As a helping hand from us to you, we want to enlighten you into the possible, but totally normal side effects of contraception. There are more risks to female contraception than male, such as the potential change in periods tends to be the biggest fear of women. Don’t worry for women on contraception period flow can become lighter or heavier and they can become irregular or stop completely. For those new to contraception, if you are happy with your current menstrual cycle, we suggest external contraception like the male or female condom.

To shed light onto unusual psychological impacts of contraceptives, according to research women taking hormonal contraceptives are more attracted to men with less masculine physical characteristics and lower levels of testerone (@sexualhealthhive). Aside from common psychological effects, such as headaches and mood swings, some studies have found that oral contraception can alter the female memory to remember emotional stories differently, recalling the summary of the story rather than the details (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180822-the-birth-control-pill-can-have-male-side-effects).

Other physical side effects for women on contraception consist of tender breasts, 38% of women say their contraception causes them pain in their boobs (Get Held Down, cited by @Contraceptionzine on Instagram). We suggest a nice hot water bottle or change of bra (more supportive ones tend to do the trick) however, most solutions differ from person to person, so find what works best for you!

From recent national studies, 30.2% of individuals admitted they don’t use contraception (2016, European Study). It is becoming a national effort to decrease this percentage, year on year. However, we understand contraception is a choice and it is ultimately your decision. All the above information is not to scare or strike fear but to give a more truthful perspective on contraception use. To help, we have outlined some important, informational websites or helplines in our section on ‘Anxieties, Worries and Fears’.