Got a health question? Don’t trust those “Doctors” at the University Health Center? Are you scared of Web M.D. because it always tells you you’re gonna die? Ask a real doctor, like our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin. She’s here every Thursday to answer whatever you throw at her – even the aftermath of HPV– so ask away. Leave your question in the comments or send it over to us. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: Will taking Plan B multiple times affect the ability to get pregnant later down the road? My boyfriend and I are talking about having a baby sometime in the future but I have taken Plan B more than once in the past… Have my chances of becoming pregnant been reduced?

A: Don’t worry, sweetie. You’ll be just fine. Thank God for Plan B.  While multiple pregnancy terminations may have some fertility implications (mostly because of scar tissue on the cervix or in the uterus), Plan B does not abort a pregnancy in the same way something like mifepristone (RU-486) does.

Plan B consists simply of high doses of progesterone, a hormone your body naturally makes every time you ovulate.  Progesterone floats around your body regularly, and when you get pregnant, progesterone levels go WAY up. So it’s not like you’re taking some chemotherapy drug that might hurt your system.

So how does Plan B work? It works primarily by interfering with the body’s release of an egg from the ovary (ovulation). It can also prevent Mr. Sperm from finding Ms. Egg (fertilization). In the rare instance that Mr. Sperm does find Ms. Egg, Plan B can prevent the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall (implantation). If the fertilized egg has already implanted in the uterus- resulting in a viable pregnancy- Plan B doesn’t work.

So take a deep breath. There’s no reason to believe you shouldn’t get pregnant. If you do have trouble conceiving, it’s likely unrelated to your midnight mistakes and morning after escapades.

Good luck baby-making!

XOXO,
Dr. Lissa

- Dr. Lissa Rankin’s book, What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Fall 2010. She invites you to join her Pink online community (www.owningpink.com/forum) or read more of her writing at Owning Pink (www.owningpink.com).

Is it April yet?
OK, it was only just Mardi Gras this week. Clearly I’m getting too ahead of myself.

In the meantime, here are some interesting points to chew on:

- While Spring Break is inching closer and you are hitting the tanning beds for that ideal bikini base-tan (hello, beer in Mexico!) you may want to keep this in mind.

- Men let their penis insecurities get in the way of safety and birth control. True story.

- Oh Cosmopolitan, you say some pretty ridiculous things sometimes; it’s amazing some of us can still rope in a man.

- Is smiling a required accessory?

- It is time to spice up your accessories, and who knew it could be so easy and cheap!

- Does college really determine the Political Views tab on your Facebook profile?

- Rpatz is allergic to vaginas? Well, we’re allergic to bulls**t and Mr. Pattinson is making our throats a little itchy…

- We’ve all had our share of  traveling down D-bag Avenue, but this list will make you feel like it was a two way street.

- Speaking of D-bag Avenue, do you miss the man living on it, or the the relationship it entailed?

- And when things ended, did you find yourself struggling with returning his things?

- Recently, John Mayer decided to dispose some pretty personal info between him and J. Simpson’s sexy time. I know of some other things that do not need to be shared with the class.

And that’s a wrap (up).
It’s Friday, and that calls for Happy Hour with the girlfriends and a little Olympics Drinking Game action. Have a great weekend!

For the first ten years of my life, my answer to the ever-so-popular question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” was always “a mermaid.”  I wasn’t joking, I did want to be a mermaid.  Living in the sea, long flowing locks, a singing lobster for a BFF….

Another ten years have passed, and my growing appreciation for my two, separate, functioning legs has put my PhD in mermaid out of the question.  College graduation is approaching and I am still questioning what I want to be “when I grow up.”  I knew all along my answer would change (along with my major…twice), but only recently has it hit me that the question itself would change too. 

It’s not only a question of “what I want to be when I grow up,” but the bigger question: WHEN am I grown up?!  I know what it feels like to be happy, sad, angry, etc, but what does it feel like to be grown up?  Will I just wake up one morning and feel different?  Will I think to myself, oh, maybe I shouldn’t be wearing purple sparkly nail polish because I am a “grown-up?”

The spark of my revelation you ask? 16 and Pregnant.  Forget NuvaRing, this reality show is my form of birth control.  A new season is about to air (tonight!) and I can finally devote my Tuesdays to scaring myself out of becoming one of those girls.  Great logic, or so I thought… until I realized it would be impossible; I can’t become one of them, I can never be in their situation because I am not 16.  I am no longer at risk to face the perils of teenage pregnancy because of the obvious: I am not a teenager.  However, the idea of randomly becoming pregnant is just as scary to me now as it was when I was 16.  I do not feel any more ready to give birth now than I did when I had braces.  I would still have a heart attack and possibly go in to cardiac arrest thinking about having to tell my parents of the news.

So when is the switch made? At what age will my mind-set change and I will consider the idea of pregnancy feasible, or even desirable? Or, at the very least, not something that gives me nightmares about trying to fit a crib into my teeny, tiny NYC apartment?

As someone who feels the need to have all of the answers, it is difficult to leave these questions unresolved, but the truth is that they are impossible to answer.  Feeling grown up is not part of a math equation and there is no magic light switch to make it happen.  Being grown up is having the ability to look back and realize how much you have changed. (Editor’s Note: And when you wake up at 11:30 on a Saturday and think about how much of the day has been wasted…)

In reality, I will probably not realize I am grown up until I am reading this article to my grandchildren explaining how I once posted it on a “website” on this thing we used to call the “internet” in the olden days. That is, if I ever grow up enough to have children.

In the end, as I analyze the situation I am starting to believe that at age 8, I was wise beyond my years.  Maybe being a mermaid would have been the perfect solution; life would be much easier if my legs were sewn together.

Throughout the years, MTV has thrown some bizarre ideas for reality shows our way.  Some catch the attention of the nation while others fall through the cracks.  While watching MTV (daily) I find myself screaming at the TV, “WHAT is the point of this show??”  Entertainment value, usually.  That is if you can call watching guys pick a date based on the underwear a girl has in her drawer, entertainment. (Thanks, Room Raiders).  However, what about the shows that may have actually been created for a real reason?

Let’s rewind.  Teen Mom.  Yes, like most people, I am obsessed.  I am still trying to figure out what Catelynn has that I don’t (besides braces, a trailer, and a 1995 JCPenny homecoming dress) that makes Tyler choose HER over me.  SO unfair.  But back to my point: as I watched the finale of Teen Mom last week and gear up for tonight’s reunion episode with Dr. Drew, I’m really starting to wonder what MTV was trying to do with this show.

Was it for entertainment value? Sure, listening to Gary recite a definition of the word “empathy” during the finale was extremely entertaining, but teen pregnancy is a huge issue; is MTV trying to take a stance? Are they trying to educate teens about the horrors of teen pregnancy? Maybe trying to prevent it? You would think by airing this show, MTV could position themselves as advocates to prevent teen pregnancy and use the show as an education tool, while also providing entertainment. 

And if that was the intent, I have a couple issues with how it was seen through.

Personally, I did not find the show realistic.  Throughout the season, Farrah was the only teen mom who did not have the baby’s father in the picture.  I’m not implying that the other moms are leading ideal lives with their outstanding boyfriends, but Catelynn, Amber, and Maci all got pregnant by their boyfriend at the time.  These were guys that they were having consensual sex with regularly.  Although Gary and Ryan may go down in history as two of the worst boyfriends ever, throughout the season they are shown trying to make their relationships “work” in the best interest of their new child.

Farrah, on the other hand, although not with the father of her child, lives at home with her mother and father.   It is evident that Farrah has grown up pretty fortunately and has an extremely comfortable living situation.  The “hardships” Farrah faces include not being able to party with her friends all the time, and not being able to find a boyfriend who is ready to date a girl with a kid.  Yes these things might be difficult for her, but in the scheme of teen pregnancy they are quite trivial.  Her parents are always there to help out, and support her both emotionally and financially. The same is true for the rest of the teen moms on the show.

If MTV was trying to educate about teen pregnancy and the perils of dealing with it, why not show girls who are even less fortunate?  What about the ones out there who are really on their own?  There are plenty of girls who come from uneducated, broken families, who get pregnant and have no escape, and no chance at a better life.  Some live their whole lives on welfare and in many cases do not know who the father is.  My feeling is that MTV chose these specific moms because the typical viewer could relate to them better than a girl whose life has really been ruined by teen pregnancy.  If this is the case, then why didn’t MTV even show how truly hard raising a child as a teenager is?  There is not one clip throughout the whole season of one of the moms staying up the whole night with a crying baby, or cleaning up vomit.  I don’t want to go as far as to say that MTV “glamorized” being a teen mom, but I don’t think the show will leave any viewers thinking “Oh my god, this CANNOT happen to me, I better take precaution.”

And speaking of precaution, MTV never hit on the topic of prevention.  I don’t remember any of the girls being interviewed as to why birth control was not used during sex. Was it a one time slip-up with no condom?  Too afraid to ask their parents? No resources? These questions never surfaced throughout the season.  And furthermore, I find it extremely unrealistic to not mention abortion on the topic of teen pregnancy.  The a-word was non-existent throughout the series, but in reality, it is an option.  Most people have strong opinions on the subject, being either completely against it or for it.  But just because it would have stirred up controversy, does that mean MTV should have ignored it completely? If they wanted to use their power to educate teens and lay all the options on the table, why wasn’t it even mentioned?

So besides making me fall in love with Tyler, what was MTV’s purpose in producing this show? Do you think they portrayed teen pregnancy realistically?  Share your thoughts, peeps!

For my 20th birthday last year all my friends congratulated me on surviving teen pregnancy. Although we had a little chuckle, teen pregnancy is a huge issue that is only getting worse. Honestly, with shows like I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant holding marathons every weekend I’m completely baffled as to why young girls are still getting knocked up. But they are. A lot.

Clearly these young ladies need a real lesson in Sex Ed, because whatever they’ve been taught is not sinking in. So being the baby fearing girls birth control experts that we are, CollegeCandy has put together a few rock-solid ideas to preventing teen pregnancy in this here country. If teachers and parents do things our way, teen pregnancy would be a thing of the past. And MTV would have a few time-slots to fill during the week.

1. Give them the facts.
This may seem obvious, but science has shown that teens have less of an ability to think things through and see future consequences, so it’s time to spell things out for them: Pregnancy sucks. You will get fat, you’ll act like a bitch-on-wheels, and those perky teenage boobs? Forget about them. Pregnancy can also wreak havoc on every part of your body: you’ll sprout hair in weird places, your skin will break out, your back will ache and it can even put stress on your heart and lungs. Oh, and forget about all those tasty snacks you love so much. You can’t have caffeine (which is in chocolate), nutra-sweet (see ya later, Diet Coke), un-cooked food (TTFN, sushi and lunch meat) or booze (which you shouldn’t be drinking anyway!) for 9 freaking months.

Did I mention you poop on the table when you give birth?

2. Show them their future.
If any of that doesn’t sink in, maybe it’s time to show pics of a woman’s body before and after pregnancy. I’m sure most girls would jump on a bowl of condoms if they saw all those stretch marks or realized they may never fit into their favorite skinny jeans again. On average, women should expect to gain at least 25 pounds during pregnancy, but most gain more (way more) than that, and those pounds are extremely difficult to lose when you’re taking care of a baby 24/7.

3. Give them a dose of reality.
Why not show a few episodes of Teen Mom? Watching Amber move into a dirty motel with her baby had us running to Costco for jumbo packs of Trojans.

4. Educate them.
Let’s stop with the abstinence-only education and give these girls some real information. It’s 2010 in AMERICA, for god’s sake. Even if you believe in the whole “save yourself for marriage” stuff, it’s time to arm our youth with the facts (and the condoms) so they can protect themselves.

Sex = good. Waking up with some guys junk rubbing against your butt = not so good.

Contrary to popular belief, we girls enjoy a good old romp in the hay as much as guys do (probably more, if you happen to be me).  Sex in the bedroom, sex in the shower, sex in the stacks….well, you get the idea.  Sex is great. Grand. WONDERFUL.

But there are some things about sexy time that we can all agree are not so great, grand or wonderful. (Editor’s Note: Like getting preggers.) Even guys have their gripes! No matter how mind-blowing, how crazy, or how many of our roommates can hear our screams of pleasure, there are 4 things about sex that we just plain HATE.

1. Next-Day Body Aches
Everyone loves a slumber party with their boy toy, but not so much the pain that ensues the next day (especially if we happen to be lucky enough to find a guy with a…um….bigger friend).  Your inner thighs throb, your butt muscles ache, your vajay hurts to the touch…er…wipe. And if things get a little crazy, you’ve got rug (or t-shirt sheet) burn on your back, elbows and knees.  And don’t even get me started on the pain that comes with a UTI. One night o’ passion can knock you out for days.

2. Nice (or naughty) Girls Finish Last
Studies show that less than 30% of women are able to achieve orgasm through vaginal intercourse.  As opposed to, um, 100% of guys!?!? What gives?  Even us lucky ladies who are able to reach the big O know that our guy will almost always come first (and if “first” happens to mean “two minutes in,” well, I don’t want to talk about it).  There’s nothing worse than a few minutes of a guy huffing and puffing on top of us, then rolling over and falling asleep while we lie there, bored and unsatisfied.

3. Ick. Ew. Gross.
Sex is a beautiful thing…in theory. The actual act is all sorts of awkward and dirty. Like when our guy’s on top dripping sweat into our hair and eyes. Or that weird fart noise that happens when two sweaty bodies collide. Or the sight of two 36-Cs flopping around. Or having lube on our hands, in our hair, and everywhere else imaginable. Or, worst of all, the big old’ wet spot conveniently located in the middle of the bed. Which is exactly where we end up passing out for the night.

4. Birth Control
Okay, so this one is necessary, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Especially when guys just sorta expect us to be on it these days. And, yeah, having no pregnancy scares is a great thing, but the slew of side effects from those itty bitty pills sometimes makes pregnancy look appealing (I mean, at least then we’d have an excuse for packing on the pounds). Not only does The Pill make us moody, irritable and fat, but long-term use of oral contraceptives can cause strokes and heart attacks in the future. And there’s nothing I hate more than a heart attack.

What are your biggest between-the-sheets gripes?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but most girls only have one vagina, right? I mean, there’s not something wrong with me, is there?

"I never want to be apart from you. Ever ever.

Brace yourself, ladies: We are now entering Break up Season. According to a study released in 2007 by Yahoo!, this little span of time between the December holidays and Valentine’s Day happens to be the period when most couples head to Splitsville. (Geez – Is it really that bad to have to buy someone some roses?!)

I don’t know about you, but it took me a really long to find a guy I can stand to spend more than 10 minutes with, so I’m willing to do just about anything to make sure we make it through February and beyond. Well, not anything; I’m not giving up SATC reruns or scooping peanut butter out of the jar for anybody. Not even the boyf.

In order to help you keep your relationship in working order as well, I’m here to clue you in on 8 surefire ways to KILL that fabulous relationship you’ve got goin’ on. Engage in any of these flame-squelching behaviors and you’ll be ladeling out that Edy’s Slow Churned in front of the TV all by your lonesome come V-Day.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

1. Talk about wanting babies. College guys are only thinking about four B’s: booze, bongs, boobs and birth control.

2. Talk to your mom about him…and tell him about it. This is how it works in his head: Talking to your mother about him = you think you’re getting married…and he runs away. Screaming. Trust me on this one.

3. Living together too soon. I’ve seen a lot of otherwise happy couples turn into raging lunatics once they decide to shack up; even spending too much time at each other’s houses can turn into a nightmare. Just think about it: nothing about shopping for toilet paper together screams romance.

4. Texting ALL THE TIME. Constant communication is really not necessary to maintain a relationship. In fact, it can be the thing that kills one. I understand wanting to be a part of your boyfriend’s life, but is his day-to-day (or the few hours you don’t see him) really that exciting? I’ve come to realize there is a formula for college guy’s lives and it goes a little something like this: Wake up. Poop. Shower. Go to class. Eat. Poop again. Work. Get drunk. Sleep. Repeat. If you don’t talk to him for a few hours, you’re not really missing much. (And, come on, do you really want him texting you from the bathroom?)

5. Obsessing over your ex. Nobody likes to hear about anybody else’s ex. Your friends don’t even wanna hear you obsess about him – do you think your boyfriend will?

6. Inviting him home to meet your family. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT invite anyone home with you until you are absolutely 100% sure that you are in an actual relationship. Luda summed it up best: “Don’t wanna meet your mama, just want to make you…” Inviting the frat boy you drunkenly (and sloppily) made out with last weekend to meet your pops will stop whatever chance there ever was at blossoming romance. (There is a chance, right??)

7. Trying to be “One of the Guys.” It’s awesome if you two can share some interests – watch football together, or something – but it’s another thing to try to weasel your way into every Poker Night, Taco Tuesday or Wacky Wednesday get-together. Everybody needs time with their own kind every once in awhile. Just like you wouldn’t care to have him come along to get a pedi with your friends (and would be slightly worried if he agreed), he doesn’t need you there to enjoy “Toozday Boozday” with the guys.

8. Jealousy and Insecurity. On a more serious note, jealousy and insecurity is the NUMBER ONE relationship killer. If you’re not totally convinced that you’re a bad *ss chick with sassiness to spare, how can your guy believe it?

I’m sure there are plenty more ways to kill relationships (and I’ve probably tried them all!) What are some relationship killers you’ve witnessed?

This is just bad.

Pamela Anderson tries another path…

Let’s put an end to camel toe!

I don’t want this Santa in my chimney.

This is why birth control exists.

Who the eff is styling Rihanna these days?

The stars return for the U.S. premiere.

Who are the hottest vampires in Hollywood?

Why do contraceptives fail?

What did the Kardashian’s really think of Kourtney’s baby?

Lindsay Lohan’s meltdown continues….

Evil soccer player is full of regret….