Combined oral contraceptives—If you are older than 35 years and smoke, have a history of blood clots or breast cancer, your doctor should advise you not to take the pill. You should not smoke at all while using the pill.
Typical use failure rate: 9%. (info from CDC – http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/unintendedpregnancy/contraception.htm)
What you really need to know:
There really are many forms of the pill on the market. They have a variety of hormone combinations but most combination pills contain ethinyl estradiol and a progestin. Your healthcare provider will probably prescribe a pill that he/she is familiar with, although it might not be the right one for you. This is where trial and error comes in, depending on the side effects you experience.
We would like to remind you that NO CHC is free of a blood clot risk. Some have higher risks than others.
Although you will be told that all hormonal birth control pills are safe, you need to know they are not completely safe as you could be seriously injured or die.
Here is a chart from the European Medicines Agency – like our FDA. We like the EU chart because it shows the number of expected VTEs (venous thrombotic embolisms) for the different combined hormone contraceptives. In case you did not know, DVTs and PEs are both classified as VTEs – blood clots in a vein or a clot that moves to your lungs.
Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz and Safyrl are pills made with the hormone drospirenone. These pills are known to have a higher risk for blood clots.
Are Bayer’s Birth Control Pills (such as Yaz) too Risky?By Dana Casciotti, PhD, Diana Zuckerman, PhD, PharmD, and Juliana Stebbins
Updated April 2015
If you are taking one of Bayer’s birth control pills (Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz, Safyral) or a generic version, you will want to know about the latest research indicating that these pills have higher risks than other types of oral contraceptives. The National Center for Health Research has an article that you can read in full by clicking HERE.
Birth Control Wisdom 