Keep Your Hormones in Check
1. The Patch
It isn’t just the poster child for nicotine abuse. The birth control patch is a small, clear square that is applied directly onto the skin. It releases a steady flow of estrogen and progesterone (the same hormones that are found in daily birth control pills). You keep the patch on for three weeks. Take it off for for a week and have your period (which, as commonly found in hormonal methods, will most likely be shorter and lighter), and then put a new patch on. The cycle continues. Some women prefer the patch to oral contraception as it is not something they have to remember to take on a daily basis. The patch is 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy when used correctly and has the same side effects as the pill.
2. The Ring
Not for the question you may have wanted to pop, but hey it’s just as important. The ring is a similar form of birth control to the patch in a lot of ways. It is inserted vaginally, kept in for three weeks, then taken out for a fourth week, during which you get your period. It’s a constant supply of estrogen and progesterone. The ring is a flexible plastic loop about two inches wide and 1/8 of an inch thick. It is self inserted and removed. You need a doctor to prescribe it but not to insert it. Some women aren’t so fond of the ring because it can fall out. If it falls out you can replace in the next three hours without having to worry. If you reinsert it after three hours, however, you’ll need to use a back up mode of contraception until the next ring is inserted. A note of caution: when using the ring it may interfere with diaphragm placement, so you need a different form of backup contraception. Like the patch and the pill the ring is 99 percent effective against preventing pregnancy but does NOT prevent against STIs.
3. Implants
Inside you to keep anything else from growing there. The implant is a more long term form of contraception. It is a thin, hollow, rubber rod inserted into the arm. A doctor makes a small incision and inserts the implant while the patient is under anesthesia. It is filled with progestins and has a constant release. The implant can be kept in for three to five years, or it can be removed before that time. The implant has the lowest rate of failure out of all the hormonal methods.
About The Author
Hey,
one thing you didn’t talk about is cost. The ring I know isn’t covered by all insurance companies and can be a lot more expensive then other brands, but many gynocologists recommend it because it tends to be more effective because you put it in and leave it. no remembering to take it at the same time everyday. I guess the only other thing about the ring that is unnerving is that you have to keep in in the fridge, imagine looking for yogurt and finding that?
And when you talked about it falling out, it’s like a tampon, if you put it up high enough, you can wear it during sex and shouldn’t have any problem with it, you can’t feel it, and your body should hold it in there just fine.