To pill or not to pill? That is the question.

Hormonal Birth Control Pills

Hormonal or chemical birth control pills will be explained in this video, with the pros and cons of each type. But before I demonstrate the different types, I would like to explain to you how hormonal birth control pills work.

When a lady is pregnant, ovulation (or egg release) does not occur. That’s how our body’s system normally works. The hormones in a woman’s body are balanced in a certain way that makes the hormones that stimulate the release of the eggs – called the ovulation hormones – to become inactive during pregnancy. So we thought: If we give the woman pregnancy hormones in pills, we will be able to inhibit ovulation, in other words: to stop it from happening, which, in turn, would prevent the pregnancy to occur. So the scientists decided to put the pregnancy hormone and the female hormone in a pill.

This gives us an idea about the first type of birth control pills. This type consists of synthet-ic forms of hormones – the pregnancy hormone progesterone (called progestin) and the female hormone oestrogen.

On the other hand there’s another type of birth control pills that consists of the pregnancy hormone only, and in a very small amount. It is called the mini Pill or the Progesterone-Only Pill (P.O.P.).

The pills I will talk about are not the only hormonal birth control methods. We can take other forms of chemical or birth control at the doctor’s office, which would have the same mechanism of action.

So, back to the pills. Let me explain them now.

Let’s start with a combined pill. “Combined” because it has a combination of hormones. Let’s know more about it. The combined pill consists of progestin – a synthetic progester-one (the pregnancy hormone) – and oestrogen (the female hormone). You will need to take a pill daily for 21 days, starting from the 7th day of your menstruation. Even if you’re still bleeding, you must start using the pill. Take a pill daily for 21 days and stop the pill for 7 days, taking into consideration that your period cycle is 28 days.

The combined pill is a good birth control choice in cases of:

• You don’t mind to take hormones for birth control
• You usually suffer from pains [I’m not sure about what comes here → 2:40] during menstruating, since it will ease the dysmenorrhea.
• If your period is not regular, this will regulate it.
• You bleed heavily during the period: it will decrease the amount of bleeding, which in turn might prevent you from becoming anaemic.
• If you have acne: this might improve your skin condition.
• You’re not a smoker

The combined pills are not good if you

… don’t wish to take any hormones
… are Breastfeeding
… are a heart patient
… have hypertension or high blood pressure
… have risk of thrombosis or atherosclerosis
… have had diabetes for more than 20 years
… have a liver or gall bladder disease
… have a history of breast cancer in the past 5 years
… are suffering from recurrent migraines or have the symptoms that proceed mi-graine, called the aura
… are overweight
… have been taking medications such as antibiotics, epilepsy medications or anti-depressants

All these may weaken the effect of the combined pill. Always read the patient in-formation leaflets. This birth control method is 99% effective, on condition that the pill is taken on the same time every day.

The other type is the mini Pill or the pill that...

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