3 Common Birth Control Side Effects

Is it your birth control?
Hormone-based birth control often comes with side effects that can range from slightly annoying to bad enough to make you switch.

You may not know what you can tolerate until you’ve given a couple of them a try.

But here are some solutions for the most common problems.

Headache, dizziness, breast tenderness
Be patient.

“These side effects seem to go away after you’ve been taking the Pill for a while,” says Hilda Hutcherson, MD, an ob-gyn professor at Columbia University, in New York.

If they don’t, switching brands may help.

Nausea
This reaction will probably go away in a couple of months.

If it doesn’t and you’re using oral contraceptives, try taking them with food.

If you’re using the ring or the patch, you might need to switch methods.

Decreased libido
Try a different formulation if you experience this side effect.

“For some women, if you change the Pill to one that’s more androgenic (testosterone-like), the libido comes back,” says Dr. Hutcherson.

If this too doesn’t work, find another method altogether.