Birth control pills are also known as oral contraceptives. There have been changes in the types of progestin or hormones and estrogen used in the pills and lesser amounts of hormones overall. Read the Women's Health journalto know more about the effects associated with birth control pills.
Birth control pill is one of the leading birth control methods used by women below 30. Nowadays, these pills are formulated to improve safety and reduce their side effects. Lower doses of estrogen are linked with a reduction in side effects such as breast tenderness, weight gain, and nausea.
Birth control pills are available as both oral pill and chewable pills, generally taken by mouth and swallowed with a liquid. Most of the pill combinations have 21 hormonally active pills and 7 pills containing no hormones. A woman starts by taking a pill on the first day of her period. By taking one pill a day, she can generally take pills consistently throughout her menstrual cycle.
They may be used to treat irregular periods. Women can change their menstrual cycle to avoid a period during some events, such as vacations or weekends by increasing the number of intake days of hormonally active pills or by skipping the non-active pills. These pills help prevent certain conditions, such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), benign breast disease, and functional cysts. Functional cysts can be reduced by suppressing ovarian hormone production. The inhibition of ovulation avoids ectopic pregnancies. Birth control pills also prevent certain endometrial and ovarian cancers. The Cancer Science Journal has more information on this which you can refer to.
Problems encountered when taking birth control pills are:
nausea,
weight gain,
breast tenderness,
depression,
breakthrough bleeding,
diminished sexual desire
headaches,
absent periods, and
anxiety.
It is important to take the pills daily and consistently, i.e., same time every day. If you stop taking birth control pills, it might take many months for you to resume normal ovulatory menstrual cycles. If your menstrual cycle does not return within 6 months, then you may need to go to your doctor and get examined.
Some women could be at risk for blood clots. Women over the age of 35 who smoke, as well as women with elevated blood lipids (cholesterol) levels, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, are at particular risk.
The birth control pills can lead to breast cancer, the risk is less, and the resulting tumours spread less aggressively than usual. Current thought is that using birth control pills may be a cofactor that can interact with another primary cause to stimulate breast cancer.
The relationship between the usage of birth control pills and cervical cancer is also controversial. Important risk factors for cervical cancer include exposure to the human papillomavirus and early age of first sexual intercourse. The current thought is that if birth control pills contribute to the risk of cervical cancer, their effect is small and related to complicated sexual behaviours. Therefore, women who take birth control pills should have an annual test.
STDs and birth control pills: They do not provide any protection from STDs.
Progestin-only birth control pills: Those who use them include women who are breastfeeding or cannot take estrogen.
