What is Portia?
Portia is what’s called a combined birth control pill. It combines two hormones, an estrogen and a progestin, whereas mini pills only contain progestin. Both of these hormones already exist in your body, but it’s possible to be sensitive to one or to both. That’s why there are so many different types of birth control pills. They all do the same thing but have different versions and different amounts of estrogen and progestin. It can be a bit intimidating — we’ll help you figure out what birth control is right for you during your consultation.
The specific versions of estrogen and progestin in Portia are ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel.
How does Portia work?
Like other combined birth control pills, Portia works by changing the hormone levels in your body. Hormonal birth control can stop ovulation, which is when the ovary releases an egg every month. If there’s no egg, there’s no pregnancy. However, ovulation doesn’t stop for everyone who takes the pill, so there are other things Portia does as well.
Normally, the lining of your uterus will grow every month so that it’s easier for a fertilized egg to implant itself there. On hormonal birth control, the lining stays thin. This is also why you’re likely to experience a shorter and lighter period on Portia. Lastly, the hormones change the consistency of your cervical mucus. The thicker mucus acts as a shield against sperm. All of these things together make it very, very unlikely that you will become pregnant while taking Portia.
Is there more than one dosage of Portia pill?
Portia birth control has .15mg of levonorgestrel and .03mg of ethinyl estradiol. You might also see the ethinyl estradiol written as 30mcg — that’s micrograms. Other birth control pills which have the same amount of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol are Seasonale, Jolessa, Quasense, Introvale, Chateal EQ, Marlissa, Altavera, Levora, Lillow, Kurvelo, Levlen, Nordette, Setlakin and Ayuna.
Portia only comes in one dosage, which means there’s no Portia Lo if you like how you feel on Portia but want to adjust the amounts of estrogen or progestin. There are however other combined pills which have the same active ingredients in a lower dose. Lutera and Aviane both have .1mg of levonorgestrel and .02mg of ethinyl estradiol.