Femulen Contraceptive Pill

Femulen is a brand of contraceptive pill that is known as the mini pill or progestogen only pill. It is manufactured by Pharmacia LTD and contains only one hormone. There is 500 micrograms of ethynodiol diacetate, which is a derivative of progestogen that is metabolized to the active hormone once inside the body. It has a high success rate but it is not as effective as the combined contraceptive pill in preventing pregnancy.

Femulen is a pill that must be taken every day in order for it to be effective. This is different to the 21-day forms of contraceptive pill, as you do not have a pill free break whilst on Femulen. You need to ensure that you take each pill at the correct time each day in order for Femulen to work because if it is more than 3 hours late, the pill will not be effective.

The mini pill works by thickening the mucous and thinning the uterus lining to prevent the sperm from reaching the egg. Sometimes it can stop an egg from being released but this mechanism is not as effective in the progestogen only pill as the combined contraceptive pill. This is the downside of the progestogen only pill. However, there is a big advantage associated with this pill because it does not cause as many side effects as the combined contraceptive pill. It is the hormone oestrogen that causes the most side effects women experience when using the pill and they are usually not as severe if you use the progestogen only pill. There are still some side effects but many women who have an adverse reaction to oestrogen switch to Femulen.

Each pill contains the same amount of the active hormone and also contains a number of inactive ingredients such as maize starch, calcium phosphate, castor oil, calcium acetate, polyvinylpyrrolidone and sodium phosphate.

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