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Oral contraceptives are contraceptives which are taken orally and inhibit the body's fertility by chemical means. Female oral contraceptives have been on the market since the early 1960s. Male oral contraceptives remain a subject of research and development, and are not available widely (if at all) to the public. Studies continue of various alternatives, such as gossypol.1 The Pill
Female oral contraceptives, colloquially known as the Pill, are the most common form of pharmaceutical contraception, the prevention of unwanted pregnancy. They consist of a pill that women take daily and that contains doses of synthetic hormones ( estrogen and progesterone); the doses are adjusted in synchrony with the menstrual cycle. It is used by millions of women around the world, though the acceptance varies by region: approximately one-third of sexually active women in the United Kingdom use it, while in Japan what amounts to a boycott by doctors making huge profits from abortion has led to the pill being banned for nearly 40 years, and its recent introduction has seen very few women take it up.
1.1 Mechanism of action
The Pill works by preventing ovulation, as well as making the uterus less likely to accept implantation of an embryo if one is created, and thickens the mucus in the cervix making it more difficult for sperm to reach any egg. Taken correctly, it is the single most reliable form of reversible contraception, with less than one in 100 women using the pill becoming pregnant in a year of continuous use.
Several different types of 'the pill' exist. Generally, they all have revolve around different formulations of (chemical analogues of) the hormones estrogen and progesterone. Most brands use 20 to 40 micrograms of ethinyloestradiol as the estrogen component and either a fixed or varying (the bi and triphasic pills) amount of progestogen as the progesterone analogue.
1.2 Packaging
The pill usually comes in two different packet sizes, and each packet usually has days marked off for a cycle lasting about a month, or 28 days to be exact. For the 21-pill packet, a woman takes a pill each day for 21 days, and waits for an additional seven days before starting the next packet. For the 28-pill packet, the woman similarly takes a pill each day. However, instead of only taking pills for 21 days of the month, she also takes the remaining seven placebo or sugar pillsFor alternative meanings, see Placebo (disambiguation A placebo is a medical treatment (operation, therapy, chemical solution, pill, etc. which is administered as if it were a therapy, but which has no therapeutic value other than the placebo effect. pills included in the packet, and once she finishes the last placebo pill, she can immediately start the next packet on the following day. The purpose of the placebo pills is to ensure that the woman, out of habit, can take a pill on every day of her menstrual cycle, so that she does not have to calculate when exactly is the next date that she should start her next packet of pills. It is possible for a woman to skip menstruation and still remain protected against conception by skipping these pills in the cycle. The presence of these pills is still thought to be comforting for the woman as menstruation is a physical confirmation that she is still not pregnant.
1.3 Drug interactions
Some drugs reduce the effect of the pill and can cause breakthrough bleedingBreakthrough bleeding is bleeding between regular menstrual cycles. The bleeding is usualy light, often refered to as "spotting. Breakthrough bleeding is most commonly seen as a side-effect of oral contraceptives and other forms of hormonal contraception., or worse, pregnancy (together with unprotected sex, of course). These include antibiotics, barbiturateBarbiturates are drugs that acts as central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and by virtue of this they produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to anesthesia. Some also are used as anticonvulsants. Barbiturates are derivatives of barbituris, phenytoinPhenytoin sodium (marketed as Dilantin in the USA and as Epanutin in the UK, by Parke-Davis, now part of Pfizer) is a commonly used antiepileptic. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1953 for use in seizures. History Phenytoin (diphenyl and carbamazepineCarbamazepine (Biston®; Calepsin®; Carbatrol®; Epitol®; Finlepsin®; Sirtal®; Stazepine®; Tegretol®; Telesmin®; Timonil®) is an anticonvulsant and mood stabilizing drug, used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder; but also used to tre. The traditional medicinal drug St John's Wort has also been implicated.
