Birth Control Pills - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1.
What I should know about birth control pills?
2.
What is Emergency or Morning-after pill?
3.
Why smoking is not allowed while I'm on birth control pills?
4.
Are contraceptives guarantee protection from HIV/STDs
5.
I have never been on pills before. How do I know what is the best for me? What
should I discuss with my doctor or healthcare provider regarding birth control
pills?
6. I'm a breast-feeding mother; can
I take birth control pills?
7. Will the Pills
work if I'm pregnant?
8. Can you please advise
me how to take birth control pills every day?
9.
What to do if I miss the pills?
10. I do not
get periods for last two months while I'm on the pills? What does it mean?
11.
What to do if I overdose with the pills?
12.
What other medicines can interact with birth control pills?
13.
What are the usual serious side-effects?
14.
Will the pills give me weight gain?
15. How
long I can take pills?
16. What do if I wish
to become pregnant?
17. What is extended-regimen
pill? What are those types available?
18.
How continuous-pill that eliminates or delays your period is different than regular
21 or 28 day cycle birth control pills?
19.
I wish to skip the period as I plan to go on vacation in next week, what to do?
20.
How about using birth control patch instead of pill?
21.
I heard about Nuvaring, what is that?
22.
Can I become pregnant when I'm on inactive or placebo?
23.
How birth control pills going to affect cholesterol level in my body?
24.
Will birth control pills help to delay or prevent menopause by using birth control
pills daily?
25.
Why so low prices on MyBirthControlStore.com than others?
1.
What I should know about birth control pills?
Birth control pills are designed
to prevent pregnancy. These pills can be combination pills (progestin/estrogen)
or progestin-only pills. It works by preventing ovulation (i.e release of egg)
as well as thickens the wall of uterus so that sperm can not swim into it to fertilize
the eggs. Hence, there is no pregnancy.
Birth control pills are also advised
for women seeking help from irregular and painful periods and acne control. You
need to consult your doctor or health care provider to get advise on best pills
suitable for your health.
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2.
What is Emergency or Morning-after pill?
Well, emergency pills are meant
for protecting women from getting pregnant once unprotected sex has occurred.
It is the one-time solution and can not be taken as permanent solution for birth
control. If contraceptive measures are failed (for example, male condom is slipped
off or broken) or sexual assault has happened, emergency pills can be advised
for protecting women against pregnancy. Plan B birth control pills can be 95%
effective if taken within 24 hours.
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3.
Why smoking is not allowed while I'm on birth control pills?
Smokings is
strictly not allowed for women age 35 years and above because smoking greatly
increase the chances of blood clots and heart stroke, which may lead to death.
Study has shown that women who smoke 25 cigarettes daily while they are on pills;
they are 30 times more at the risk of heart-attack.
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4.
Are contraceptives guarantee protection from HIV/STDs
No. Contraceptives
do not provide any protection against HIV/STDs diseases. However, if you need
more protection from HIV/STDs then you must insist your partner to use male condoms.
You may also use female condoms to protect yourself from these life-threatening
diseases.
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5.
I have never been on pills before. How do I know what is the best for me? What
should I discuss with my doctor or healthcare provider regarding birth control
pills?
Not all women's bodies react to birth control pills in the similar
fashion. Due to various levels of hormones in the pills, its reaction to bodies
could be different. Some women may be allergic to high estrogen hormones in the
pills, some could be breast-feeding mothers whereas some women have past history
of treatments on some diseases or have undergone surgery or treatment. These all
factors should be considered before deciding to go for pills.
You must
inform your doctor or healthcare provider if you are suffering from high blood
pressure, angina, or heart disease; have had a heart stroke; have a bleeding or
blood-clotting disorder; have breast, uterine, or another hormone-related cancer;
liver disease; if undiagnosed, abnormal vaginal bleeding; have migraines or severe,
recurrent headaches; have diabetes; or smoke. Please do not hide from your doctor
if you are smoker, drinker or have been taking drugs. Your doctor will review
your case history and then advise you what type of birth control pill is suitable
for you.
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6.
I'm a breast-feeding mother; can I take birth control pills?
Usual combination
(progestin/estrogen hormones) pills are not advisable for breast-feeding mothers
because hormones can pass through breast-milk and may reduce the milk production.
Your doctor may, however, advise you to go for progestin-only or Mini-pills which
do not have estrognen hormones. POPs can only be advised after 6 weeks of postpartum.
Please discuss this with your doctor if you are breast-feeding mother.
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7.
Will the Pills work if I'm pregnant?
No. In fact, you are strictly instructed
not to take birth control pills if you are pregnant or you think you could be
or you have already missed two consecutive periods. Pills may make serious changes
in the hormones which may result in defects in unborn babies. Please consult your
doctor or healthcare provider.
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8.
Can you please advise me how to take birth control pills every day?
Well,
you must take pills as directed by your doctor or healthcare provider because
most of the oral contraceptives require prescription.
However, you can
note the following general instruction for taking pills.
Pills usually
come in 21 or 28 days cycles. 21 days cycle pills do not have either reminder
of iron-supplements whereas 28 days cycle pills have. 21 days pills have all active
pills whereas 28 days pills have 21 active and 7 inactive or reminder or iron
supplements.
Take one active pill every day as directed. Start taking first
pill from the first day your bleeding start or period. You may also start from
the first Sunday of your periods start, however, you will be required to use other
birth control methods like male condoms, spermicides or diaphragm for next 7 days
at least. You need to take active pill every day at prescribed time regularly.
Usually, women take pill after evening meal or going to bed so that any side effects
like nausea or headache could be minimized.
Once you finish active pills
cycle, continue to take reminder or inactive or iron supplements (in case of 28
days pill cycle) and complete the 28 days pills schedule. If you are on 21 day
cycle, you do not need to take pills for 7 days but you must start new cycle after
28 days.
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9.
What to do if I miss the pills?
A) If you miss 1 active tablet
Take it
as soon as you remember. Take another tablet as scheduled. In that case, you will
be taking 2 pills in one day. You don't need backup birth control methods like
condoms or spermicide.
B) If you miss 2 active pills in a row
1. Take
2 pills when you remember on the day and two pills in the next day.
2. Continue
to take one pill day onwards as prescribed.
3. Your chances of becoming pregnant
will be high in this case if you have sex within 7 days after you missed your
dose. You will be required to use back-up birth control methods (such as condoms,
spermicides or diaphragm) for these crucial 7 days.
C) If you miss 3 or
more active pills in a row
1. You do not need to take missed doses
2. Take
one pill as soon as you remember and continue taking pills on schedule until you
complete the pack.
3. You may experience bleeding during the week you missed
the pills.
4. You will be required to use back-up birth control methods (such
as condoms, spermicides or diaphragm) for the next 7 days.
D) If you
miss to take inactive pills
1. You do not need to take missed inactive pills.
2.
Continue to take doses for remaining days as scheduled until the pack is finished.
3. You don't need backup birth control methods.
E) What to do if not
sure what to do with missed pills?
1. You will need to use other backup birth
control methods (such as condoms, spermicide or diaphragm) anytime you have intercourse.
2. Continue to take active pills until you consult your doctor or healthcare
provider.
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10.
I do not get periods for last two months while I'm on the pills? What does it
mean?
If you had missed doses many times, had not used backup birth control
methods and had unprotected sex then chances are, you might not get period in
the last week of the month (as it should be for women taking pills regularly).
You may be pregnant now. Please consult your doctor or healthcare provider.
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11.
What to do if I overdose with the pills?
You may experience nausea,
headache, withdrawal bleeding in case of overdose. Please consult your doctor
or healthcare provider to seek help.
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12.
What other medicines can interact with birth control pills?
Before
using any oral contraceptives, please inform your doctor if you are taking any
pills including antibiotics or herbal products. Some of the drugs like antifungals,
anticonvulsants and such other drugs may increase the metabolism of contraceptive
steroids. This could suppress the effectiveness of birth control, increase side-effects,
unintended pregnancies, break-through or bleeding. Several anti-HIV drugs may
interact with metabolism of combined birth control pills and increase or decrease
the estrogen and progestin hormones levels and cause serious side-effects and
effectiveness of birth control pills. Herbal medicines and products containing
St. John's Wort may aggregate hepatic enzymes (cytochrome P450) and p-glycoprotein
transporter affecting the effectiveness of contraceptive steroids.
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13.
What are the usual serious side-effects?
Many side effects mentioned earlier
will disappear after few days of use of birth control pills. However, should you
experience any serious side effects mentioned below, please consult your healthcare
provider or doctor immediately.
- blood clots in the legs, lungs, stoppage
of a blood vessel in the brain, blood blockage in heart veins etc are serious
problems.
- short of breath that could be due to possible clotting in lungs
- liver tumors causing severe bleeding. However, chances of having liver cancer
is rare
- if you experience any gallbladder diseases due to high doses of
estrogens.
- severe chest pain, coughing of blood
- breast lumps that may
indicate breast cancer or fibrocystic disease of the breast
- sudden partial
or complete loss of vision that indicating possible blood clotting in eye
-
sever depression might result sleeplessness, fatigue, lack of energy or change
in mood
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14.
Will the pills give me weight gain?
This is the most common myth about
pills which makes most women avoid using it. There are a handful of women who
have gained a bit of weight during the period they used the pill although there
has been findings to show that the birth control pills were the reason for the
weight gain. It is actually a feeling of being bloated that makes them feel that
they have weight gain which is the effect of estrogen, one of the hormones found
in the Birth control pills. The other hormone, progestin, stimulates the appetite
so women tend to eat more and may be responsible for those additional pounds.
Water retention may also be a culprit to weight gain. Lastly, most studies have
presented facts that women usually take birth control pills during the time their
bodies are undergoing physiologic weight fluctuations, wherein the pills inadvertently
takes the blame for weight gain.
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15.
How long I can take pills?
You can continue to take birth control pills
as long as you are healthy and wish to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Well, pills are
also used for other treatments like curing irregular menstrual cycles, acne control,
control premenstrual syndrome etc. In fact, continue use of contraceptives will
protect from various cancers like ovarian cysts, endometrial and breast cysts
or lumps.
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16.
What do if I wish to become pregnant?
If you ever wish to become pregnant,
please consult your doctor or healthcare provider specially if you are on contraceptives.
Do not stop taking pills from the middle of your 21 or 28 days cycles. Your doctor
should be able to advise you correctly when to stop taking pills and how much
time will be needed to conceive.
Birth control pills are quickly reversible.
You may stop using the pills once you complete cycle. You may ovulate after two-weeks
delay and once your ovulation resumes, you will be able to conceive. Your menstruation
would begin between four to six weeks from the date you stopped taking pills.
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17.
What is extended-regimen pill? What are those types available?
Extended-regimen
or extended-cycles birth control pills are designed to extend the time between
two periods. Seasonale and Seasonique are extended-regimen pills extend time for
3 months in the next menstrual cycles whereas Lybrel is the "continuous" pill
which completely removes periods throughout the year.
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18.
How continuous-pill that eliminates or delays your period is different than regular
21 or 28 day cycle birth control pills?
28-day cycle birth
control pills contain reproductive hormones, which tune the body to act as pregnant
and hence preventing from ovulation i.e release of eggs. These types of contraceptive
pills have 21 "active" pills and 7 "inactive" or "placebo" (an inactive substance
or dummy treatment given as exactly as medical treatment but without having any
active ingredients, just to understand and compare with the effects of active
medication). After 21 days, you start taking inactive pills and when you are on
inactive pills, you bleed like your regular menstrual period but actually this
is withdrawal bleeding.
Continuous-pill or extended-cycle pills
contain active hormones pills as per their cycle regime like Seasonale and Seasonique
are extended-cycle regimen for 3 months whereas Lybrel is low-dose continuous-pill
for 365 days a year, which eliminates the menstrual period completely throughout
the year. You do not bleed when you are on Lybrel, however, when you take Seasonale
and Seasonique, you will get withdrawal bleeding quarterly.
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19.
I wish to skip the period as I plan to go on vacation in next week, what to do?
When
you are on 21 or 28 day cycle pill, you will expect to have menstrual period in
the fourth week, within 2-3 days when you stop taking active pills or start taking
placebo. However, if you wish to avoid periods whenever you plan to go for an
event, you can do so by skipping placebo and start taking new pack of active pills
immediately. This should hold off your period until you are on active pills. However,
we recommend taking your doctor or healthcare professional advice before deciding
to skip period.
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20.
How about using birth control patch instead of pill?
Birth control patch
can also be used by women who do not wish to be on pills or can not remember taking
pills every day. Ortho-evra patch is the only birth control patch approved by
FDA, however, it has been issued several notices after reporting severe side-effects.
Ortho evra patch provides excellent protection from unintended pregnancy.
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21.
I heard about Nuvaring, what is that?
The NuvaRing is FDA-approved once-a-month
99% effective (when used as directed) reversible prescription birth control alternative
to oral contraceptives. The NuvaRing is a comfortable, flexible contraceptive
ring that is about two inches in diameter. A woman needs to insert the NuvaRing
once a month into her vagina. It slowly releases hormones which prevent ovulation
i.e. mature eggs. NuvaRing is a safe, convenient and reliable birth control option.
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22.
Can I become pregnant when I'm on inactive or placebo?
Inactive
pills are not the cause of worry to become pregnant in the week you had unprotected
vaginal intercourse. However, if you had missed your doses once, twice or several
times during the 28-day cycle and not followed the instruction to reverse the
situation, your chances of becoming pregnant will be high when you are on inactive
birth control pills and had unprotected vaginal intercourse.
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23. How birth control pills going to affect cholesterol
level in my body?
Our body has two types of cholesterol i.e high density
lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) whereas HDL is considered
to be "good cholesterol" and LDL as "bad cholesterol" level. Birth control pills
having estrogen and progestin hormones may affect the level of cholesterol.
Both
the hormones have opposite characteristics. The estrogen element can help to increase
HDL, which could be slightly good for the body whereas progestin could lower the
LDL cholesterol level. However, healthy women may not feel any significant changes
in cholesterol level affecting their health overall.
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24. Will birth control pills help to delay or prevent
menopause by using birth control pills daily?
Menopause occurs in the older
women reaching 50 years of age or above, where the ovaries stop developing reproductive
hormones - estrogen and progesterone. You will not get your menstrual periods
anymore and you no longer can become pregnant. The general symptoms of reaching
menopause situation is experiencing vaginal dryness, delayed menstrual cycles,
hot flashes, night sweats.
Birth control pills, however, do not delay or
prevent menopause. Though a woman going through menopause may still get enough
artificial reproductive hormones i.e. estrogen and progesterone from oral contraceptives
and even get menstrual kind of bleeding when she is on inactive pills or placebo
but the ovaries will, in fact, not be producing reproductive hormones and bleeding
will be more sort of "withdrawal bleeding" than actual menstrual bleeding. However,
many menopausal women do not realize this fact.
If you are 50 years or older
then please discuss with your doctor or professional healthcare professional before
continuing birth control pills, you perhaps do not need them. Your doctor may
advise you "hormone therapy", which could be better option for treating uncomfortable
menopausal vasomotor symptoms explained above.
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25.
Why so low prices on MyBirthControlStore.com than others?
Well, we have
tried our level best to guide our visitors to the cheapest source of medicines
available online. As we all know that medicines are quite expensive and prices
have skyrocketed in the recent times, specially birth control products. Most of
the medicines we suggest are supplied through the best affiliated U.S. & Canadian
pharmacies. If you are looking for the cheapest prices then you can get them from
our Canadian affiliated pharmacy once you send them your prescription.
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