Music
Singer Loretta Lynn commented on how women no longer had to choose between a relationship and a career in her 1974 album with a song entitled "The Pill", which told the story of a married womans use of the drug to liberate herself from her traditional role as wife and mother. Environmental impact
A woman using COCPs excretes from her urine and feces natural estrogens, estrone (E1) and estradiol (E2), and synthetic estrogen ethinylestradiol (EE2). These hormones can pass through water treatment plants and into rivers. Other forms of contraception, such as the contraceptive patch, use the same synthetic estrogen (EE2) that is found in COCPs, and can add to the hormonal concentration in the water when flushed down the toilet. This excretion is shown to play a role in causing endocrine disruption, which affects the sexual development and reproduction of wild fish populations in segments of streams contaminated by treated sewage effluents.
Peritonsillar abscess (PTA), also known as quinsy, is an accumulation of pus due to an infection behind the tonsil. Symptoms include fever, throat pain, trouble opening the mouth, and a change to the voice. Pain is usually worse on one side. Complications may include blockage of the airway or aspiration pneumonitis.PTA is typically due to infection by a number of types of bacteria. Often it follows streptococcal pharyngitis. They do not typically occur in those who have had a tonsillectomy. Diagnosis is usually based on the symptoms. Medical imaging may be done to rule out complications.Treatment is by removing the pus, antibiotics, sufficient fluids, and pain medication. Steroids may also be useful. Admission to hospital is generally not needed. In the United States about 3 per 10,000 people per year are affected. Young adults are most commonly affected. Signs and symptoms
Physical signs of a peritonsillar abscess include redness and swelling in the tonsillar area of the affected side and swelling of the jugulodigastric lymph nodes. The uvula may be displaced towards the unaffected side.Unlike tonsillitis, which is more common in children, PTA has a more even age spread, from children to adults. Symptoms start appearing two to eight days before the formation of an abscess. A progressively severe sore throat on one side and pain during swallowing (odynophagia) usually are the earliest symptoms. As the abscess develops, persistent pain in the peritonsillar area, fever, a general sense of feeling unwell, headache, and a distortion of vowels informally known as "hot potato voice" may appear.