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Pill perfection: Choosing the right pill for you
So you’ve thought about all of your birth control options and decided the pill is the right method for you. Or maybe you’re already using the pill, but you’re annoyed with one of the side effects and want to switch to a different type. So…which pill would be best? There’s a huge range of pills […]
Whoops! Birth control you can use after sex
There are lots of reasons the best laid plans for using birth control don’t work out: I completely forgot to take my pill (!)… I just didn’t have enough money to pay for the ring this month… The condom broke… We’d had some drinks and got carried away… Something like this happens to most of […]
Getting the snip: Should it be me or my partner?
Done having kids or sure you never want any? If you answer yes, you might be thinking about permanent birth control, also called sterilization . Sterilization can be done for women or men. For women, it is often called “getting your tubes tied” or “tubal ligation.” For men, it is called a vasectomy. Sterilization is […]
The Ring: It won’t get lost in there!
The vaginal contraceptive ring , aka the ring or NuvaRing, is an easy to use, safe, and effective birth control option. It’s a soft, flexible ring that you change once a month. When I discuss vaginal contraception with my patients, some are initially wary about using a vaginal birth control method and have lots of […]
Secret birth control: Know your privacy settings
Modern birth control methods have done wonders to give women control of their lives. You might be like me—one of contraception’s biggest fans, shouting its praises from the rooftops. But sometimes, you just want to keep your birth control on the down low. You could be worried about your little brother finding your pills and […]
The contraception learning curve
Not everybody’s doing it: about half of U.S. women younger than 20 are sexually active. But among women who are having sex, younger women are more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy. What’s the deal? First let’s look at the numbers. A new report shows that, compared to older women, sexually active women aged 15-19 […]
Is it really okay to skip periods?
A number of birth control methods hold the promise of lighter periods, fewer periods, or none at all—namely hormonal IUDs , the Depo-Provera shot , the single-rod implant , or continuous use of the pill or ring . To some of us, the idea of effective contraception and no periods sounds like menstrual nirvana. But […]
Birth control and infertility: Does using birth control hurt my chances of getting pregnant later?
Women under 30 years old are incredibly fertile—their ability to get pregnant is at its peak. In the U.S., about three in four sexually active women under 30 are using some type of birth control. But many of them ask me, does using birth control now hurt my chances of getting pregnant in the future? […]
Which IUD is best for you?
Here’s a secret: female doctors and family planning providers are way more likely to use IUDs themselves than U.S. women overall. Maybe it’s because they know the intrauterine device (IUD) is safe, low-maintenance, and super-effective. There are two different types of intrauterine devices (IUDs): hormonal and non-hormonal. There are currently four brands of hormonal IUDs—Mirena, […]
