Birth control pill

If you feel like your birth control is changing your behavior, it’s time to talk to your health care provider. Everybody responds to birth control differently, and your provider can help you decide whether it’s time to try something else. It might be a matter of switching hormonal methods or deciding whether to avoid hormonal birth control altogether, or you may choose to wait it out since some negative side effects go away with time. The bottom line: If your current method is making you feel blah, don’t settle. There are a lot of methods to choose from and sometimes it can take a few tries to get it right.

If you’re under the influence of alcohol—or anything else—a birth control method that doesn’t require action right when you’re about to get your freak on may be your safest bet. Fortunately, there are plenty of options. Note: These methods will cover you against pregnancy, but you should pair them with a condom for STI protection.

And speaking of covering all your bases, here are some tips for safer, smarter hookups.

The relationship between birth control and depression is complicated, especially since different methods can affect people very differently. If you feel your birth control might be contributing to depression, talk with your health care provider. Remember, there are a lot of birth control methods out there—don’t settle until you find the right one for you!

If you have endometriosis (a condition where tissue grows outside of your uterus instead of inside it), hormonal birth control can do wonders to lessen your symptoms. There are a bunch of hormonal methods that can help regulate your periods, decrease bleeding, or even make your period go away completely.

It can be complicated to tell exactly how hormonal birth control affects mood, but you’re the only one who truly knows how you feel. Everyone reacts to birth control differently, so if you feel your birth control might be contributing to depression, talk with your health care provider. Remember, there are a lot of birth control methods out there—you can find the right one for you!

Having “loose” poop every now and then probably won’t affect how well your pill works, but severe diarrhea (eg. if you have it several times in one day) might. If you rely on the pill for birth control and you have severe diarrhea, it’s a good idea to use a backup method like condoms if you have sex while you’re sick or in the 7 days after you recover.

Most pills actually help with acne, so you could talk to provider to see about switching to another kind of pill.

Try this: If you want to stay on your current type of pill, you could try taking it at night. You could also talk to your doctor about getting a pill with less estrogen.

Maybe you need a daily reminder. Try setting an alarm on your phone everyday.

Try this: If you just started the pill in the last few months, try to power through. This problem will most likely fix itself.

Also, make sure you are taking your pills at the same time each day and not skipping pills and then doubling up. These sorts of things can increase chances of spotting.

Any medicine has some side effects, but when people hear the negative stuff, it sticks in their brain like a cheesy old song you can’t stop humming. That’s just human nature, and it happens to all of us.

Remember that drug companies list every single scary thing you could possibly experience with a medication. Even if it’s super rare. They have to. It’s the law. So before you run for the hills, consider this: the potential side effects of something as harmless as aspirin are pretty scary when you read them, too. Birth control is definitely worth it if you aren’t ready to have a baby. Trust us, pregnancy has more side effects than we can count. There are so many different birth control methods that there’s something for everyone.

Most pills on the market are similar in that they all do pretty much the same thing: prevent pregnancy. However, some may have slightly different doses or types of hormones. The two main categories are combination pills and mini-pills.

Combination pills contain two types of hormones, estrogen and progestin. They prevent pregnancy by suppressing ovulation, thickening cervical mucus, and by thinning the lining of the uterus. Benefits of combination pills include less crampy, lighter, shorter periods, as well as reduced acne. The combo pill may also reduce the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer.Mini-pills contain only the hormone progestin. They prevent pregnancy by thickening your cervical mucus and thinning the lining of the uterus. Some mini-pills suppress ovulation, but that’s not the main way they work.

Mini-pills are safe for women who sensitive to estrogen, at risk of heart disease or strokes, or are heavy smokers. They are also safe for breast-feeding women.

Talk to your health care provider to figure out what hormone doses and combinations are right for you.