Birth control pills: How long can I take them?

How long can I safely take the pill? I've heard that you shouldn't stay on birth control pills for more than five years.

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Answer

There's no specific number of years that you can take birth control pills. You can take them for as long as you need birth control — provided that you don't have an underlying medical condition that makes it inadvisable to use birth control pills, such as a blood clotting disorder or uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Years ago, it was thought that prolonged use of birth control pills would interfere with a woman's subsequent ability to conceive a pregnancy after stopping the pill. But this has been shown to be false.

Women who had regular menstrual cycles before starting the pill return to having regular menstrual cycles when they stop the pill. Women who had irregular menstrual cycles before starting the pill usually return to having irregular menstrual cycles.

Some evidence suggests that prolonged use of birth control pills increases your risk of certain cancers, such as cervical cancer and liver cancer. But it also decreases your risk of other types of cancer, including ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer. If you have concerns about your cancer risk from birth control pills, discuss them with your doctor.

You shouldn't use birth control pills after age 35 if you smoke or have an increased risk of heart disease. However, if you are generally healthy and are a nonsmoker, you may continue using birth control pills until you reach menopause.

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