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The blazon of birth control you use is a personal determination, and there are many options to cull from. If you're a sexually active person who menstruates, you lot may want to consider birth control pills.

Birth command pills, also called oral contraceptives, are medications you take by mouth to prevent pregnancy. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they're an constructive method of birth control with a success rate of nigh 91 percent (or a failure charge per unit of ix percent).

Discover out how they work and what side effects they can crusade, likewise as other factors to aid you decide whether birth control pills are a good choice for yous.

Birth control pills are oral contraceptives that contain minor amounts of hormones. The hormones in birth command pills work to prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation, or the release of an egg from the ovary. Some birth command pills also temporarily change the lining of the uterus so it's less likely a fertilized egg will implant.

Nascence control pills come in a pack, commonly a 28-mean solar day bicycle, with one pill assigned to each twenty-four hour period. Yous take a birth control pill daily, typically during the same time frame each day, depending on the pill. This keeps certain hormones elevated, then y'all're less probable to get pregnant.

Combination pills

Combination pills contain synthetic forms of the hormones estrogen and progesterone (called progestin in its synthetic course). Estrogen controls the menstrual cycle.

Estrogen levels are naturally highest in the middle of your cycle and lowest when you lot have your catamenia. Progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy later ovulation by thickening the endometrium. High progesterone levels also prevent ovulation.

Combination pills come in a 28-pack. Most pills in each cycle are active, which means they contain hormones. The remaining pills are inactive, which means they don't contain hormones. There are several types of combination pills:

  • Monophasic pills. These are used in 1-calendar month cycles. Each agile pill gives you the same dose of hormone. During the concluding week of the cycle, yous can accept (or skip) the inactive pills, and you withal have your period.
  • Multiphasic pills. These are used in 1-month cycles and provide different levels of hormones during the cycle. During the last week of the cycle, you tin have or skip the inactive pills, and you even so have your menstruum.
  • Extended-cycle pills. These are typically used in 13-week cycles. You lot take active pills for 12 weeks, and during the terminal calendar week of the wheel, you can take or skip the inactive pills and have your period. As a result, you take your period only 3 to iv times per year.

Examples of make-name combination pills include:

  • Azurette
  • Beyaz
  • Enpresse
  • Estrostep Iron
  • Kariva
  • Levora
  • Loestrin
  • Natazia
  • Ocella
  • Depression-Ogestrel
  • Ortho-Novum
  • Ortho Tri-Cyclen
  • Seasonale
  • Seasonique
  • Velivet
  • Yasmin
  • Yaz

Progestin-but pills

Progestin-only pills contain progestin (constructed progesterone) without estrogen. This blazon of pill is also called the minipill.

Progestin-only pills tin assistance reduce bleeding in people with heavy periods. They may be a good choice for people who can't take estrogen for health or other reasons, like a history of stroke, eye disease, peripheral vascular disease, and/or deep vein thrombosis.

You should as well avoid estrogen if you're over 35 and smoke, as this combination tin can increment your take chances of developing a blood jell.

With progestin-only pills, all pills in the cycle are agile. There are no inactive pills, so you lot may or may not have a period while taking progestin-only pills.

Examples of brand-proper noun progestin-only pills include:

  • Camila
  • Errin
  • Heather
  • Jencycla
  • Nor-QD
  • Ortho Micronor

Deciding on a type of nascency control pill

Not every blazon of pill is a good fit for every person. Talk with your doctor virtually which pill selection would work best for you. Factors that can affect your choice include:

  • Your menstrual symptoms. If you experience heavy bleeding, you may do amend with a progestin-only birth control pill instead of a combination pill.
  • Whether you are breastfeeding. If yous're breastfeeding, your doctor may recommend fugitive nascency control pills that incorporate estrogen.
  • Your cardiovascular health. If you take a history of stroke, claret clots, and/or deep vein thrombosis, your physician may recommend a progestin-just birth control pill.
  • Other chronic health conditions yous may accept. If you have chronic wellness conditions, such as active breast or endometrial cancer, migraine with aura, or middle illness, you may not be a practiced candidate for oral contraceptives. Talk with your dr. and brand sure to requite your total health history.
  • Other medications you may accept. If you're taking antibiotics or herbal remedies, such as St. John'due south Wort, combination birth controls may not be a good fit for you. Certain antiviral drugs and epilepsy medications tin also interfere with nascency control pills, and vice versa.

Combination pills piece of work in two ways.

Showtime, they prevent your body from ovulating. This means your ovaries won't release an egg each month.

Second, these pills cause your body to thicken your cervical mucus, the fluid effectually your cervix that helps sperm travel to your uterus so information technology can fertilize an egg. The thickened fungus helps prevent sperm from reaching the uterus.

Progestin-only pills also work in a few unlike ways. Mainly, they work past thickening your cervical mucus and by thinning your endometrium.

Your endometrium is the lining of your uterus, where an egg implants after it'southward fertilized. If this lining is thinner, information technology'southward harder for an egg to implant in it, which volition prevent a pregnancy from growing.

Progestin-only pills may also prevent ovulation.

Combination pills come in a diversity of formats. These include monthly packs, which follow 21-, 24-, or 28-24-hour interval cycles. Extended regimens can follow 91-twenty-four hours cycles. With all these formats, you take one pill each day at the aforementioned time of solar day.

If you first taking your combination pill within 5 days after your period starts, you'll be protected against pregnancy right abroad. If yous kickoff at any other fourth dimension, you'll need to have the pills for 7 consecutive days before y'all're protected. During this time, you should use a barrier method of birth command, such equally an external condom.

Progestin-only pills, on the other hand, come up in only packs of 28. As with combination pills, you lot take i pill at the same time every day.

Progestin-but pills tend to piece of work more quickly than combination pills, which means you'll be protected against pregnancy after taking 2 consecutive pills within 48 hours. If yous don't want to wait the 48 hours to take sex, you should use a bulwark method of birth control.

If taken correctly, birth control pills are very effective in preventing pregnancy. Both the combination pill and the progestin-but pill accept ix percent failure rates with typical use. That means out of 100 people with a vagina using the pill, 9 would get pregnant.

To be fully effective, progestin pills must be taken inside the same 3-hour fourth dimension menses every twenty-four hour period. If you miss this fourth dimension window, you should take your pill as soon equally you recall and use a different method of contraception, like a prophylactic, for two days.

There is slightly more flexibility with combination pills. In full general, you should try to have combination pills at the aforementioned fourth dimension each day, just you can take them within the same daily 12-hour window and nevertheless have pregnancy protection.

Certain medications may make either blazon of pill less effective, including:

  • rifampin (an antibiotic)
  • sure antiretroviral and HIV medications such as efavirenz
  • certain antiseizure medications such as carbamazepine, levonorgestrel, oral norethindrone, and the subdermal etonogestrel implant
  • St. John'southward wort

The pill may also be less effective if you experience diarrhea or vomiting. If yous've had a stomach affliction, cheque with your medico to run across whether you're at chance of pregnancy. In that case, you should use a fill-in method of contraception, such as a condom.

Depending on which pill you're taking, there are different routes to take when yous've missed one or more doses.

While nativity command pills are prophylactic for almost people, they practice come with some side furnishings and risks. Everyone reacts differently to the hormones in nativity control pills. Some people have side effects such as:

  • decreased sex bulldoze
  • nausea
  • headaches
  • spotting or bleeding betwixt periods
  • breast tenderness
  • abdominal cramping
  • increase in vaginal belch

If you take these side effects, they volition probable improve later on a few months of using the pill. If they don't better, you should talk with your dr.. They may suggest yous switch to a unlike type of nativity command pill.

Risks

A serious risk of using birth control pills, especially combination pills, is an increased risk of claret clots. This can pb to:

  • deep vein thrombosis
  • heart set on
  • stroke
  • pulmonary embolism

Overall, the risk of a blood jell from using any kind of birth control pill is depression.

Co-ordinate to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, out of ten,000 people taking birth command pills, almost 10 will develop a claret jell later taking a combination pill for a year. This risk is still lower than the risk of developing a blood clot during pregnancy and immediately after giving birth.

However, the risk of a blood clot from the pill is higher for certain groups. This includes those who:

  • live in larger bodies
  • accept high claret pressure
  • are on bed rest for long periods

If any of these factors employ to you, talk with your medico about the risks of using a nascence control pill.

Considerations

Many nativity control options are bachelor today, and the nascency control pill is an fantabulous one. But the best birth command pick for you lot depends on many factors. To find an selection that works for you lot, talk with your doctor. Be sure to ask any questions yous have. These might include:

  • Which blazon of birth control pill might be better for me?
  • Am I taking whatsoever medications that could crusade problems with a birth control pill?
  • Am I at higher risk of claret clots from the pill?
  • What should I do if I forget to take a pill?
  • What other birth command options should I consider?

With increasing demand for contraceptive options, access to birth control pills is becoming easier than ever.

Yous can go the traditional route and schedule an in-person visit with a md. Once you go through your medical history and discuss your family planning goals, your doctor will provide a prescription that you can then fill at your local pharmacy.

In that location are also several means to get birth command pills online without an in-person visit to a physician.

Telehealth services, similar Nurx, Lemonaid, SimpleHealth, and The Pill Club offer online consultations, some via video and some through messaging or a medical questionnaire, with licensed doctors and healthcare professionals who review your medical history and so provide a prescription for a recommended birth control.

One time the prescription is filled, the nativity control pills are shipped direct to your dwelling house.

Nascency control pills are oral contraceptives that assist prevent pregnancy. Each pill contains pocket-sized amounts of the hormones estrogen and/or progesterone (in its synthetic grade, called progestin). When taken correctly, they have a 91 pct success rate.

There are two types of birth control pills, combination and progestin-only. Combination pills are more common, but progestin-only pills, which don't contain any estrogen, may be a better fit for sure groups of people, such as those who take a history of blood clots or have heavy periods.

Before taking nascency control pills, talk with your md or a licensed medical professional to determine which type is correct for yous.