Birth control ring

Most methods will not cause weight gain. Most people gain weight over time (whether they are using birth control or not), so if you use birth control for a few years, weight gain may not be related to your birth control specifically. The exception to this is the shot. Some people who use the shot will gain some weight. However, the majority of people who use the shot don’t gain much.

The main ways hormonal birth control prevents pregnancy is by stopping ovulation (when the ovary releases an egg). The pill, patch, ring, and shot are most reliable at blocking ovulation, so people using these methods may have fewer ovarian cysts. If you tend to get ovarian cysts, using these methods helps to prevent future cysts. The progestin-only, a.k.a., mini-pill, has an unpredictable effect on ovulation and may lead to more cysts. These almost always disappear on their own, but if you’ve had problems with cysts in the past, the mini-pill may not be the best option for you.

There are positive and negative things to say about every method. And everyone’s different—so what you experience may not be the same as what someone else experiences. And what side effects are “worth it” to you might be different than for someone else.

You can start by thinking about what’s most important to you about your method. Is your top priority using the method that will be the most effective at preventing pregnancy? Something easy to use? Something that makes your period lighter? Something that you can stop and start without seeing a provider? There are birth control options for all of these. It’s also common to try more than one birth control option before finding one that works for you, so don’t settle if your current option isn’t working.

There are a lot of great things about being on birth control that go beyond pregnancy prevention. Protection against ovarian cancer, an added boost to your vitamin D levels, lighter and less painful periods, the list goes on.

Most people who use hormonal birth control—combination pill, patch, ring, implant, shot, and hormonal IUDs—will have less painful periods than those who don’t. This is because these methods of birth control make the lining of the uterus thinner. There’s less tissue in the uterus to shed (that’s what happens when you have your period), so periods are lighter. One special note on the implant and the shot: for some people, these methods cause more days of spotting or bleeding in between periods, but periods become lighter and less painful overall.

Using the ring shouldn’t be uncomfortable, and you shouldn’t feel the ring inside of you when you’re having sex. If you do, try pushing it up further into your vagina. Don’t worry, it won’t get lost up there. Promise.

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. It might be a matter of switching 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 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. It might be a matter of switching 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.

No. The vagina is a closed pouch and doesn’t connect to the rest of the body, so things in the vagina (other than very small things like semen and bacteria) can’t travel to another part of the body. There is no place for a tampon or a ring to go—they just sit right where you put them.

For most people, the risk of blood clots is low when they use the combination pill, the ring, and the patch. But smoking increases this risk. If you are over 35 and smoke 15 or more cigarettes a day, the combination pill, patch, and ring are not safe options for you. If you’re over 35 and you smoke less than 15 cigarettes a day, talk to your provider about whether these birth control methods are safe options for you.

If you have high blood pressure, methods with estrogen—the combination pill, the ring, and the patch—may make your blood pressure even higher, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Fortunately, there are lots of highly effective birth control options that are safe and estrogen-free like the progestin-only pill, all types of IUD, the implant, and the shot. Talk to a health care provider about your blood pressure and what birth control is an option for you.

The simple answer is: yes, hormones in birth control are getting into the environment through pee. But—and this is a big but—it is small compared to other sources of estrogen. Current research finds that the contribution of EE2 (the primary active ingredient in the pill, ring, and patch) to the total amount of estrogen in our waterways is small. Bigger—much bigger—sources of estrogen in the environment come from industrial and manufacturing processes, agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, the drugs we give livestock. and the waste and runoff produced by these sources. Avoiding birth control with estrogen hormones will not eliminate the environmental impacts of estrogenic compounds.