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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, I'm

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Speaker 1: Christian Sager. Welcome to brain stuff. Have you ever thought

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Speaker 1: to yourself, there are a lot of different forms of

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Speaker 1: birth control. I wonder which one works best well? Outside

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Speaker 1: of abstinence. It turns out that inter uterine devices or

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Speaker 1: i u d s are the most effective keeping babies

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Speaker 1: from being made of the time. I u d s

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Speaker 1: are the most popular form of contraception in the world,

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Speaker 1: but in the United States only one point three percent

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Speaker 1: of women use them as birth control. Now you're probably saying,

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Speaker 1: but Christian, why haven't I heard more about these i

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Speaker 1: u d s if they're so effective. Well, in the

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, there was a similar looking device called the

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Speaker 1: Dalkon Shield that gave its users pelvic infections and internal scarring.

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Speaker 1: Some women even became infertile. A class action lawsuit was

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Speaker 1: brought against the A. H. Robbins Company, the makers of

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Speaker 1: the Dalcon, and they got their pants suit off, forcing

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Speaker 1: them into bankruptcy. The consumer mistrust that the delcn created

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Speaker 1: is still lingering in women's and doctor's minds forty years later.

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Speaker 1: But ladies and gentlemen, calm your fears, because the new

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Speaker 1: I u d s are actually better and safer than

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Speaker 1: their predecessors. So what is this magic baby shield and

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Speaker 1: how does it work well? The i u D is

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Speaker 1: shaped like a T with a string attached that leads

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Speaker 1: into the cervix so women can make sure the device

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Speaker 1: is still in place. While widely available, you'll still need

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Speaker 1: to go to a medical professional to get one inserted.

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Speaker 1: You can't just go and pick these things up at

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Speaker 1: hobby lobby. First, a doctor will measure the length of

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Speaker 1: your uterus what's also called the uterine sound. If your

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Speaker 1: uterus is too small and i u D might not fit,

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Speaker 1: which is why they're often easier to equip in women

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Speaker 1: who have given birth before. If you've never had a baby,

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Speaker 1: they may give you a medicine that softens the cervics. First,

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Speaker 1: the fitting is usually done during a woman's menstrual period,

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Speaker 1: when her cervix is slightly open and dilated. Now, I

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Speaker 1: won't lie. You might feel some pain while an iu

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Speaker 1: D is being put in place, but your doctor may

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Speaker 1: give you pain relievers or anesthetic to lower the discomfort. Now,

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Speaker 1: there are two kinds of i u D s. One

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Speaker 1: is coated in copper and can be left in the

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Speaker 1: uterus for up to ten years. The other kind releases

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Speaker 1: the hormone progesterone and it lasts for five years. So

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Speaker 1: how does copper or progesterone keep you from getting pregnant? Well,

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Speaker 1: doctors today think i u d s prevent fertilization. Either

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Speaker 1: the copper makes the uterus toxic to sperm while slowing

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Speaker 1: and damaging eggs, or the progestin makes a woman's cervical

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Speaker 1: mucus thicker and hostile to sperm. It's like a guard

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Speaker 1: dog for your uterus. It changes the lining and disrupts

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Speaker 1: the normal environment for an egg. It keeps sperm from

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Speaker 1: reaching your eggs, slows the movement of eggs to your uterus,

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Speaker 1: makes eggs unable to be fertilized, and keeps any fertilized

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Speaker 1: eggs from implanting in the uterus. Iu d s are

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Speaker 1: so active that they can be used as emergency birth

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Speaker 1: control up to five days after unprotected sex. But contrary

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Speaker 1: to popular myth, i u d s do not induce abortions.

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Speaker 1: There's lots of advantages to using an io D as

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Speaker 1: birth control. First of all, you don't have to worry

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Speaker 1: about contraception every day, and like I said, the effectiveness

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Speaker 1: is very high, with less than one percent of a

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Speaker 1: chance of pregnancy occurring. The hormone releasing version of the

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Speaker 1: io D can even make your periods lighten or stop altogether.

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Speaker 1: After a year, though you might find that bleeding and

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Speaker 1: cramps are worse at first. The copper one will actually

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Speaker 1: make your periods heavier, but some women prefer to have

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Speaker 1: a hormone free option. Overall, i u D s are

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Speaker 1: discreetly hidden from view, low cost, very low maintenance, and

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Speaker 1: highly effective. But nothing's perfect and there are a few

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Speaker 1: disadvantages to them. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes they make

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Speaker 1: menstrual cramps and bleeding worse just after insertion. If these

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Speaker 1: symptoms continue, a physician may have to remove the device. Also,

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Speaker 1: while they're nowhere near as bad as the Dalkon shield,

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Speaker 1: modern i u D s are thought to increase the

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Speaker 1: probability of pelvic infections after the first few months post insertion.

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Speaker 1: If you're one of the less than one percent of

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Speaker 1: i u D users who actually do get pregnant with it,

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Speaker 1: you should see a doctor right away. The device can

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Speaker 1: increase your risk of a miscarriage, infection in the uterus,

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Speaker 1: and pre term birth of a baby. I u d

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Speaker 1: s also increase the risk of a fertilized egg developing

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Speaker 1: somewhere outside of the uterus, leading to what's known as

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Speaker 1: ectotopic pregnancy. Check out the brain stuff channel on YouTube,

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Speaker 1: and for more on this and thousands of other topics,

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Speaker 1: visit how stuff works dot com.