% of all the women had used emergency contraception (oral levonorgestrel).  On a study with 900 women attending for abortion, 9 out of 10 of these pregnancies were unintended, yet only 12% of the women had used emergency contraception. Among those women who had used emergency contraception, about half had used it after every episode of unprotected intercourse during the menstrual cycle in which they got pregnant.  Options of preventing unplanned pregnancies should include long-acting contraceptive methods such as implants and intrauterine devices.  Females should talk to their doctors before planning sexually active.  Lack of knowledge, difficulties in obtaining it, and reservations about using it were the most commonly cited barriers to emergency contraceptive use. [source: Lancet 2006;368:1782-87] If you reside in Queensland  Australia, a good source for advise or information on unplanned pregnancies are:

• Children By Choice
• Family Planning Queensland