Birth Control Pills Types, Effectiveness and Side Effects

Hey, guys this article is related to Birth Control Pills Types, Effectiveness and Side Effects. If you’re wanting to start the birth control pill and you’ve had a bit of time off it and you want to restart it, or you need a refresher. Or you’re wanting to start the pill for the very first time, then this article is the one for you!

I’ll try and make it as simple as possible, so let’s get started! 

I’m going to be talking about how to start the combined pill. So this one I’m gonna be talking about as an example is Ginet. You know that doctors are the only ones that care about this, but they are different! The combined pills are awesome for controlling periods, for lots of skin conditions, and has lots of advantages. But there are more risks with taking the combined pill vs taking a mini-pill, which has more of the lucky side effects but is incredibly safe. 

So this for one, I’ll just be focusing on the combined pill. So what does a pill pack look like?

This is an example of an actual pill called Ginet, which is a combined pill. And they all tend to have a similar appearance. So some may be round-shaped, some might be square and some might be rectangular. On one side, you have all the days of the week. So Friday through to the next Friday. You go in the arrow direction. Then when you look at the back, you’ll be able to see that these are pale yellow hormone pills. There’s always more hormone pills on one side.

Then on the other, you’ve got these white tablets and these are the sugar pills. AKA, they have nothing in them. Usually, when you take the sugar pills that’s when you get your period. So you’re thinking: “Yep, that’s all well and good ?, can you just get on with it and tell me how I need to start it?” 

Well, okay. So, you can tell from this site which are the sugar pills, and which are the hormone pills, just by the size of the circle. So these little smaller circles are the hormone tablets and the bigger circles are the sugar pills around here. But when you very first start, doctors always tell you to start with your period and that’s because they want to know that you’re not pregnant.

You can start anytime that you feel like, it doesn’t make any difference. But as long as you start on the hormone tablets. So, if you can you would start, say if it was Saturday, you’d start here. You’d start on the top left-hand part of the hormone tablets and move along.

If it was Monday, you’d start there and then every day follow your nose, one a day. Keep going round and round and round, until you get over here. And this is going to be the start of your sugar tablets. You probably won’t get a bleed until about here. Because it takes a while for the hormone to come out of your system, and for your body to realize that.  It needs to have a period. Then you continue again, taking it until you finish the packet.

Then you throw away the packet and start a new sheet in the same place, where you were on the last packet. The key points so far are: Don’t worry about when you start taking the tablets as long as you take a hormone tablet. If you start with the hormone tablets and make sure that you’re not pregnant. That is important!

The next question I often get is what happens if I don’t get a period on these tablets?

So even on the sugar pills, I’m not having any bleeding? That is okay and that is awesome! Some people are lucky enough, that they never have a period, even on the combined pill. If that’s the case, great! But if you’re still unsure, I think always just check a pregnancy test, to make sure that it’s not something else – that you might be pregnant. Otherwise, it’s okay. 

The other thing to mention is: how do I know – is this a mini pill, is this a combined pill, what’s the difference?

This particular one is a combined pill, which means that it has two types of hormones in it. Just as a general rule of thumb, you can tell that this is a combined pill because it has red sugar pills. Normally mini pills don’t, all they’ll have is just hormone tablets, hormone tablets everywhere. And you can also just tell by reading the ingredients to see actually what it contains. It will tell you if it’s got two things in it, then that’s a combined piimport. If it’s only got one ingredient, it’s a mini pill.

What time of day should you take the pill? 

Well, it doesn’t matter at all. You can take it in the morning, you can take it at night. It doesn’t matter as long as you remember to take it. I used to always take the pill when I was doing my makeup in the morning so that I wouldn’t forget. But some people have great systems, where they set themselves timers. As long as you take it each day, it doesn’t matter! 

Side Effects of Taking Birth Control Pilss

Acne

Let’s face it, it’s the main reason many people start the pill. If your skin has deteriorated since starting the pill, you need to switch brands. If you’re taking a mini pill, then try and get on a combined pill – if it’s suitable for you. Because it will give you the best help. The best-combined pills for skin are brands like Yasmin, Ginet, Diane, Dianette, and Estelle.

The reason is that they have a substance in it called Cyproterone Acetate, which is great for clearing up the skin.

Breast soreness

What about breast soreness and pain? This is from too much estrogen and progesterone in the pill. Switching to something like Microgynon 20, Aviane, Alesse, Aubra, or Lutera may help.

For depression, moodiness or irritability try a pill that contains a synthetic version of progestin, which is also known as Drospirenone. Examples of brands that have this are Yaz and Bayes. They can also help with bloating.

Headache

 For menstrual headaches, all you need to do is skip the sugar pills entirely and just take hormone pills back-to-back. The same applies if you have nasty menstrual cramps. Skip your sugar pills and just take the hormone pills. If you want to change pills altogether, I’d suggest switching to medication like Yasmin or Brevinor. The higher amounts of progesterone help relieve the cramping.

Nausea

Now, what about nausea?

This is a really common problem, but so easy to sort out. The problem is from too much estrogen in your pill. So you need to switch to a lower dose pill like Microgynon 20, Lutera, or Mercilon and just watch out for some breakthrough bleeding. On that subject, what should you do if you get breakthrough bleeding?

Firstly, please make sure that it’s not something else like a sexually transmitted infection or a cervical problem, where you’re overdue for a smear. Just make sure that you get a checkup. Otherwise, if you’re sure that it’s related to the pill, increasing the amount of estrogen in the pill should help. So switching to a brand like Monofeme, Levlen, or Amethyst, or an equivalent pill with at least 35 micrograms of estrogen.

Stop Weight Gaining

Lastly, weight gain! This is by far the number one question, I get all the time about what pill they can go on to help stop weight gain. Well, one of the reasons that it can happen is from too much estrogen and progestin in your current brand of pill. So switching to a lower dose pill with both of those. Examples are Microgynon 20, Alesse, Aubre, Aviane and Lutera may help. But it often comes down to going back and forth a bit with your doctor, to get exactly the right brand for you. Please don’t lose hope there’s always something out there for you, even if it just takes a little bit longer to find it – you’ll get there. 

Thanks for reading the whole information. I hope this helped address some of your issues with birth control pills that you might be having. If you did enjoy it please remember to share this information with other peoples.