Birth Control Side Effects

If you are taking hormonal birth controls, you may experience some birth control side effects that can be mildly annoying to severe enough where you will want to switch methods. The most common of these side effects can be headaches, nausea, dizziness, breast tenderness, breakthrough bleeding, and mood swings.

The Different Side Effects of Birth Control

If you are suffering from headaches, dizziness, or nausea, try to be patient. Most of these symptoms will go away after a month or two. Taking your birth control pill with food sometimes helps with the nausea, but if it doesn’t you may want to contact your doctor about your birth control side effects and ask about switching brands. The same goes for headaches and dizziness. These symptoms are usually only temporary and mild, but again, if they are interfering with your ability to work or perform your daily routine, you need to talk to your doctor and switch birth control brands.

Breakthrough bleeding is the most annoying birth control side effects and also the biggest complaint of many women to their doctors. This is because it is so unpredictable when it will occur. It occurs most of the time with shots, the mini-pill, and the implants.  With these methods, the lining of the uterus becomes very thin and sometimes a little will slough off. The upside to these methods however, is that they also make your periods lighter and sometimes will stop them altogether. Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about any spotting you are having because there are solutions to the problem.   Sometimes taking ibuprofen or estrogen can easily fix this problem.

Mood swings are another side effects of birth control pills that may cause a person to switch their birth control methods. Usually, if a woman is depressed while she is on one form of birth control pill, switching to another will not make any difference. Most doctors will either prescribe an anti-depressant along with the birth control pill, or suggest you switch to a different method altogether.

A low libido can also be easily mended by switching to a birth control method that is more androgenic (testosterone-like). After switching to one of these brands of birth control, usually the drive will return. If it doesn’t, switching to another method is probably your best bet.

Hormonal birth control affects different women in different ways.  If your friend tells you not to take a certain type of birth control because she had an adverse side effect, chances are it won’t affect you in the same way.