Contraceptive pills, how they work and what is their impact on health

Contraceptive pills are the most popular and efficient hormonal prevention method. However, not all women know about the different types of them that exist, how they should be consumed or their side effects both beneficial and harmful.

In this article we will tell you everything about the contraceptive pills. So that they know their properties in depth before deciding to consume them.

Content

• How contraceptive pills work
• Contraceptive pills classes and how they should be taken
  • Combined pills
  • Progestine Solo Pills
• Impact on health
  • Benefits
  • Disadvantages
• Alternatives to contraceptive pills
  • References

How contraceptive pills work

Pills or contraceptive pills are one among female contraceptive methods. Undoubtedly, they are the most popular, which makes many women unknown to others.

The pills contain hormones that stop the ovulation. That is, for its components, they prevent the ovary of a woman from freeing an ovule once a month. The hormones that contraceptive pills contain artificially, estrogen and progestine, the woman naturally generates them. By increasing their amounts in the body, what is produced is ovulation arrest.

Progestine pills also increase and make the mucus around the uterine neck. This prevents sperm from entering the uterus and will fertilize an ovule.

Contraceptive pills classes and how they should be taken

As we previously advanced, there are two kinds of contraceptive pills. Combined pills and those that only contain progestin. Now we will tell you how each of them should be taken so that they do not lose their effectiveness.

Combined pills

This kind of contraceptive pill They contain two hormones: estrogens and progestin. They are the most common class of these drugs. You must take a pill per day, at the same time, every day.

Most of this class contain 21 or 24 pills with hormones, the rest of them are placebos. That is, the last pills of the box are expendable. However, they should be taken so as not to lose habit. While consumed pills without hormones, bleeding as body reaction occurs by not receiving hormones that were absorbed daily. This bleeding is not your period, but it is the result of the descent of the hormonal load of your body.

Progestine Solo Pills

This kind of contraceptive pill is recommended to those who are breastfeeding or to whom, For health reasons, they cannot ingest estrogen. They are taken every day and, at the end of a box, it starts with the following. In general, in women who consume them, no bleeding once a month as it happens with combined pills.

Contraceptive pills, whatever their class, are a safe contraceptive method.

If their effectiveness is properly taken, it is around 98%. The correct taking of the pills ensures its effectiveness. Of Let more than 12 hours pass from the schedule in which the last shot was carried out, the effectiveness decreases marked. To maintain their efficiency, the taking schedules must be respected, in this way there will be no problems.

It should also be taken into account that the effectiveness of contraceptive pills can be affected by vomiting, diarrhea or taking another type of antibiotic together with them.

Impact on health

The consumption of contraceptive pills, of course, brings consequences. Some of them are beneficial, while others not so much. This is a more than important issue to consider before deciding to start with your consumption.

Here we will tell you what are the benefits and disadvantages that it brings to contraceptive pills, how they impact health. We must notice that the effects we will mention do not apply to all cases. To consume contraceptive pills, some of them could arise.

Benefits

In addition to being an effective contraceptive, pills bring as many benefits to those who consume them. Side effects do not have to be something bad. The pills in addition to preventing pregnancies:

• They reduce the risk of ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when the fertilized ovum is implanted outside the uterus cavity.
• They eliminate acne.
• They prevent bone thinning, protecting from diseases related to it such as osteoporosis.
• They reduce the possibility of contracting ovarian and endometrium cancer.
• Menstrual pains eliminating when ovulation stops.
• They help treat iron insufficiency, that is, anemia.

The advantages of the consumption of contraceptive pills are many and varied. As you can see, for certain cases, they are a beneficial option.

Disadvantages

Not everything is pink, and the consumption of contraceptive pills is also related to not very pleasant consequences. These are the possible negative impacts that this kind of pills can have on health:

• They can increase cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart attack or brain attack.
• There is the possibility that they generate irregular bleeding, either before or after what was expected.
• In some cases, they produce abdominal swelling and strong headaches, even migraines.
• They can produce thrombosis and blood clots, especially in smokers and over 35 years old.
• Sometimes, they generate nausea and dizziness.

Just because of the aforementioned side effects, there are cases to which the consumption of contraceptive pills is contraindicated. For example in smokers, in people with high cholesterol or previous heart problems, In women who have suffered breast or uterus cancer of hormonal origin, women with strong and hypertensive headaches.

Alternatives to contraceptive pills

If when reading the contraindications of the contraceptive pills you think they would not be indicated for you or simply prefer not to try them, they are not your only option.

There are many other female contraceptives, some of them do not contain hormones, such as the contraceptive patch, the vaginal ring and the copper intrauterine device (IUD). Others, infer hormonally, such as female condom, contraceptive injection, contraceptive patch and vaginal ring.

We hope this article has been useful to know about contraceptive pills, their uses, advantages and disadvantages. We always recommend, before deciding on some contraceptive method, consult a health specialist on the subject.

References

• González-Hernando, c., Almeida, m., Martin-Villamor, p., Cao-Torija, m. J., & Castro-Alija, M. J. (2013). The contraceptive pill to debate. University Nursing, 10 (3), 98-104.
• Lete, i., Dueñas, j. L., Serrano, i., Doval, j. L., Pérez-Campos, e., Martínez-Salmeán, J., & Coll, C. (2009). Beneficial non -contraceptive effects of the contraceptive pill. SEMERGEN-FAMILY MEDICINE, 35 (10), 505-510.
• Marks, l. (1997). History of the contraceptive pill. Sciences, (048).