About Side Effects of Contraceptive Pills

Video Transcript

"A lot of people ask about side effects of contraceptive methods, particularly the pills. The pills come in two varieties. They're a combination therapy which include estrogen hormone and progesterone hormone and then there are pills that just contain one or the other. Estrogen hormones are most associated with development of high blood pressure, severe headaches, lower extremity pain, they can contribute to blood clots which can lead to strokes and heart attacks, therefore women over age thirty-five who are smokers should avoid estrogen containing birth control methods because they are at higher risk for blood clots, heart attacks and strokes. Other side effects of birth control pills can be loss of menses if you're using progesterone only methods such as Depo-Provera injections, Micronor pills and or Mirena IUD's which are intrauterine devices. You can also get irregular periods from progesterone hormone therapy in which you have spotting between periods and just irregular periods, not necessarily on a monthly basis. The proper IUD has a special side effect in that it can make periods longer as far as number of days and or heavier, as far as the quantity of blood that a person has during menses. This usually will level out, become more what they are accustomed to with a normal period if they maintain and tolerate the IUD for four to six months."