Loestrin and Other Medications

Some medications can interact badly with the combined contraceptive pill and make it less effective. The pill can also affect the efficacy of some medicines so that they might not work correctly. It is not just prescribed medications that the pill can interact with, but also herbal remedies so you must tell your doctor if you are on any medication so that they can ensure that Loestrin will be effective for you.

The main group of medication that makes the pill ineffective is antibiotics. Ampicillin and Rifampicin especially make the contraceptive pill less effective and there is a higher risk of pregnancy whilst using the two medications in conjunction with each other. If you are only using the antibiotics in the short term, you should use additional contraception but if you need the medication for a long period of time, you should consider an alternative method of contraception. Also a fungal medication called griseofulvin can have the same effect. If you use medicine to treat epilepsy such as phenytoin, phenobarbitol, primidone and carbamazpine, it will affect the pill.  St Johns wort is a herbal remedy used to treat depression, which can also decrease the success of the pill.

Some medications can actually increase the effect of Loestrin and although you should not fall pregnant, you should tell your doctor if you are using them to check that there will not be any adverse effects from the pill. These include Paracetamol, vitamin C preparations and a medicine for treating high cholesterol levels called Atorvastatin.

The pill can also affect other medications and cause problems so you should tell your doctor if you are using Ciclosporin, theophylline, prednisolone or Paracetamol. If you are unsure, it is best to tell your doctor about whatever medication you are taking so that you know the pill will not be affected.

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