Drug Interactions With Orsythia

If antibiotics, barbiturates, cyclosporine, or St. John's wort are taken with Orsythia, drug interactions can occur. As a result, Orsythia may not be as effective at preventing pregnancy, or you may be at increased risk for various side effects. To prevent these and other problems, talk to your healthcare provider before taking any drugs with this birth control pill.

An Overview of Orsythia Interactions

Orsythia™ (levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol) can potentially react with a number of other medicines. Some of these interactions can be significant enough to lead to accidental pregnancy, and a backup method of birth control (such as condoms) may be recommended in many cases. Some of the drugs that may interact with Orsythia include:

Aminoglutethimide (Cytadren^®)
Antibiotics
Aprepitant (Emend^®)
Barbiturate medications, such as:
- Amobarbital (Amytal^®)
- Butalbital (Fioricet^®, Fiorinal^®)
- Pentobarbital (Nembutal^®)
- Phenobarbital (Luminal^®)
- Primidone (Mysoline^®)
- Secobarbital (Seconal^®)

Cyclosporine (Gengraf^®, Neoral^®, Sandimmune^®)
Dexamethasone (Decadron^®)
Many seizure medications, such as:
- Carbamazepine (Carbatrol^®, Epitol^®, Equetro™, Tegretol^®)
- Felbamate (Felbatol^®)
- Lamotrigine (Lamictal^®)
- Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal^®)
- Phenytoin (Dilantin^®, Phenytek^®)
- Topiramate (Topamax^®)

Modafinil (Provigil^®)
Protease inhibitors, such as:
- Amprenavir (Agenerase^®)
- Atazanavir (Reyataz^®)
- Fosamprenavir (Lexiva^®)
- Indinavir (Crixivan^®)
- Nelfinavir (Viracept^®)
- Ritonavir (Norvir^®)

Selegiline (Eldepryl^®, Emsam^®, Zelapar^®)
St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum)
Theophylline (Uniphyl^®, Theocron^®, TheoCap^®, Theo-24^®, Elixophyllin^®).

(Orsythia is equivalent to Alesse^®, Aviane^®, Falmina™, and Lutera™ birth control pills. The information in this article also applies to these medications.)

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