Combined Contraceptive Pill

Take Femodene every day for 21 days Femodene comes in strips of 21 pills, each marked with a day of the week.

Take your pill at the same time every day.

Start by taking a pill marked with the correct day of the week.

Follow the direction of the arrows on the strip. Take one pill each day, until you have finished all 21 pills.

Swallow each pill whole, with water if necessary. Do not chew the pill. Then have seven pill-free days After you have taken all 21 pills in the strip, you have seven days when you take no pills. So, if you take the last pill of one pack on a Friday, you will take the first pill of your next pack on the Saturday of the following week. Within a few days of taking the last pill from the strip, you should have a withdrawal bleed like a period. This bleed may not have finished when it is time to start your next strip of pills.

You don’t need to use extra contraception during these seven pill-free days – as long as you have taken your pills correctly and start the next strip of pills on time. Then start your next strip Start taking your next strip of Femodene after the seven pill-free days – even if you are still bleeding.

Always start the new strip on time.

As long as you take Femodene correctly, you will always start each new strip on the same day of the week.

Starting Femodene

As a new user or starting the Pill again after a break It is best to take your first Femodene pill on the first day of your next period. By starting in this way, you will have contraceptive protection with your first pill.

▪ If you have (or have ever had) a blood clot in a blood vessel of your legs (deep vein thrombosis, DVT), your lungs (pulmonary embolus, PE) or other organs

▪ If you know you have a disorder affecting your blood clotting – for instance, protein C deficiency, protein S deficiency, antithrombin-III deficiency, Factor V Leiden or antiphospholipid antibodies

▪ If you need an operation or if you are off your feet for a long time  

▪ If you have ever had a heart attack or stroke

▪ If you have (or have ever had) angina pectoris (a condition that causes severe chest pain and may be a first sign of a heart attack) or transient ischaemic attack (TIA – temporary stroke symptoms)

▪ If you have any of the following diseases that may increase your risk of a clot in the arteries:

- severe diabetes with blood vessel damage 

- very high blood pressure

- a very high level of fat in the blood (cholesterol or triglycerides)

- a condition known as hyperhomocysteinaemia

▪ If you have (or have ever had) a type of migraine called ‘migraine with aura’

▪ If you have or have ever had breast cancer

▪ If you have ever had a severe liver disease, and you have been told by your doctor that your liver function test results are not yet back to normal

▪ If you have ever had liver tumours

▪ If you are allergic (hypersensitive) to any of the ingredients in Femodene

• If you have hepatitis C and are taking the medicinal products containing ombitasvir / paritaprevir / ritonavir, dasabuvir,glecaprevir / pibrentasvir or sofosbuvir / velpatasvir / voxilaprevir 

Common side effects (between 100 and 1000 in every 10,000 users may be affected)

▪ feeling sick

▪ stomach ache

▪ putting on weight

▪ headaches

▪ depressive moods or mood swings

▪ sore or painful breasts

Uncommon side effects (between 10 and 100 in every 10,000 users may be affected)

▪ being sick and stomach upsets

▪ fluid retention

▪ migraine

▪ loss of interest in sex

▪ breast enlargement

▪ skin rash, which may be itchy

Rare side effects (between 1 and 10 in every 10,000 users may be affected)

▪ poor tolerance of contact lenses

▪ losing weight

▪ increase of interest in sex

▪ vaginal or breast discharge

See other combined contraceptive pill products 

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/files/pil.1123.pdf