The contraceptive pill is a hormone-containing medication to prevent pregnancy. They contain synthetic forms of estrogen and progesterone, which are natural female hormones. They prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation and preventing the passage of sperm from the cervix into the uterus. In the first month of drug release, everything is restored and the chance of pregnancy begins again. Most contraceptives contain these two hormones and are therefore called “combined oral contraceptives.”
How to use the birth control pill?
Before using the contraceptive pill, a doctor should be consulted and examined. The effect of hormones in the content of the drug on the person should be evaluated and the appropriate drug should be used regularly for the dose and duration determined by the physician.
Birth control pills usually consist of 21 or 28 tablets. When the drug is started to be used, it should be used at the same time every day until all the tablets in the box are finished. The birth control pill should be stopped for one week after the box is finished. During this period, menstrual bleeding occurs.
After the end of the menstrual bleeding, the use of the second box is started and medication is taken in the same order. If the bleeding does not occur within a week, when the use of the drug is left for menstrual bleeding, a pregnancy test should be performed.
Continuing to use the drug in this very rare situation may cause serious harm to the baby in the womb. The use of the pill, consisting of 21 tablets, is started on the first day of menstrual bleeding. Taking regularly at the same time every day is among the factors that increase the protection of the drug.
Even if menstrual bleeding does not start after the end of 21 tablets, the pill is paused for 7 days and then the second box is started. Even if menstrual bleeding continues and decreases, the contraceptive pill should be continued after a 7-day break. Contraceptive pills, consisting of 28 tablets, are similarly used. Its first use must be made on the first day of menstruation.
The first 21 tablets of contraceptive pills, consisting of 28 tablets, contain contraceptive hormones, while the remaining 7 tablets contain mostly iron medication. Iron, which speeds up the reconstruction of blood thrown from the body during menstrual bleeding, does not affect such as preventing pregnancy. Therefore, the drug continues to be used without a break after the box is finished. Although drugs consisting of 21 tablets can be taken in mixed order, it is important to consume those consisting of 28 tablets following the directions on the tablet.
Following the instructions in the form of arrow signs or day names, in the specified order, prevents taking the iron-containing tablet instead of the hormone-containing drug. Although birth control pills are known to be very effective in preventing pregnancy, some conditions can cause the effect of the drug to decrease. It is known that anti-epileptic, anti-HIV, and some herbal medicines, especially birth control pills, decrease pregnancy success. This is why products such as herbal remedies and herbal teas cannot be taken with birth control pills.
Besides, taking the drug regularly at the same time every day also helps to increase its effectiveness. Vomiting after taking the drug or taking medication 12 hours after the time taken normally reduces the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill, and therefore the chance of preventing pregnancy.
There are also cases where you should not use the contraceptive pill:
Those with suspected pregnancy
- Those with migraine complaints requiring treatment,
- Having previous or existing vascular occlusions,
- Those with uncontrolled high blood pressure and diabetes,
- Those with severe liver disease
- Especially those with breast, hormone-dependent malignant tumors,
- Those with undiagnosed vaginal bleeding,
- Those over the age of 38 and smokers should act according to the doctor’s advice.
Are there any side effects of using birth control pills?
Nausea, intermediate bleeding, headache, decreased sexual desire, breast sensitivity, mood-state changes may appear as undesired side effects. These conditions usually improve within a few months. Birth control pills are at an increased risk of a clot forming a serious risk factor. Clot formation; Deep vein thrombosis can result in a heart attack, stroke, and lung embolism. However, this risk is very low. In one year of use, clot formation is detected in less than ten ten thousand women. This risk is less than your risk of clot formation during pregnancy and immediately after birth. If there are conditions that increase your risk of clot formation (being overweight, high blood pressure, sedentary life, smoking, family vascular occlusion, and history of a clot), it is necessary to decide whether you will use it under the control of a doctor. Besides, birth control pills have absolutely no sterile, permanent effect. In 1-2 months after you stop using the pill, the menstrual will be restored and pregnancy can be planned.
What should be considered when using birth control pills?
- The drug should be started within the first seven days after the start of menstrual bleeding.
- The drug should be taken at the same time every day.
- It should be checked whether the medication of the day before is taken every morning.
- Other medicines taken while using the contraceptive pill should be consulted.
- No smoking should be used while using the pill.
- Gynecological examination, smear examination (pathological examination of the swab taken from the cervix), and breast examination should be done every year.
- If there is intermediate bleeding in the first month, it should be met normally. However, if intermediate bleeding recurs in the second month, the drug should be discontinued and consult a doctor.
Are there any side effects or risks of using contraceptive pills?
Nausea, intermediate bleeding, headache, decreased sexual desire, breast sensitivity, mood changes can be seen as undesired side effects, these conditions usually improve within a few months, if not, you should see your doctor again, another type of pill or birth control method can be considered.
A serious risk of using contraceptive pills, especially combined oral contraceptives, is an increased risk of clot formation. Clot formation can result in deep vein thrombosis, heart attack, stroke, and lung embolism. However, this risk is very low. The risk of OCs users is tenfold. This risk is less than your risk of clot formation during pregnancy and immediately after birth. Conditions that increase your risk of clot formation: being overweight, high blood pressure, living motionless, smoking, family occlusion, and history of the clot.
It is necessary to be sensitive to the symptoms that may cause clot formation suspicion, these include severe abdominal or stomach pain, chest pain with cough and shortness of breath, severe headache-dizziness, blurred vision or loss, speech problem, severe leg pain.
What Should Be Considered In The Use Of Birth Control?
Before you start using the contraceptive pill, your medical history should be determined exactly with your doctor and its effectiveness should be calculated accordingly. In other words, using a birth control pill for a person who has a blood problem can cause a risk related to blood clotting. Age factor, smoking, some types of migraine disorder are negative in the use of contraceptives. These drugs may also cause changes in mood due to being hormone-effective drugs. You should evaluate with your doctor and choose a drug that will not affect your mood. That is, a different option in the drug to be used can eliminate the negative effects.
A wrong idea that comes to mind when using the pill is that the pill will harm the fetus if it is pregnant during use. However, this is not true, there is no negative impact, scientist views. With the thought that the birth control pill will terminate the existing pregnancies, its intake does not affect pregnancy and may cause miscarriage effects.
When will the delivery control start working?
It can usually depend on when you started taking it and what kind of pills you used. You can start taking the pill any day of the month. However, depending on when you started and the type of pill you are using, you may need to use a birth control method (condom) as a backup up to 7 days.
If you start birth control pills within 5 days after the first day of menstruation, you can be protected from pregnancy immediately. For example, if your Monday morning period begins, you can start your pill until Saturday morning and be protected from pregnancy on the same day. Your doctor can offer you the best time to start taking birth control pills and the most effective ways to start protecting it.
What to do if you are forgotten to drink while using a contraceptive pill?
If a single pill is forgotten, the forgotten pill should be taken as soon as possible and the following pills should be continued in their normal order. In this case, it is not necessary to apply an additional contraceptive method.
If it is forgotten to take pills for 2 consecutive days within the first two weeks of drug use, two pills are taken for the next two days and an additional contraceptive method such as a condom is recommended for 7 days.
If two pills are not used in the third week of the drug or more than two pills at any time, the new package should be started and an additional contraceptive method should be used for a week.
Does contraceptive use make weight gain?
When the contraceptive pills were first released, the hormone doses they contained were quite high, and because some hormones in their content had an appetizing and water-retaining effect, they could cause weight gain both my appetite and by keeping water and paying. However, the amount of hormones contained in the new generation birth control pills used today is very low, so they are unlikely to have such an effect.