Birth control pills come in packs. The most common type has 3 weeks of hormone pills. Some packs have sugar pills for the fourth week. During that fourth no-hormone week, you have your menstrual period. After the fourth week 28 days , you start a new pack.
Some birth control pills are packaged so that you take hormone pills continuously for a period of time. With pills packaged in this way, you may not have a monthly period or you may only have a period every couple of months. There are several ways you can start taking your first pack of pills. Talk with your doctor about when to start taking your pills:. Take your hormone pills every day, at about the same time of day.
To stay on track and prevent pregnancy, try these easy tricks: footnote 1. Of course, this is an average figure and the chance of getting pregnant depends on whether you take your birth control pills every day. The Pill is an effective form of birth control, but even missing 1 day increases the chance of getting pregnant. In general, how well each type of birth control method works depends on a lot of things. These include whether a person has any health conditions or is taking any medicines or herbal supplements that might interfere with its use for example, an herb like St.
John's wort can affect how well the Pill works. Talk to your doctor to check if anything you take could affect how the Pill works for you. How well a particular method of birth control works also depends on whether the method chosen is convenient — and whether the person remembers to use it correctly all the time. The birth control pill does not protect against STDs.
Couples having sex or any intimate sexual contact must always use condoms along with the Pill to protect against STDs. Abstinence the decision to not have sex or any intimate sexual contact is the only method that always prevents pregnancy and STDs. The birth control pill is a safe and effective method of birth control. Most young women who take the Pill have none to very few side effects. The side effects that some women have while on the Pill include:.
Some of these side effects improve over the first 3 months on the Pill. When a girl has side effects, a doctor will sometimes prescribe a different brand of the Pill. The Pill also has some side effects that most girls are happy about. It usually makes periods lighter, reduces cramps, and is often prescribed for women who have menstrual problems.
Taking the combination Pill often improves acne, and some doctors prescribe it for this purpose. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Thank you for Subscribing Our Housecall e-newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the latest health information. Please try again. Something went wrong on our side, please try again.
Show references Combined hormonal birth control: Pill, patch, and ring. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Accessed March 31, Birth control. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed April 1, FAQs for teens: Birth control. Practice Bulletin No. Reaffirmed Oral contraceptives and cancer risk. National Cancer Institute.
Birth control methods. Office on Women's Health. Gallo MF, et al. Combination contraceptives: Effects on weight. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Del Pup L, et al. Breast cancer risk of hormonal contraception: Counseling considering new evidence. Hatcher RA, et al. Combined oral contraceptives COCs. In: Contraceptive Technology. Ayer Company Publishers; Roe A, et al.
Combined estrogen-progestin contraception: Side effects and health concerns. Accessed April 2, Allen RH. Combined estrogen-progestin contraceptives: Patient selection, counseling, and use.
Pregnancy tests. Marnach ML expert opinion. Mayo Clinic. April 19, Curtis KM, et al. Marnach ML, et al. Contraceptive challenges in women with common medical conditions. Follow the instructions that come with your packet. If you have any questions, ask a doctor, nurse or pharmacist.
It's important to take the pills as instructed, because missing pills or taking them at the same time as certain medicines may make them less effective. You can also take the combined pill as a tailored regime. This may include taking the pill for 21 days and stopping for 4, or taking the pill continuously without a break.
For more information speak to a doctor or nurse. You can normally start taking the pill at any point in your menstrual cycle. There is special guidance if you have just had a baby, abortion or miscarriage. The guidance may also be different if you have a short menstrual cycle. Get advice from a doctor or nurse if you need it. You may need to use additional contraception during your 1st days on the pill — this depends on when in your menstrual cycle you start taking it.
If you start the combined pill on the 1st day of your period day 1 of your menstrual cycle you will be protected from pregnancy straight away. You will not need additional contraception. If you start the pill on the 5th day of your period or before, you will still be protected from pregnancy straight away. You will not be protected from pregnancy straight away and will need additional contraception until you have taken the pill for 7 days.
If you start the pill after the 5th day of your cycle, make sure you have not put yourself at risk of pregnancy since your last period. If you're worried you're pregnant when you start the pill, take a pregnancy test 3 weeks after the last time you had unprotected sex. If you miss a pill or pills, or you start a pack late, this can make the pill less effective at preventing pregnancy. The chance of getting pregnant after missing a pill or pills depends on:. Find out what to do if you miss a combined pill.
If you vomit within 3 hours of taking the combined pill, it may not have been fully absorbed into your bloodstream. Take another pill straight away and the next pill at your usual time. If you continue to be sick, keep using another form of contraception until you've taken the pill again for 7 days without vomiting. Very severe diarrhoea 6 to 8 watery poos in 24 hours may also mean that the pill does not work properly.
Keep taking your pill as normal, but use additional contraception, such as condoms, while you have diarrhoea and for 2 days after recovering. Speak to a GP or nurse or call NHS for more information, if your sickness or diarrhoea continues.
If there are no medical reasons why you cannot take the pill, and you do not smoke, you can take the pill until your menopause. However, the pill is not suitable for everyone. To find out whether the pill is right for you, talk to a GP, nurse or pharmacist. If you have just had a baby and are not breastfeeding, you can most likely start the pill on day 21 after the birth but you will need to check with a doctor.
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