Types of Birth Control Pills

Birth control pills are among the top choice of women when it comes to unwanted pregnancy protection, and because women are different, different pills have been developed. Find out the types of birth control pills.

Birth control pills are very effective medications in preventing unwanted pregnancy. They are one of the most popular contraception methods among women. “The pill” has a 99,9% effectiveness if taken as direction state. It does offer protection against unwanted pregnancy but it offers no protection against sexually transmitted diseases or STD's.

Birth control pills should only be taken based on the prescription your physician gave you. There are a variety of brands available who produce birth control pills with different doses of hormones. Also birth control pills shouldn't be taken by everyone because of how the side effects might affect a person with certain health problems. This is why you should have an opened discussion about the benefits and risks of birth control pills, with your physician before you decide going on the pill.

There are three types of birth control pills, and they differentiate themselves by the hormones that they contain:

Progestin Birth Control Pills are the pills that only contain the hormone progestin. Estrogen hormone is not an ingredient found in progestin pills. This type of pills are perfect for women who cannot take estrogen, who breastfeed and are over 35 and smoking.
This type of pills have to be taken every day at the same time in order for them to be effective. They can cause irregular bleeding, headaches, lack of period as side effects.

Combination Birth Control Pills are the pills that contain both estrogen and progestin hormones. It is the most common birth control pill used among women. There are three types of combination birth control pills like:

1. Monophasic pills which contain equal amounts of both hormones. They are taken for 21 days and in some cases there can still be 7 pills left which don't contain any hormones though, they are just to remind you when to start the next pill pack.

In the 7 day period in which no hormones are introduced to the system the period will start. There is a contraceptive called Seasonale which contains pills that have to be taken for a period of 12 weeks followed by one week of pause. These pills will only bring one period every 3 months.
2. Multiphasic birth control pills contain different levels of hormones. They increase the dosage of the hormones as the time progresses. They have been developed to reduce the side effects of birth control pills.
3. Birth control pills for continuous use are the pills that are taken continuously without any interruption. This means that they won't allow your period to come, thus you will have no period.

This type of combination pills reduce the level of pain and bleeding during the period. They also help reduce the risk of ovarian cysts. The side effects of these combination pills are headaches, vomiting, weight gain, blood cloth formation.

Emergency contraceptive pills are the pills that are not supposed to be taken regularly. They are for the times you had unprotected intercourse and think you might get pregnant. The pack contains 2 pills and the first one should be taken in the first 72 hours after the intercourse. The next pill will be taken 12 hours later. They are highly effective if taken soon after the unprotected sex has happened. As side effects you may experience nausea, period deescalation, abdominal pain. These pills should not be taken as regular contraceptives, they should only be used for emergency situations only.