Birth Control Effectiveness

Birth control effectiveness will depend upon you as an individual and your method of choice.  Before making a choice about birth control, there are several factors that you should consider to be certain that the choice you make would be most effective to you.

Birth control effectiveness will depend on your way of life, example, data has shown that taking birth control pills as instructed will provide 98% effectiveness, however if you have problems remembering to do something at the same time everyday without fail then this might not be the best choice for you, but choosing a more permanent method might suit you better.

When making a choice about the right birth control for you, you should remember that you will want it to avoid unwanted pregnancies on top of a method that will still allow you to have a healthy sex life and fit easily into your life-style.

The Different Methods And Effectiveness

For 100% effectiveness the best method of birth control is abstinence, however even though many people commit themselves to this method very few have the will power to see this through long term and eventually give in to sex resulting in pregnancy, should you decide on this method you should also look into other methods should you change your mind mid-course.

Birth Control Pills

The pill is also referred to as hormonal birth control and is very popular because of the ease of use.  This method uses estrogen and or progesterone to stop ovulation.  Using the pill gives the option that should you decide that you want to become pregnant its easy to stop and become pregnant under the right circumstances.  Like most contraception there are known side effects and medical risk.  If taken right the overall birth control effectiveness of taking the pill is 92 to 99.7% in avoiding unwanted pregnancies, the pill does not stop sexual transmitted diseases therefore other precautions should be taken.

There are many brands of pill, to find the best one suited to you a chat with your family planning clinic or physician will help you make the right choice if this is the right method for you.

Barrier Methods

If you prefer a non-hormonal method of birth control then using a barrier method might suit you better. The most familiar types are male and female condom, diaphragm, contraceptive sponge and cervical cap.  Often a spermicide gel/cream/foam is used in combination with this method to create better effectiveness.

This method works by preventing a barrier between the sperm and the egg and the effective rate of preventing unwanted pregnancies are between 70-97% depending on your choice of barrier and whether your using a spermicide too.

IUDs

IUDs (intrauterine devices) are a temporary but long-term method of birth control, which is placed inside the uterus by a family planning professional, this device works by preventing the egg being fertilized following intercourse. The birth control effectiveness of this method has a success rate of 99%, however you’re not protected against STDs, and the draw back to this method is that it needs to be fitted by a medical professional.

Amongst the many available options of birth control finding the one with the best birth control effectiveness will need a little research into the each one and how it will suit your lifestyle, before making any decisions speak to a family planning expert would will help you make a more informed choice.

The birth control patch is a hormonal form of birth control that is applied to the surface of the skin to prevent pregnancy. The patch is a 1 ¾ inch beige square.  There are four areas of the body where the patch can be applied for the full birth control effectiveness.  These areas are the buttocks, abdomen, upper arm or torso, but not the breast.

The birth control patch works similarly to other hormonal birth control methods.   Hormones are released into the blood stream to prevent ovulation they are a combination of progesterone and estrogen.  These hormones also thicken the cervical mucus, which makes it rather difficult for any sperm to reach an egg should any be released.  On top of this the lining of the womb is disrupted which will make it difficult for an egg to implant. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to birth control for men, the options are very limited; the condom a very popular choice and a good one at that, as it also prevents you from STDs and the vasectomy, not a favorable choice unless you are blessed with plenty of happy kids and don’t plan on having any more. Its not an option for the younger generation as it’s considered a permanent method and should you have it reversed there is no guarantee that it will be successful. Therefore the choice is limited to condoms.

But there is hope on the horizon; a new method of birth control for men is under going clinical trails. Indian Scientist Sujoy Guha has developed a male birth control called “Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance” which is now getting attention from the U.S. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are sexually active and want to avoid becoming pregnant, then you might want to consider some form of birth control.  There are various methods of birth control to choose from and all of them have various levels of birth control effectiveness.  The majority of birth control methods available tend to be hormone based.  This means that synthetic hormones are used to control and manipulate a woman’s hormones to prevent pregnancy.

Not every woman wants their bodies to be control by synthetic hormones as a birth control method because of unwanted side effects and religion.  And for those woman there is an alternative, the natural method or FAMs (fertility awareness methods). Read the rest of this entry »

For the past year and a half now I have had the Implanon fitted as a method of birth control, but recently haven’t been that happy with it as I was experiencing quite bad bleeding episodes, so I was looking for an alternative method and thought about the IUD.

While researching the IUD one of the heavily discussed topics was women experiencing pregnancy symptoms with IUDs fitted.  IUDs are quite a preferred method of preventing pregnancy and offers 99% birth control effectiveness.  IUDs, (intrauterine devices) intrauterine meaning ‘inside the womb’ are small short plastic devices usually with a cooper wire wrapped around it that is placed inside the womb.

There are 3 main ways in which it prevents pregnancy Read the rest of this entry »

If you are sexually active and want to avoid becoming pregnant, then the chances are you are using some method of birth control.  As you are most probably aware there is no method of birth control that offers 100% birth control effectiveness unless you are looking at abstinence and even then most couples will eventually give in and end up having unprotected sex which results in pregnancy.

If you have been using a reliable method of birth control but recently discovered that you are pregnant, below you will find 3 possible reasons why your method might have failed. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the years there has been many different methods of birth control that I have opted to used all of them being my choices, I started off on the pill at a young age of 16 and never really had any major problems with side effects, in fact it reduced the intensity of my period, they were much lighter and shorter this suited me just fine, the years soon passed then I was told that this particular brand of pill Eugynon I was using was no longer available so I had to switch.

I was a little worried over making the right choice as you read so many reviews on birth control and one of the many side effects is always weight gain. Over the years I tried several pill brands with no luck, I either had bad bloating and tummy cramps or severe headaches, I can’t recall ever finishing a full packet of any of the new prescribed pills, eventually moving on to the Depo-povera shot.  I had finally found a method with great birth control effectiveness that did nothing more than protected me from getting pregnant… No unwanted side effects. Read the rest of this entry »

While doing a little research into what women find to be the worst method/form of birth control, one that caught my attention was Depo Provera.  The reason this got my attention is down to the fact that I used this method for just over 2 years with no major concerns of side effects or return of fertility.

During my research I began to realise how serious the reported claims from using Depo Provera were when lawsuits of $700 million were filed against the pharmaceutical company on behalf of women. The major concern and reason behind women filing these lawsuits were due to osteoporosis and inability to conceive due to their regular cycle not returning to normal. Read the rest of this entry »

When looking for a method of birth control it’s not a choice of one size fits all, it’s all about what is suited and most comfortable to you.  When choosing your method one of the most important features to consider is the overall birth control effectiveness of each individual method.

If your are looking for 100% effectiveness then abstinence will be your answer, however this can be difficult to commit to and if you are not properly educated in other birth control methods there is a possible chance that if you fail to keep to your word and have sexual intercourse, you could end up pregnant. Read the rest of this entry »

There should always be a plan A method of birth control before considering plan B to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexual transmitted infections/diseases, you should plan ahead and consider using a routine method of contraception such as the pill, condoms, injections, patches etc.

If you have an active sex life and don’t have any immediate plans for starting a family then you should consider using a reliable method of birth control.  Choosing a method with good birth control effectiveness will prevent the need for plan B.

The use of plan B should only be used in the event that your regular method of birth control has failed as in the condom split or you forgot to take your pill on time and need a back up solution. Read the rest of this entry »

Before looking at the seasonique side effects, how much do you really know about this pill?  Seasonique is a brand name of an extended cycle or in other terms a seasonale birth control pill, this means that you are more in control of your periods and have the option of reducing them to just 4 a year, one every season.

So How Does It Work?

This pill works similarly to other pill brands with the difference of being an extended cycle.  It has been research and designed by female doctors who realised that there were no benefits of having a monthly period and that it would make no difference to the body if they were reduced to only 4 per year, other than the fact that you were trying to get pregnant, and if this was the case you wouldn’t be using a pill anyway. Read the rest of this entry »