Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: Christian Sager. Welcome to brain stuff. Have you ever thought
Speaker 1: to yourself, there are a lot of different forms of
Speaker 1: birth control. I wonder which one works best well? Outside
Speaker 1: of abstinence. It turns out that inter uterine devices or
Speaker 1: i u d s are the most effective keeping babies
Speaker 1: from being made of the time. I u d s
Speaker 1: are the most popular form of contraception in the world,
Speaker 1: but in the United States only one point three percent
Speaker 1: of women use them as birth control. Now you're probably saying,
Speaker 1: but Christian, why haven't I heard more about these i
Speaker 1: u d s if they're so effective. Well, in the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, there was a similar looking device called the
Speaker 1: Dalkon Shield that gave its users pelvic infections and internal scarring.
Speaker 1: Some women even became infertile. A class action lawsuit was
Speaker 1: brought against the A. H. Robbins Company, the makers of
Speaker 1: the Dalcon, and they got their pants suit off, forcing
Speaker 1: them into bankruptcy. The consumer mistrust that the delcn created
Speaker 1: is still lingering in women's and doctor's minds forty years later.
Speaker 1: But ladies and gentlemen, calm your fears, because the new
Speaker 1: I u d s are actually better and safer than
Speaker 1: their predecessors. So what is this magic baby shield and
Speaker 1: how does it work well? The i u D is
Speaker 1: shaped like a T with a string attached that leads
Speaker 1: into the cervix so women can make sure the device
Speaker 1: is still in place. While widely available, you'll still need
Speaker 1: to go to a medical professional to get one inserted.
Speaker 1: You can't just go and pick these things up at
Speaker 1: hobby lobby. First, a doctor will measure the length of
Speaker 1: your uterus what's also called the uterine sound. If your
Speaker 1: uterus is too small and i u D might not fit,
Speaker 1: which is why they're often easier to equip in women
Speaker 1: who have given birth before. If you've never had a baby,
Speaker 1: they may give you a medicine that softens the cervics. First,
Speaker 1: the fitting is usually done during a woman's menstrual period,
Speaker 1: when her cervix is slightly open and dilated. Now, I
Speaker 1: won't lie. You might feel some pain while an iu
Speaker 1: D is being put in place, but your doctor may
Speaker 1: give you pain relievers or anesthetic to lower the discomfort. Now,
Speaker 1: there are two kinds of i u D s. One
Speaker 1: is coated in copper and can be left in the
Speaker 1: uterus for up to ten years. The other kind releases
Speaker 1: the hormone progesterone and it lasts for five years. So
Speaker 1: how does copper or progesterone keep you from getting pregnant? Well,
Speaker 1: doctors today think i u d s prevent fertilization. Either
Speaker 1: the copper makes the uterus toxic to sperm while slowing
Speaker 1: and damaging eggs, or the progestin makes a woman's cervical
Speaker 1: mucus thicker and hostile to sperm. It's like a guard
Speaker 1: dog for your uterus. It changes the lining and disrupts
Speaker 1: the normal environment for an egg. It keeps sperm from
Speaker 1: reaching your eggs, slows the movement of eggs to your uterus,
Speaker 1: makes eggs unable to be fertilized, and keeps any fertilized
Speaker 1: eggs from implanting in the uterus. Iu d s are
Speaker 1: so active that they can be used as emergency birth
Speaker 1: control up to five days after unprotected sex. But contrary
Speaker 1: to popular myth, i u d s do not induce abortions.
Speaker 1: There's lots of advantages to using an io D as
Speaker 1: birth control. First of all, you don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about contraception every day, and like I said, the effectiveness
Speaker 1: is very high, with less than one percent of a
Speaker 1: chance of pregnancy occurring. The hormone releasing version of the
Speaker 1: io D can even make your periods lighten or stop altogether.
Speaker 1: After a year, though you might find that bleeding and
Speaker 1: cramps are worse at first. The copper one will actually
Speaker 1: make your periods heavier, but some women prefer to have
Speaker 1: a hormone free option. Overall, i u D s are
Speaker 1: discreetly hidden from view, low cost, very low maintenance, and
Speaker 1: highly effective. But nothing's perfect and there are a few
Speaker 1: disadvantages to them. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes they make
Speaker 1: menstrual cramps and bleeding worse just after insertion. If these
Speaker 1: symptoms continue, a physician may have to remove the device. Also,
Speaker 1: while they're nowhere near as bad as the Dalkon shield,
Speaker 1: modern i u D s are thought to increase the
Speaker 1: probability of pelvic infections after the first few months post insertion.
Speaker 1: If you're one of the less than one percent of
Speaker 1: i u D users who actually do get pregnant with it,
Speaker 1: you should see a doctor right away. The device can
Speaker 1: increase your risk of a miscarriage, infection in the uterus,
Speaker 1: and pre term birth of a baby. I u d
Speaker 1: s also increase the risk of a fertilized egg developing
Speaker 1: somewhere outside of the uterus, leading to what's known as
Speaker 1: ectotopic pregnancy. Check out the brain stuff channel on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and for more on this and thousands of other topics,
Speaker 1: visit how stuff works dot com.