Types of pill

There's a whole range of different brands, dosages and types of pill. Only your doctor or family planning specialist can advise you which one is best for you.

If you have a problem like weight gain, water retention, breast tenderness, headaches, spots/pimples
or irregular periods, all these things will be taken into account before the pill is prescribed - and before switching to a different pill.

It's important to understand that all pills fall into one of these two categories:

The Combined Pill

The POP (progestogen-only, or mini-pill as it is commonly known)

The difference between the two is that the Combined pill contains estrogen and progestogen whereas the POP, or mini-pill contains progestogen only.

With the Combined pill, you take it for 3 weeks and then haveone week of taking dummy pills.

The POP is taken every day of the year, continuously.