Women's Health Tips & Advice

Women's Health: Get Information on Common Health

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Birth control is any method used to prevent pregnancy. There are a wide variety of birth control methods available on the market today, including condoms, IUDs, birth control pills, the rhythm method, vasectomy, tubal ligation, etc. It's important for each female to learn about the different kinds of birth control so as to help you choose the best one for you before you make a visit to the doctor.

1. Consider what's the most important for you in regards to birth control.

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A. Effectiveness: Not all birth control methods are 100% effective, and you need to consider how important it is to you to avoid pregnancy. If you don't want to get pregnant recently, you would want to choose a method with a very high effectiveness rate. On the other hand, if pregnancy is an option for you, a method that is not as effective may not be such a bad thing.

B. Effort: Consider how much effort you are willing to put into your birth control. Is it something you want to think about every time you have sex? Every day? Every couple weeks? Every couple years?

C. Reversibility: If you may want to have children soon, you don't want to choose a method that is not quickly or easily reversible, for example, hormonal methods and surgical procedures.

D. Cost: For some people, cost is also a term to be taken into consideration.


E. Side effects: Some birth control types like hormonal birth control pills are usually accompanied with side effects, such as irregular menstruation, etc. Thus, one needs to look into other methods with less side effects.

2. Do some surveys about the benefits and disadvantages of each birth control method.

Before choosing the best birth control method on your preference, it's of great significance to do some surveys about the benefits and disadvantages of each specific birth control method.

A. Barrier methods: diaphragms, cervical caps, female condoms, and sponges. Making use of spermicide, these methods can create a physical barrier against sperm so they cannot enter the uterus. Generally, these methods are cheaper and have fewer side effects, but they do have a lower pregnancy prevention rate.

B. Hormonal methods: IUDs, shots (Depoprovera), patches, vaginal ring (Nuva Ring), arm implant (Implanon), and the pill. These methods prevent pregnancies by regulating hormones in the female body (estrogen and progestin). Pills are usually taken every day; rings, shots, and patches every few weeks; and IUD's and implants every couple of years. They are relatively effective, but may cause serious side effects, such as some female reproductive diseases of PID, cervicitis, etc. However, female reproductive diseases can be adjusted well by taking some natural medicine like Fuyan Pill.

To sum up, with so many methods available and so many factors to consider, choosing the best birth control on one's own preference can be difficult but important. If you don't feel comfortable with a birth control method, that method is not likely to be reliable for you in the long run.
