When you take ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO, your periods may be more regular and more predictable. Your periods may also become lighter and possibly even shorter.

• ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO delivers a low level of hormones to inhibit ovulation. If ovulation does not occur, your egg is not released, and you can't get pregnant. Watch how ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® works >

• ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO is a 28-day birth control regimen. There are 21 "active" pills (7 white pills, 7 light blue pills, and 7 dark blue pills) with hormones to take for 3 weeks. This is followed by 7 green pills to take for 1 week. The green pills contain no active ingredient but are intended to help you to remember take your pills correctly. Your ORTHO DIALPAK^® Tablet Dispenser is labeled with the days of the week, so you'll know exactly which pill to take each day. Be sure to take a pill every day at the same time. Once you have taken the last green pill, begin a new cycle of pills.

• ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO offers a highly effective, low-hormone birth control pill with predictable periods.

• The serious side effects of the pill occur very infrequently, especially if you are in good health and are young. However, you should know that the following medical conditions have been associated with or made worse by the pill:
  • Blood clots in the legs or lungs, heart attacks and stroke (smoking increases the risk of having a heart attack or stroke).
  • Gallbladder disease.
  • Benign but dangerous liver tumors.
  • Breast and cervical cancer.
  • High blood pressure, although blood pressure usually returns to normal when ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO is stopped.
  
  Call your doctor immediately if you experience any of these side effects while you are using ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO:
  • Sharp chest pain, coughing blood or sudden shortness of breath.
  • Pain in the calf.
  • Crushing chest pain or tightness in the chest.
  • Sudden, severe, headache or vomiting, dizziness or fainting, disturbances of vision or speech, weakness or numbness in an arm or leg.
  • Sudden or complete loss of vision.
  • Breast lumps.
  • Severe pain or tenderness in the stomach area.
  • Difficulty in sleeping, weakness, lack of energy, fatigue or change in mood (possibly indicating severe depression).
  • Yellowing of the skin or whites of the eye along with fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, dark colored urine or light colored bowel movements.

Menstrual cramps are usually less severe when you're on the Pill. Women who use the Pill may have some protection against developing ovarian or uterine cancer. In addition, acute pelvic inflammatory disease, which is a serious infection of the uterus, fallopian tubes or ovaries, and ectopic or tubal pregnancy may occur less frequently.

Tell your healthcare professional about all of the medicines you are taking, before starting and while you are using ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, herbal and dietary supplements. Especially tell your healthcare professional if you take:
• barbiturates (for example phenobarbitol)
• bosentan (Tracleer^®)
• carbamazepine (Tegretol^® is one brand of this drug)
• phenybutazone (Butazolidin^®)
• drugs used to treat HIV or AIDS
• antibiotics
• phenytoin (Dilantin^® is one brand of this drug)
• rifampin
• topiramate (TOPAMAX^®)
• St. John's Wort (a herbal supplement)

These medicines/herbal supplements may make your contraceptive less effective and you may need to use a barrier contraceptive when you take these drugs or products.

Also, tell your healthcare professional if you take lamotrigine (LAMICTAL^®), an anticonvulsant used for epilepsy. This may increase the risk of seizures so your healthcare professional may need to adjust the dose

Ask your healthcare provider if you are not sure if any of your medicines are listed above.

Talk to your healthcare professional about steps you should take to ensure a healthy pregnancy. He or she can help you decide when to stop taking your birth control pill.

• Irregular vaginal bleeding or spotting. If bleeding occurs in more than one cycle or lasts for more than a few days call your healthcare professional.
• Problems wearing contact lenses such as change in vision or inability to wear your lenses. If these occur, contact your healthcare professional.
• Fluid retention with swelling of the fingers or ankles and may raise your blood pressure. Contact your healthcare professional if you experience fluid retention.
• Spotty darkening of the skin (particularly the face). This may persist after you stop using ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN^® LO.
• Other side effects include nausea and vomiting, change in appetite, headache, nervousness, depression, dizziness, loss of scalp hair, vaginal infections and allergic reactions.

• In the first 2 or 3 months of Pill use, it is not uncommon for some women to experience breakthrough bleeding or spotting or bleeding between periods as their bodies adjust to the hormones. Irregular vaginal bleeding or spotting may occur while you are taking the pills. Irregular bleeding may vary from slight staining between menstrual periods to breakthrough bleeding which is a flow much like a regular period. Irregular bleeding occurs most often during the first few months of oral contraceptive use, but may also occur after you have been taking the pill for some time. Such bleeding may be temporary and usually does not indicate any serious problems. It is important to continue taking your pills on schedule. If the bleeding occurs in more than one cycle or lasts for more than a few days, talk to your healthcare professional.
  
  If after the first 3 months, you experience irregular bleeding that lasts for more than a few days, talk to your healthcare professional.

The correct way to take the Pill is to take one pill each day, at the same time. Select a time that's easy for you to remember. If there is something you do at the same time each day-for instance, brushing your teeth—take your pill then. Missed pills may increase the risk of pregnancy and may also increase your chance of experiencing some side effects, such as bleeding between periods. Click here for tips on how to remember to take your pill.

It depends on the day and week that you took the "active" or "inactive" pill out of sequence. Your healthcare professional is the best person to decide what your next steps should be.

There may be times when you may not menstruate regularly after you have completed taking a cycle of pills. If you have taken your pills regularly and miss one menstrual period, continue taking your pills for the next cycle but be sure to inform your healthcare professional. If you have not taken the pills daily as instructed and missed a menstrual period, you may be pregnant. If you missed two consecutive menstrual periods, you may be pregnant. Check with your healthcare professional immediately to determine whether you are pregnant. Stop taking oral contraceptives if pregnancy is confirmed.

If you think you may be pregnant, stop taking your pills and check with your healthcare professional immediately. Until you know whether you are pregnant, it is very important to use another form of birth control, such as condoms.