99.9% protection against pregnancy...

[Jugernot]

My girlfriend got her tubes tied last year and I was thinking about one of the stats the doctors gave us. They said having your tubes tied is 99.9% effective. No doubt, they have to say this because saying 100% effective leaves them open for lawsuits.

How does this percentage work, does it mean you could get pregnant 1 out of 1000 (# are approximate) times a couple has sex (not likely in my mind)? Or does it mean that 99.9% of people who have it done are protected against pregnancy 100% (nothing is 100% but as close as you can get!)?

What brought this up was a buddy of mine saying that if you use a condom, you are protected like 98% of the time, then if you gf is taking bith control that adds 96%. So he says that means you are protected 96% of that 2% from the condom.

That really doesn't make sense to me. A condom either works, or it doesn't... it all has to do with if it breaks or you put it on wrong or there is a manufacturing flaw.

So I guess I'm asking, does have your tubes tied mean you are 100% covered (not withstanding a "miraculous" change in her body makeup)? Or does it stop the sperm from getting to the egg only a perfentage of the time (such as 1 out of a 1000 times, not likely in my mind as the physical change to the body is obvious)?

Jugs

 

[Orsorum]

The 99% effective covers the unlikely possibility that the operation fails, I think. Not sure if there have actually been any cases of the tubes spontaneously regenerating.

 

[glen]

It is per year not per intercourse.

 

[BCYL]

Isnt it really dangerous IF you get pregnant with the tubes tied? Since the fertilized egg cannot get out of the tube and attach to the uterus wall like it normally does?

 

[Eli]

Hmm... too many numbers, too late.

I'd imagine that you don't have anything to worry about.

I would assume that having the operation would be better than the pill, which is like 99.9% when taken properly.

My girl is on the pill. That's all we use.. Works fine for us.

 

[gopunk]

the pill is actually closer to 99.999% effective. i dunno where your friend got 96.

and you are correct, it either works or it doesn't... so in order for you to get pregnant, you have to first have the condom fail, then the birth control also has to fail. combined, the chances of this are very low.

i think for tubal ligation... it is your first hypothesis. what kind did your gf get?

Sterilization is more than 99 percent effective in the first year. In following years, there is a limited possibility that tubes may reconnect by themselves. Up to one out of 100 women become pregnant each year after sterilization.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/bc/allabouttubal.htm

it's also my understanding that vasectomies are far more effective

 

[Jugernot]

To be honest, I can't remember. I think they used the burning method in which they snipped the tubes and burnt the tips.

Vasectomy is out of the question in our case, I'm 21, she is 33 and absolutely sure she wants no kids. I on the other hand could someday.

 

[chiwawa626]

Yah if you want to be double protected, get ur tubes or whatever the heck they call it for guys tied

 

[tcsenter]

the pill is actually closer to 99.999% effective. i dunno where your friend got 96.

Well, there are two different effective percentages. One is the statistical effectiveness found in clinical trials that are monitored and involve a fair amount of patient education, and then there is the actualized effectiveness within the "general population". 96% is probably closer to the "real" effectiveness within the general population, maybe even less.

My girlfriend got her tubes tied last year and I was thinking about one of the stats the doctors gave us. They said having your tubes tied is 99.9% effective. No doubt, they have to say this because saying 100% effective leaves them open for lawsuits.

No, they have to say this because tubal ligation is not 100% effective, no contraception method is. I forget the what the consensus is, its like one in 4000 (in the ballpark, anyway) tubal ligations will fail to protect from conception, a number of these post-sterilization pregnancies result in ectopic pregancies because while the ovum is too large to pass through the failed (patent) portion of the tube, sperm isn't.

How does this percentage work, does it mean you could get pregnant 1 out of 1000 (# are approximate) times a couple has sex (not likely in my mind)? Or does it mean that 99.9% of people who have it done are protected against pregnancy 100% (nothing is 100% but as close as you can get!)?

I don't believe frequency of sex is a factor in the studies, although it certainly must come into play. Even the most fertile couple using no contraception will not conceive 100% of the time. There is a window of opportunity for fertilization, and if the frequency of sex is such that a woman is being inseminated more often during that window of opportunity, then all other things being equal, a woman who is having a lot of sex stands a greater chance of becoming pregnant than a woman who has relatively little sex.

But the latter inference is more accurate, statistically. 99.xx% of sterilized woman will not become pregnant (100% protected), as inferred from the duration of time studied (1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, etc).

 

[vladgur]

99.999999% protection against pregnancy

warning, while the contents of the above link are purely educational, looking it at it may cause a painfull reaction in a certain region of your body)

 

[Shockwave]

Double whammy zammy here Batman.

Wife has tubes tied.
Husband (me of course!) has a vasectomy.
Combined to equal NO MORE KIDDIES!!

Now, about my affair on the side and the guy who cleans the pool while I'm taking the Gulfstream on business trips.....Thats a different story....

 

[Vette73]

What someone else said, birth control pill IS NOT 99.99% I think is ranges from as low as 94% to 98%. depends on the study. But real world it closer to 95-97%.

I know 2 girls that got knocked up and they were both on the pill, me not the daddy though

Woman when they are under 26-28(can't remember the exact range) still have off balance hormones that can negate the effects of the pill sometimes. So to be as safe as you can Usa a Condom AND the pill. This is about as close as you can get to surgery or no sex at all.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: vladgur
99.999999% protection against pregnancy

warning, while the contents of the above link are purely educational, looking it at it may cause a painfull reaction in a certain region of your body)

All I can say is WHY? FOR THE LOVE OF JEBUS WHY?

 

[Aragorn]

My wife practices abstinence with me. 100% affective.