 How the Combined pill works To understand how the pill works, you also need to know how pregnancy occurs. Watch a video 
The menstrual cycle Getting pregnant depends on a certain sequence of events taking place.
- The ovaries of a fertile woman contain a large number of follicles inside which are her eggs, or ova. Every month, one of these follicles will prepare to ripen and release the egg inside.
- The moment of the egg being released is called ovulation. The egg can be fertilised any time during the next 72 hours.
- All around this time, to make getting pregnant easier, the fluid, or mucus in the vagina changes from being thick and white with a pasty texture, to become slippery and clear, more like egg-white. (It takes a lot of practice to recognise this change).
- The most determined sperm will go off to meet the egg as it makes its way down the fallopian tube towards the womb. While this is going on, the womb is preparing a thicker lining of soft, comfortable tissue for the egg to nestle in if and when it is fertilised by the sperm.
All these events are under the control of natural hormones. Watch a video
How the pill works When you are on the pill, your cycle is controlled by synthetic hormones which are very similar to those produced by your own body. These hormones alter three important things: -
They prevent ovulation so that no egg is released. -
- They change the mucus in your vagina, so that instead of being slippery and easy for sperm to get through, it is thick and sticky as it normally would be during your infertile time of the month.
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- They prevent the lining of the womb from becoming thicker and preparing itself to receive and nurture a fertilised egg.
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