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The type of birth command yous utilize is a personal decision, and there are many options to choose from. If you're a sexually active person who menstruates, yous may want to consider nativity control pills.

Nativity command pills, too called oral contraceptives, are medications you lot take by rima oris to prevent pregnancy. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they're an effective method of birth command with a success rate of about 91 percent (or a failure charge per unit of 9 percent).

Find out how they work and what side effects they can cause, too every bit other factors to assist you decide whether nativity control pills are a skillful option for you lot.

Birth command pills are oral contraceptives that contain small amounts of hormones. The hormones in nascence control pills work to prevent pregnancy past stopping ovulation, or the release of an egg from the ovary. Some birth control pills also temporarily change the lining of the uterus and then it'southward less likely a fertilized egg volition implant.

Birth control pills come in a pack, unremarkably a 28-day cycle, with one pill assigned to each day. You take a birth control pill daily, typically during the same time frame each solar day, depending on the pill. This keeps sure hormones elevated, so you're less likely to get pregnant.

Combination pills

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

Estrogen levels are naturally highest in the center of your cycle and everyman when y'all have your period. Progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy after ovulation by thickening the endometrium. High progesterone levels also preclude 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-month cycles. Each active pill gives you the same dose of hormone. During the concluding calendar week of the cycle, you can have (or skip) the inactive pills, and you withal have your menstruum.
  • Multiphasic pills. These are used in 1-month cycles and provide different levels of hormones during the cycle. During the terminal week of the bike, you tin can take or skip the inactive pills, and you notwithstanding have your menstruation.
  • Extended-cycle pills. These are typically used in 13-week cycles. You lot accept active pills for 12 weeks, and during the last week of the cycle, you can take or skip the inactive pills and have your period. As a effect, you have your period only 3 to iv times per year.

Examples of brand-name combination pills include:

  • Azurette
  • Beyaz
  • Enpresse
  • Estrostep Atomic number 26
  • Kariva
  • Levora
  • Loestrin
  • Natazia
  • Ocella
  • Depression-Ogestrel
  • Ortho-Novum
  • Ortho Tri-Cyclen
  • Seasonale
  • Seasonique
  • Velivet
  • Yasmin
  • Yaz

Progestin-but pills

Progestin-only pills incorporate progestin (synthetic progesterone) without estrogen. This type of pill is also called the minipill.

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

Y'all should as well avoid estrogen if you're over 35 and smoke, as this combination can increase your risk of developing a claret clot.

With progestin-only pills, all pills in the cycle are active. At that place are no inactive pills, and then you may or may not have a period while taking progestin-only pills.

Examples of brand-name progestin-only pills include:

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

Deciding on a type of birth control pill

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

  • Your menstrual symptoms. If you experience heavy bleeding, you may do better with a progestin-only birth command pill instead of a combination pill.
  • Whether yous are breastfeeding. If yous're breastfeeding, your physician may recommend fugitive birth command pills that comprise estrogen.
  • Your cardiovascular health. If you lot have a history of stroke, blood clots, and/or deep vein thrombosis, your doctor may recommend a progestin-simply nativity control pill.
  • Other chronic health weather you may have. If you have chronic wellness conditions, such as active breast or endometrial cancer, migraine with aura, or heart affliction, you may not be a expert candidate for oral contraceptives. Talk with your doctor and make certain to requite your full wellness history.
  • Other medications y'all may take. If you're taking antibiotics or herbal remedies, such every bit St. John's Wort, combination birth controls may not be a proficient fit for you. Certain antiviral drugs and epilepsy medications tin besides interfere with nascence command pills, and vice versa.

Combination pills work in two ways.

Offset, they prevent your trunk from ovulating. This ways your ovaries won't release an egg each calendar month.

Second, these pills cause your trunk to thicken your cervical mucus, the fluid around your neck that helps sperm travel to your uterus so it can fertilize an egg. The thickened mucus helps prevent sperm from reaching the uterus.

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

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

Progestin-but pills may also preclude ovulation.

Combination pills come in a diversity of formats. These include monthly packs, which follow 21-, 24-, or 28-day cycles. Extended regimens can follow 91-day cycles. With all these formats, you take i pill each day at the same fourth dimension of twenty-four hours.

If you lot start taking your combination pill inside 5 days after your period starts, you lot'll be protected against pregnancy correct abroad. If y'all start at whatsoever other time, you'll need to take the pills for 7 consecutive days before you lot're protected. During this time, yous should use a bulwark method of nativity control, such as an external rubber.

Progestin-only pills, on the other hand, come up in only packs of 28. As with combination pills, you take one pill at the same time every twenty-four hours.

Progestin-only pills tend to work more chop-chop than combination pills, which means you'll be protected confronting pregnancy after taking 2 consecutive pills within 48 hours. If you don't desire to expect the 48 hours to have sex, you should use a barrier method of nascence control.

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

To exist fully effective, progestin pills must be taken within the same 3-hour time period every 24-hour interval. If yous miss this time window, y'all should accept your pill as presently as yous remember and use a unlike method of contraception, like a condom, for 2 days.

At that place is slightly more flexibility with combination pills. In full general, you should endeavour to take combination pills at the same time each day, but y'all tin take them within the aforementioned daily 12-hour window and still have pregnancy protection.

Sure medications may make either type of pill less effective, including:

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

The pill may also be less effective if you experience diarrhea or airsickness. If yous've had a stomach illness, bank check with your doctor to encounter whether you're at risk of pregnancy. In that case, you should apply a backup method of contraception, such every bit a prophylactic.

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

While birth control pills are safe for nigh people, they exercise come with some side effects and risks. Everyone reacts differently to the hormones in birth control pills. Some people accept side effects such as:

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

If y'all have these side furnishings, they will likely ameliorate after a few months of using the pill. If they don't amend, you should talk with your doctor. They may suggest you switch to a different blazon of nascence control pill.

Risks

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

  • deep vein thrombosis
  • heart attack
  • stroke
  • pulmonary embolism

Overall, the adventure of a claret clot from using any kind of nativity control pill is low.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, out of 10,000 people taking birth control pills, virtually 10 will develop a blood jell later taking a combination pill for a twelvemonth. This chance is still lower than the risk of developing a blood clot during pregnancy and immediately later on giving nascence.

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

  • live in larger bodies
  • have loftier blood pressure level
  • are on bed residual for long periods

If whatsoever of these factors apply to you lot, talk with your md about the risks of using a nativity control pill.

Considerations

Many birth command options are bachelor today, and the nativity control pill is an excellent ane. Simply the all-time nascence control choice for you depends on many factors. To find an choice that works for you, talk with your md. Be sure to enquire whatsoever questions yous have. These might include:

  • Which type of birth control pill might be better for me?
  • Am I taking whatever medications that could crusade bug with a nativity command pill?
  • Am I at college take chances of blood clots from the pill?
  • What should I exercise if I forget to take a pill?
  • What other birth control options should I consider?

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

You can go the traditional road and schedule an in-person visit with a physician. Once you go through your medical history and discuss your family planning goals, your doctor volition provide a prescription that you can and so fill at your local pharmacy.

There are also several means to get nascence control pills online without an in-person visit to a medico.

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 then provide a prescription for a recommended birth command.

In one case the prescription is filled, the nativity control pills are shipped directly to your dwelling.

Birth command pills are oral contraceptives that assistance prevent pregnancy. Each pill contains small amounts of the hormones estrogen and/or progesterone (in its synthetic form, 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 mutual, merely progestin-only pills, which don't incorporate any estrogen, may be a amend fit for sure groups of people, such every bit those who accept a history of claret clots or have heavy periods.

Before taking nascency control pills, talk with your dr. or a licensed medical professional person to determine which blazon is right for you lot.