The good news for women is the increasing selection of prescription birth control now available. Once there was just the pill. Now the patch, the injection, and the ring join the pill as the most popular available prescription methods of birth control. But the story does not end there. Research in the pharmaceutical industry is ongoing to find new and better means of preventing unwanted pregnancy while reducing side effects and possible risk factors.

How It Works

Nearly all of the prescription birth control methods now available for women use the dissemination of the hormones estrogen and progestin to control a woman’s fertility cycle, by essentially tricking the body into thinking it is pregnant. When taken properly, these hormones prevent a woman’s eggs from developing and from accepting a man’s sperm by changing the wall of the uterus to prevent the egg from stopping in the uterus to develop. Then, even if the egg develops, fertilization is further prevented because these hormones thicken the cervical mucus at the opening of the uterus preventing the sperm from entering.

The Pill

There are many different brands of birth control tablets on the market today. Most birth control tablets contain two different hormones, estrogen and progestin. Some only contain progestin, but are not as effective as the tablets that contain both hormones. Doctors normally prescribe the progestin-only tablets after pregnancy to women who are breast-feeding.

Birth control pills can be monophasic, biphasic, or triphasic. Monophasic pills provide you with tablets of one color and one strength of hormone for the first twenty-one days. For the last seven days, you will take tablets of a second color that contain no hormones for two days and lower dosages for five days. In fact, you could miss taking your tablets for the last seven days, and not get pregnant. However, you would miss replacing hormone during that time. Biphasic pills come in three colors, with the first two colors representing different strengths for the first twenty-one days. The last color contains no hormone for the final seven days. Triphasic pills will come in four colors, with the first twenty-one days representing three different strengths. Tablets for the last seven days will come in a fourth color and are inactive. One brand, Estrostep Fe or Loestrin Fe, also contains iron to help replace iron lost during menstruation.

The Patch

The patch has become a very popular form of birth control because of its convenience. Unlike the pill, the patch need only be applied to the skin once a week during which time it releases the same two hormones, estrogen and progestin, into your body through your skin. You must be very careful to read the instructions carefully and to apply the patch correctly. Like the pill and any other hormone-based prescription birth control method, timing is everything. You must apply it the same time every week for the first three weeks to release the needed dose of hormones. When first using this system during the first week, a woman must use alternative birth control. Some women react to the adhesive on the patch and must discontinue its use.

The Shot and the Ring

New on the market are two additional ways of releasing birth control hormones into a woman’s system. First is the monthly injection of progestin and estrogen, which requires a visit to her doctor for her injection. There is also an injection of progesterone, which a doctor administers every three months. These shots are very effective and long-lasting. The ring is also a very effective means of birth control. A woman inserts the vaginal ring for a three week period and then discontinues its use for a week. Unlike the birth control pills which have been around for decades, doctors and researchers have not had time to study the long-term effects of these newer methods.