Oral Contraceptives: Benefits, Risks and Choices

If you use the birth control pill, that is to say an oral contraceptive, you are probably happy with its convenience and reliability. Still, you may have many questions about the potential effects of birth control pills on your overall health.

Traditional birth control pills make your reproductive system mimic a regular 28-day monthly cycle. For the first 21 days, you take active pills containing reproductive hormones. For the last seven days, you take a placebo. While you’re taking the placebo pills, you bleed vaginally, as if you were having a regular menstrual period.
By contrast, extended-cycle birth control pills contain active hormones for every day of the month. An extended-cycle regimen, is a low-dose pill that’s designed to be taken continuously for one year, with no breaks for hormone-free intervals. This pill is meant to suppress all menstrual bleeding.

Using Traditional Pills to Prevent Menstruation

It’s possible to prevent your period with continuous use of a traditional birth control pill. This means skipping the placebo pills and starting right away on a new pack. Some evidence suggests an advantage to this type of pill regimen. By continuously taking the pill, you prevent hormonal fluctuations that are responsible for bleeding, cramping, headaches and other discomforts associated with getting your period. However, you’re at greater risk of breakthrough bleeding — bleeding between periods.
You may find continuous use of birth control pills a convenient way to avoid having your period during an important occasion or trip. Taking a monthly regimen birth control pill continuously is fine for about three months, but then you should plan on taking the placebo pills so that you’ll have a normal menstrual cycle.

Planning a Pregnancy, When to Stop taking the Pill

One of the advantages of the birth control pill is that it’s quickly reversible. After you stop taking the pill, you may have only a two-week delay before you will ovulate again. Your period shoul follow about four to six weeks after you take the last pill.

Once ovulation resumes, you can become pregnant. If this happens during your first cycle off the pill, you may not have a period at all.

Taking Birth Control Pills After Becoming Pregnant
If you continued taking your birth control pill because you didn’t realize you were pregnant, don’t be alarmed. Despite years of this accident happening, there’s very little evidence that exposure to the hormones in birth control pills causes birth defects.

Still, the birth control pill is a potent estrogen and exposure should be minimized. Once you learn that you’re pregnant, stop taking the birth control pill.

Do Birth Control Pills Increase Your Risk of Cancer

Scientific evidence suggests using birth control pills for longer periods of time increases your risk of some cancers, such as cervical cancer and liver cancer, but it also decreases your risk of other types of cancer, including ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer.

The effect of birth control pills on breast cancer risk isn’t quite clear. However, some studies do show a link between pill use and breast cancer. Key factors seem to be how many years you take the pill and how recently you last used the pill.

This information is provided for your information. It is not medical advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for visiting your doctor. If you need medical care, or have any questions, please contact your obstetrician-gynecologist.