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Birth Control Pills 101- What You Absolutely Need To
Know
Mansi Aggarwal
Introduction
The alarming increase in the population because of the stationary
birth rates and the ever lowering death rates of the countries
brought about by the economical an social development has imposed
a need to lower the birth rates. There are also certain social
stigmas which are to be overcome to reduce the birth rates for
e.g. till recently in certain parts of the world the birth
control pills were not socially accepted. But since their
introduction they have placed themselves into a commanding
position into one’s family life.
History of birth control pills
The term birth control pill is usually referred to the group of
drugs used by females to avoid pregnancy. In 1955 a couple of
scientists, introduced the concept of birth control pills when
they used progestins for birth control. Before that people used
to try things like condoms, diaphragms, sponges and even avoiding
sexual intercourse at the time of the fertile period. The latter
had its disadvantages with its efficiency being very low as
compared with the former ones. Later it was also found that
adding estrogens made them more efficient.
Types of birth control pills
Because of the great success and the increased demand of the
birth control pills there has been extensive research in this
field and hence there are different types of the pills available
to cater different population. Broadly there are 4 types of birth
control pills and besides these are certain injections used for
long-term birth control. The 4 types are:
1) Combined pills
This type consists of both estrogen and progestin. This is the
most common type of pills used today. This is a set of 28 pills
to be taken daily.
2) Phased regimen pills
Now been used rarely and only for those greater than 35 years of
age.
3) Minipill
Females who cannot take estrogen for some reason or the other can
take this type of pill wherein there is no estrogen.
4) Postcoital or emergency pills
This is used to avoid pregnancy in those cases in which the
females can become pregnant because of unprotected sexual
intercourse. This is to be taken within 3 days of the sexual
intercourse.
Effectiveness and other advantages
Because of their main action on hormonal changes these pills are
much more effective, some studies lay the figures of 10 times,
than the traditional methods. There is also more patient
compliance as they are not to be used only at the time of the
sexual intercourse. Moreover they can be used in crowded home
situations.
Side effects
They may cause certain side effects such as nausea, weight
changes, breakthrough bleeding, blood glucose disturbance, mood
swings, hypertension, clot formation in leg and lung veins and
some genital carcinomas but the incidence is very less. So a
specialist should thoroughly examine the case before being
prescribed.
Contraindications
They should not be prescribed in subjects having some liver
disease, suspected certain gynecological cancers, clotting
disease, etc.
Male birth control pills
There are also certain male birth control pills available in the
market such as gossypol as well as in research stage but both
because of the patient non-compliance and because of their less
effectiveness and various side effects, they are not as popular
as the female birth control pills.
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