If you’re looking for a hormonal birth control method, you aren’t alone. There are millions of women in the United States in the same situation.
If you’re looking for a reliable form of hormonal birth control, you’ve probably thought about starting birth control pills. In a survey about birth control, 28% of women said they have tried the pill.
What To Know About Starting Birth Control Pills
Women have different reasons for wanting to go on the birth control pill. Some do it because they don’t want to rely on condoms or other barrier methods, others may use the pill for reasons outside of birth control like regulating their periods or clearing up their skin.
Regardless of why you want to go on birth control, there are a few things everyone woman should know.
Consistency Is Key
We’ve all seen the statistics that birth control can be up to 99% effective when it’s taken correctly, but the keyword in this phrase is “correctly”. If you aren’t someone who can remember to take a pill once a day, you may want to consider other birth control options.
Taking the pill at roughly around the same time of day is what makes it effective. Taking pills at random times or forgetting to take them for a day or two could negatively affect the pill’s effectiveness.
It’s also important to note that doubling or tripling your dosage to make up for a missed one can cause problems. Doing that could cause nausea, breakthrough bleeding or a decrease in effectiveness.
There Are Different Kinds of Pills
When most people think about starting birth control pills, they envision that they’re getting a standard pill that everyone gets. The truth is that there are a variety of birth control pills you could use. You may have a pill that uses estrogen and progestin, or a pill that just uses progestin.
This is important to keep in mind in case you experience side effects after you start the pill. You don’t have to go off the pill completely, you could find one that uses different amounts of hormones so you can find the right one for you.
You’ll Need Time To Get Pregnant
We know that you’re thinking about starting birth control pills, but it’s important to keep in mind what to do if you’d want to get off of them. You may want to get pregnant after you start the pill, but depending on how long you’ve been using them it could take time.
Some women have to wait a matter of weeks to get their periods regularly again and conceive, and for others, it could be months. Some women find that it’s helpful to use a fertility monitor after they end birth control so they can learn when they’re most fertile. This is why it’s important to keep family planning in mind before using any birth control.
If you’re in a committed relationship and don’t need a long term birth control solution, you may want to consider something else.
It Could Interact With Other Medications
If you’re starting birth control pills you need to keep other medications you take in mind. Aside from daily medicines, some things you take in special situations could affect its effectiveness.
Something as simple as an antibiotic could affect your birth control. Be sure to talk to your general practitioner and doctor before you start any new medicine.
Next Steps
If you’re ready to go on birth control, it’s important to talk to your gynecologist. They’ll be able to find the right medication for you and answer whatever questions you have. If you live your healthiest life and correctly use your birth control, you could be pleasantly surprised with the results!
