Examples
Very low-dose pills
|
| Mircette | desogestrel and ethinyl estradiol |
| YAZ | drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol |
| Lybrel | levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol |
| LoEstrin | norethindrone and ethinyl estradiol |
Low-dose pills
|
| Yasmin | drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol |
| Seasonale, Seasonique | levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol |
| Lo/Ovral | norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol |
Phasic pills
|
| Trivora | levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol |
| Ortho-Novum 7/7/7 | norethindrone and ethinyl estradiol |
| Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo | norgestimate and ethinyl estradiol |
High-dose pills
|
| Zovia | ethynodiol and ethinyl estradiol |
| Norinyl | norethindrone and mestranol |
Note: | This is not a complete list of all brand-name birth control
pills available. |
Skin patch
|
| Ortho Evra patch | ethinyl estradiol and norelgestromin |
Vaginal ring
|
| NuvaRing | ethinyl estradiol and etonogestrel |
Birth control pills
Very low-dose pills have 20 mcg of estrogen plus progestin.
Low-dose pills have 30 to 35 mcg of estrogen plus progestin.
Phasic pills have changing levels of estrogen and progestin.
High-dose pills have about 50 mcg of estrogen plus progestin.
For information on progestin-only pills, see
.
Some
birth control packets have pills without hormones for certain days of the
month. Other brands of birth control, such as LoEstrin, may add an iron
supplement to the non-hormonal pills.
How It Works
Birth control hormones in
give you a regular dose of
and
. This controls your body's
and prevents pregnancy. It also helps
relieve heavy menstrual bleeding, pain, and sometimes premenstrual mood
problems and bloating.
In the
years before menopause, hormone levels
go up and down a lot. Using birth control hormones may help relieve some of the symptoms women have in the years before menopause.
Birth control pills
Birth control pills, also
called oral contraceptives, come in packs. The most common type has 3 weeks of
hormone pills. Some packs have sugar pills for the fourth week, and some do
not. During that fourth non-hormone week, you have your menstrual period. After
the fourth week (28 days), you start a new pack.
For some kinds of pills, such as Seasonique
and Seasonale, you take 12 weeks of hormone pills followed by 1 week of
low-estrogen or no-hormone pills. On this schedule, you have four periods a
year. If your doctor prescribes an
for other birth control pills, you can
also have four periods a year. You take the active hormone pills continuously
for 12 weeks, followed by 1 week of sugar pills. You then start a new pack of
pills. If you have breakthrough bleeding during the 3 months, your doctor will
prescribe extra estrogen.