 Birth Control Pills/Hormones
Birth control pills are one of the most beneficial medications in women’s health. Birth control pills offer many additional health benefits outside of preventing pregnancy.
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Benefits of Birth Control Pills:
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- Preventing unintended pregnancy
- Decreasing cramping pain with periods
- Decreasing blood flow and clots during periods
- Decreasing risk for uterine cancer
- Decreasing risk for ovarian cancer by up to 75%
- Helping with mood changes during the menstrual cycle
- Controlling the timing of cycles
- Decreasing facial and body acne
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Risks of Birth Control Pills:
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- Increased risk of blood clots
- Birth control pills do not cause or increase risk for breast cancer
- Birth control pills do not cause weight gain
- Birth control pills do not cause abortion
- Birth control pills prevent ovulation
- Birth control pills do not prevent all cyst formation on ovaries
- Birth control pills do not encourage sexual activity
All birth control pills are relatively the same. All do the same job, but different formulations may work better for some individuals.
When starting birth control pills, you may experience nausea or abnormal bleeding during the first 3-6 months of use until your body gets used to the medication. If these symptoms do not resolve after 6 months, call our office and we can consider a different pill that will work better for you. If you skip a pill or take a pill late, you may experience breakthrough bleeding or bleeding in the middle of your cycle. This does not indicate an underlying problem and can be resolved by taking your pill at the same time each day.
Some women will not experience any periods at all during pill use. This is also very safe and represents a good balance of estrogen and progesterone to prevent period bleeding. However, if you have bled on a pill before and suddenly stop having periods, it is usually recommended you take a pregnancy test.
All birth control pills can be safely used in a continuous manner for 3 to 4 months. This method of use would therefore produce a period only every 3 or 4 months.
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To use the pill in a continuous manner do the following:
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- Start pill pack on Sunday.
- When you reach the green or inactive pills, do not take these pills.
- Instead, start a new pack with an active pill.
- You can do this for 3-4 months, thus inhibiting a period for that time.
- After 3-4 months, then take the green pills for 7 days to stimulate a period.
- Then, restart the process all over again.
If you are unhappy with your current pill, contact us and we can change your pill with a simple phone call and without a visit to the office.
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