The Pill.

Used by over 100 million women worldwide and the most popular way of contraception in UK is the Pill, which usually has to be taken for 21 days, with 7 day break for periods.

The Combined Pill contains two female hormones: an oestrogen and a progestogen, which stop the ovaries releasing an egg each month. It is 99% effective.

The Mini Pill contains only the hormone progestogen, which thickens the cervical mucus and that prevents the sperm from entering the uterus and travelling further down the tube to fertilize the egg.  This method is about 95% effective.

The Emergency pill or the Morning-After Pill is used after having unprotected sex, in case of condom splitting or forgetting to take the Pill. They disrupt the process of ovulation or fertilization for quick prevention of pregnancy. They can be used within 72 hours after having sex and the sooner you take them, the better!

The advantages of the Pill are regular bleeding and menstrual cycle, improvement or absence of premenstrual syndrome and the uncomfortable effects of it, improvement of acne and dysmenorrhea, reduction of risk of anemia due to lighter periods and reduction of lifetime risk of ovarian cancer.

The possible side effects of the pill are bleeding between periods, headaches, vomiting and feeling nauseous  weight gain, tender breasts and mood swings.