Abiodun Omole-Ohonsi, a professor of gynaecology and obstetrics has admonished that people with high blood pressure should avoid the use of contraceptives in order to avoid adverse effects.
The advice was given by Omole-Ohonsi in an interview with our correspondent.
He explained that while contraceptives offer 100 per cent birth control, certain category of people, including those with high blood pressure, should avoid them.
The professor said, “These daily (contraceptive) pills contain estrogen and it elevates the blood pressure. Anything that contains estrogen is not administered to people with high blood pressure because it retains water and elevates the blood pressure.”
The don listed other category of people who must avoid contraceptives as “those who are allergic to the active ingredient(s) in the device; those who are pregnant; those who just had an abortion, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, among others.”
He explained that the choice of appropriate contraceptive method depends on “age, marital status, number of children, number of sexual partners, medical history and spousal consent.”
“Abuse is when informed consent is not obtained from the client before treatment is provided or research is done on the individual. This can lead to severe physical, social, psychological and emotional trauma or even death on the individual, because they were not aware of what was administered to them. Clients with severe hypertension, heart disease, uncontrolled diabetes or migraine could be given combined oral contraceptive pills, or sterilisation could be carried out on a childless individual,” he added.
He described as erroneous and untrue claims that contraceptives “can damage the womb, cause permanent infertility, make a woman infertile in her next life, reduce the pleasure of sex, or lead to delivery of babies with two heads.”