Side effects of contraceptive pills

Contraceptive Pills

There are two types of hormonal contraceptives.

Combined pill containing estrogen and progesterone, has 10 times less estrogen than the original, previously made contraceptive pill and about two times less progesterone.

The so-called mini-pill, which contains only progesterone, also contains a low dose of hormones.

Lately, the morning after pill is very popular. It takes after the sexual intercourse for which it is assumed that it can lead to pregnancy.

Modern oral contraceptives contain a small but effective amount of female sex hormones, unlike previous preparations. Contraceptives with a high dose of hormones can lead to heart and blood vessels problems. Today, these pills have very small hormone level, but these doses also can cause health problems. Fortunately, these complications are extremely rare, especially in women younger than 30. Smoking increases the risk of complications.

Precautions

The contraceptive pill is not for everyone. Some women who already had a stroke, suffer from disorder of coagulation factors, elevated blood pressure, severe diabetes, uterus or breast cancer, if she suspect that she is pregnant or if she still breastfeeds her baby, should not use oral contraceptives.

Some gynecologists recommend that passionate smokers, women with depression, migraines, irregular menstrual cycles or absence of menstruation shouldn't use contraceptive pills. As studies indicate that the risk of oral contraceptives complications increases with age. They usually advise the termination of their use after the age of 40 for all women, or after the age of 35 if a woman smokes.

Side Effects

As there is still a risk that the pill can lead to stroke, there are signs that must be considered during intake of oral contraceptives. If a woman has headaches more often than usual, if she feels weak, tired, or has problems with speech, she should immediately contact the doctor.

If a woman has scheduled surgery, she should stop taking the pills for at least a month before surgery, because pills can lead to disorders of coagulation factors. These notes do not apply to the most advanced products with minimal doses of hormones.

Oral contraceptives have other, less dangerous side effects. If woman uses the pills for the first time in life, bleeding may occur between periods or menstruation can be omitted.

Some women have regular periods only while using hormonal contraceptives, but after the termination of their intake periods become irregular. This effect is almost always temporary.

It is believed that in about 5% of women after five years of using oral contraceptives comes to increasing of blood pressure. In most cases, their blood pressure returns to normal level after cessation of taking these medications.

Other possible side effects include nausea, breast tension, fluid retention, depression and anxiety.

Also, among oral contraceptive side effects there is body weight increasing, either due to fluid retention or due to increasing appetite and food intake in larger quantities than usual.