How to Take The Pill

Taking Birth Control Pills to prevent pregnancy

The “Pill” is a medicine that contains estrogen and progesterone. When taken daily, it prevents pregnancy.

Regular Periods

If you have regular periods, then start taking the birth control pill when a period starts. It can be any time in the first 5 days of the period. If you begin the pill on time, it will prevent pregnancy in the first cycle/pack.

Iregular Periods

When starting the Pill, there are TWO things to keep in mind for women with irregular periods:

• FIRST: Be sure you are not pregnant. It takes three weeks of No Sex, or Effective Contraception to be sure you are not pregnant. So, if you have not had sex for three weeks, OR you have been using a reliable form of contraception for the last three weeks, then take a urine pregnancy test. If the urine pregnancy test is negative, START the pill.
• SECOND: You will not be protected against pregnancy until the SECOND Pack of pills.

Nausea

Take the pill at night, before bed, for the first month. Many women get nauseous from the pill in the first month, or two. This nausea is temporary. Taking the pill at night may help deal with the nausea.

Breast Tenderness

The estrogen in the pill may make the breasts sore, tender, and/or slightly bigger. Tender or painful breasts should not last for more than one or two packs.

How to Take The Pill

The pill works only if taken every day. It’s a good idea, but not necessary, to take it the same time every day. Don’t skip days. IF you miss a miss, take it as soon as you remember. IF you don’t remember until the next day, TAKE TWO. If you miss two days in a row, OR if you miss two days in the month, the pill may not work. Finish the pack, use condoms or don’t have sex, and wait for a period. When the period comes, Take a Urine Pregnancy Test. If the pregnancy test is negative, start the next pack. If you miss two pills per month, often, maybe you should find another way to prevent getting pregnant…[read more]

CONDOMS

THE PILL DOES NOT PREVENT sexually transmitted infections. Women must use condoms to help prevent infections like gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomonas, syphilis, hepatitis and HIV. Even abnormal pap smears is a sexually transmitted infection. Unfortunately, condoms are not very useful against Herpes and HPV, the virus that causes abnormal pap smears…[read more]

MINI-pill (progesterone only, NO estrogen)

There is a special birth control pill which is often prescribed for breast feeding moms. It is called the MINIpill. This pill is progesterone only. It does not contain estrogen. It contains Norethindrone Acetate 0.35 mg, taken daily. This pill DOES NOT WORK AS WELL as the regular birth control pill. This pill MUST BE TAKEN EVERY DAY, and AT THE SAME TIME each day. Miss a day, or miss the time of day, and a woman can get pregnant. For lactating women, there are MANY better contraceptive options, including the copper IUD, the levonorgestrel IUD, the Nexplanon, the DepoProvera shot, and in certain circumstances, the regular birth control pill. Women who take this MINIpill during breast feeding should CHANGE to the regular, reliable birth control pill as soon as they are through breast feeding. BREAST FEEDING DOES NOT effectively PREVENT PREGNANCY…[read more]