What are the main side effects of emergency contraception pills?

Some people have nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, stomach cramps, or breast pain for a short time after taking the pill. Your next period might come later than normal and the flow can be different—this is all normal. It takes about 2 weeks for the pregnancy hormone to show up on a home pregnancy test, so you can try to take one as early as 2 weeks after having unprotected sex and redo it around 4 weeks if you’re still unsure. Even if you took emergency contraception one time, you can get pregnant if you have unprotected sex again afterwards.


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