What drospirenone/ ethinylestradiol is used for:

• This medicine is a contraceptive pill and is used to prevent pregnancy.

Do not use drospirenone/ ethinylestradiol:

• If you have (or have ever had) a blood clot in a blood vessel of your leg (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 (see section ‘Blood clots’);


• 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 ischemic 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) liver disease and your liver function is still not normal


• If your kidneys are not working well (renal failure)


• If you have (or have ever had) had a tumor in the liver


• If you have (or have ever had) or if you are suspected of having breast cancer or cancer of the genital organs.


• If you have any unexplained bleeding from the vagina


• If you are allergic to ethinylestradiol or drospirenone, or any of the other ingredients of this medicine

Warnings and precautions:

• Talk to your doctor before taking it, you should also tell your doctor:


• If a close relative has or has ever had breast cancer


• If you have a disease of the liver or the gallbladder


• If you have diabetes


• If you have depression


• If you have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis (chronic inflammatory bowel disease);


• If you have hemolytic uremic syndrome


• If you have sickle cell anemia (an inherited disease of the red blood cells);


• If you have elevated levels of fat in the blood (hypertriglyceridemia) or a positive family history for this condition


• If you need an operation, or you are off your feet for a long time


• If you have just given birth you are at an increased risk of blood clots


• If you have an inflammation in the veins under the skin (superficial thrombophlebitis)


• If you have varicose veins


• If you have epilepsy


• If you have systemic lupus erythematosus


• If you have a disease that first appeared during pregnancy or earlier use of sex hormones (for example, hearing loss, a blood disease called porphyria, yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice), itching of the whole body (pruritis), skin rash with blisters during pregnancy (gestational herpes), a nerve disease causing sudden movements of the body (Sydenham’s chorea))


• If you have ever had a discoloration of the skin especially on the face or neck known as “pregnancy patches” (chloasma).


• If so, avoid direct sunlight or ultraviolet light.


• If you have hereditary angioedema, products containing estrogens may cause or worsen the symptoms.

Possible side effects:

• Stop using the product and seek immediate medical attention if you develop throat tightness or swelling of the eyes, face, lips or tongue, feel faint, or have difficulty breathing.


• Stop using the product if you develop hives or itching of the face or body.

Other medicines and drospirenone/ ethinylestradiol:

It will interact with medicine that:

• Can have an influence on the blood levels of it


• Can make it less effective in preventing pregnancy


• Can cause unexpected bleeding


• These include medicines used for the treatment of


• Epilepsy (e.g. Primidone, phenytoin, barbiturates, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine)


• Tuberculosis (e.g.Rifampicin)


• HIV and Hepatitis C Virus infections (so-called protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, such as ritonavir, nevirapine, efavirenz


• Fungal infections (griseofulvin, ketoconazole)


• Arthritis, arthrosis (etoricoxib)


• High blood pressure in the blood vessels in the lungs (bosentan)


• The herbal remedy St.John’s wort


• This medicine may influence the effect of other medicines:


• Medicines containing ciclosporin


• The anti-epileptic lamotrigine (this could lead to an increased frequency of seizures)


• Theophylline (used to treat breathing problems)


• Tizanidine (used to treat muscle pain and/or muscle cramps).

How to use drospirenone/ ethinylestradiol:

• Take it every day for 21 days.


• It 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 Yasmin after the seven pill-free days – even if you are still bleeding.


• Always start the new strip on time.

How to store drospirenone/ ethinylestradiol:

• Keep this medicine out of the sight and reach of children.


• Do not store above 25 °C.


• Store in the original package.


• Do not use this medicine after the expiry date which is stated on the packaging after “Do not use after:” or “EXP”.


• The expiry date refers to the last day of that month.