Q: My wife and myself are working at different places and plan to have children after 1 year. We meet once a week. My wife does not like to take oral Contraceptives everyday, because we are having sex only once a week. We are using Pill 72 every time to avoid pregnancy? Is this method safe? I used condoms but I feel less pleasure with them. Is there any pill like pill 72 which can be used to prevent pregnancy that can be taken before the intercourse, on the same day?

A:I am afraid there is no evidence that use of condom leads to less pleasure. This incorrect perception is being passed from one ill-informed person to another. The worst sufferers are female partners who are made to consume dangerous hormonal preparations with long term side effects including high blood pressure, weight gain, liver impairment, clot formation, mood changes, diabetes etc. etc. etc. Levonorgestrel (sold under various trade names such as Norlevo, Ecee-2, Pill 72 etc) is to be used only once in a while for emergency contraception under certain specific adverse situations including rape. It cannot and must not be used for regular contraception. It has many side effects but the most serious is ectopic pregnancy that can be life threatening and requires surgical operation. My advice: use condoms.