First Time Starting The Birth Control Pill? Here’s What To Expect

Mumsy Pop February 23, 2023

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If you want to enjoy your sex life without the hassle of worrying about pregnancy, opting for the birth control pill is the most common solution most women make. There are a few things to expect if you’re just starting out on birth control pills.

These pills are known to increase the amount of estrogen and progesterone so that the ovulation process does not take place. The amount of these two hormones increases so much with these contraceptives that they do not allow the production of other hormones necessary to ripen the egg. Therefore, during the time you take these pills, the menstrual cycle does not occur.

It is true that nothing provides immediate protection against pregnancy from day one.

All modern pills have the same excellent safety profile, but it is true that none provide immediate protection against pregnancy from day one. It is best to use extra protection for the first 14 days and then you will be safe after that.

The risk of pregnancy is 9% if the pills are forgotten from time to time.

However, it is important to remember that the occasional forgetfulness will cause the contraceptive effectiveness of the pill to be lower. Research highlights a pregnancy risk of 9% if pills are occasionally forgotten (compared to a perfect use risk of 0.3%). That’s a 30x increase! The truth is 1 in 10 get pregnant while on the pill (read more about how to make sure the pills are working as intended). If you are on the so-called mini pill (progesterone only pill, POP), it is even more important to be on time.

We recently did a study in which we asked 1694 women of all ages if they knew about the increased risk associated with occasional forgetfulness. The results are quite surprising: 54% heard about it for the first time.

The first three months of using the birth control pill can be difficult. It often takes time for your body to adjust, and most women experience at least some negative (minor) symptoms. Usually during the first month of adjustment, bleeding is common. With change bleeding, it’s common to experience some unexpected spotting even when you’re not technically on your period. Alternatively, the opposite can happen – some women will stop menstruating completely. Finally, many may also experience nausea, chest pain, weight gain or loss, mild headaches, dizziness, or breakthrough bleeding (spotting) and emotional turmoil during their first few days on the pills.

It usually takes time for your body to adjust, and most women experience at least some negative (minor) symptoms.

Those symptoms usually stop within the first 3 months of taking the pills. If these signs persist after three months, return to your clinic or doctor for follow-up. You may be given instructions to switch to a different type of pill.

You may also need to put it on for a few months to understand how your body will react to the pill. Of course, if you experience symptoms such as severe and excessive nausea or severe weight gain within a few days after taking the first pills, contact your doctor.

In general, however, by the third month, emotional changes should be relatively insignificant and nausea should no longer be a part of daily life.

Breast tenderness should also disappear although you may experience increased breast fullness.

Another thing to consider is that some medications and supplements can make the pill less effective (read more about What can make birth control pills fail).

Whether you’re just starting the pill, or you’ve been taking it for a while, it’s a good idea to fill your doctor in every time you add something new to your routine. When in doubt, use a backup method of birth control (and even when in doubt, the pill doesn’t protect you against STDs). And there is no way to be subtle about this fact: vomiting and diarrhea can also prevent the pill from working. So, you know, use a condom.

If you’ve started taking pills and become mysteriously symptom-free? That’s fine too! You’re just one of the lucky ones out there. No need to worry but contact your doctor.

(In a clinical pilot – DOI: 10.15761/COGRM.1000217, conducted by a team of doctors including Henna KärkkäinenMD, Ph.D., Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Heikki Matero Ph.M, Janne Sahlman MD, Ph.D. in University Hospital of Kuopio, concluded that an on-demand reminder system increases the adherence of birth control pill users. More details about this study can be found here here. )

Mikko Veräjänkorva is a pharmacist and holds a BScBa in International Business. He has more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical field from the pharmacy, medical and pharmaceutical industry. He is one of the founders and board member of Farenta since 2003.

My goal is to write high quality informative articles based on science in a way that we all can easily get the point across. Science and evidence-based research is at the core of my writing. The main purpose of my articles is to provide practical information on healthy living and to provide reliable and practical information about various medical conditions.

Bringing medical jargon to the masses is my mission.