|
"HT" stands for hormone therapy and is meant for treating menopause symptoms. HT is not a form of birth control. If you do not want to become pregnant, you still need to use some kind of birth control during perimenopause. Menstrual changes and menopause symptoms such as hot flashes lead some women to believe that they can't become pregnant. The truth is, it is still possible to become pregnant up until one year after your last period. Keep using birth control throughout perimenopause.
Perimenopausal women, like younger women, have a number of birth control choices:
- Sterilization - Tubal ligation for women and vasectomy for men are surgical procedures that are permanent options.
- Barrier contraceptives - Diaphragms, cervical caps, spermicides, sponge, shield, condoms for women and condoms for men block sperm from reaching an egg.
- Oral contraceptives - Birth control pills for women, which are prescribed by a health care provider, are taken daily. Low-dose pills that combine estrogen and progestin are safe for healthy, nonsmoking, midlife women and are highly effective when taken correctly. These low dose pills carry slightly increased risks of blood clots and breast cancer.
- Hormonal injections - Birth control injections for women contain female hormones that a health care provider administers.
- The patch - Worn as a patch on the skin, this delivers a steady flow of hormones through the skin and into the bloodstream over a seven-day period. The patch has the same hormones found in the pill - progestin and estrogen.
- Intrauterine devices (IUDs) - These birth control devices for women are inserted into the uterus by a health care provider.
- Hormonal implants - Six small, capsule-shaped implants contain a hormone that prevents pregnancy. A health care provider surgically places them under the skin of a woman's upper, inside arm. Implanon® is an FDA-approved hormonal contraceptive implant that is effective for three years.
- Hormonal rings - Contraceptive rings are about 2 inches around. Soft, flexible and transparent, they release hormones into the bloodstream that are similar to the active ingredients in some oral contraceptives. Every month a woman inserts a new ring into her vagina, removing and discarding the previously used ring.
|
|
|
External Sources
 |
The North American Menopause Society
|
|
The Food and Drug Administration
|
|
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
Return to the previous page
|
