Yaz running by 21/7 rule

[violetstar124.livejournal.com]

Not that I don't trust you guys (because I certainly do!) but is there any documentation (or anything at all for that matter) that says that Yaz, which is a 24/4 pill, still goes by the 21/7 rule? I was trying to change my start date by a day and I told my friend it's fine because I'm protected for 7 days of placebo pills before starting a new pack and she adamantly didn't believe me. Any info would be great.

Thanks superstars!

Comments

[misspaigeb.livejournal.com]

I don't have any official documentation but I can tell you that she is wrong. :) Haha, not that that is very helpful. The only combined pill (one that has estrogen and progestin in it) which does not go by the 21/7 rule is Natazia I believe, and the instructions on how to take it/when protection is compromised are different than most combined pills.

Because Yaz is to be taken like any other 21/7 combined pill, it works just like them. The only reason it has 24 active pills and only 4 placebo pills is to shorten your bleed/make PMS symptoms less bothersome (as it is marketed as a pill to treat PMDD, this makes sense.)

[archangelbeth]

There's potentially an easy way to find out... I just have to see what the active ingredients are in Yaz and compare them to a normal 21/7 pill that has the same active ingredients. O:>

http://www.rxlist.com/yaz-drug.htm sez Yaz is: "24 light pink active film-coated tablets each containing 3 mg of drospirenone and 0.02 mg of ethinyl estradiol"

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR600141 says brands using Drospirenone and Ethinyl Estradiol are: Gianvi, Ocella, Syeda, Yasmin, YAZ, Yaz 28, and Zarah.

http://www.rxlist.com/yasmin-drug.htm says that Yasmin has... "21 active film coated tablets each containing 3 mg of drospirenone and 0.03 mg of ethinyl estradiol" -- slightly more EE.

Gianvi is a 24/4, using Yaz's 3/.02. Ocella is a pain to find, but is a 21/7, using 3/.03. Syeda is a 21/7, using 3/.03. Yaz is Yaz. Yaz 28 is not being findable? Zarah is a 21/7 using 3/.03.

Hm. http://www.drugs.com/pro/yaz.html has some interesting stuff about missing 2 pills in a row in the last weeks, for Yaz. Lemme check for Yasmin... http://www.drugs.com/pro/yasmin.html has roughly the same instructions, and same warnings. Not sure if that's significant.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778416/ is very thorough about many aspects of the 3/.02 combo -- except that one. It does have footnotes, though. Checking them, but bedtime may hit before I find something definitive...

JACKPOT!

Puttering around in links that were sidebars for one of the footnotes of the review above, I found http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17923832, which mentioned Yasminelle.

http://www.medicines.ie/medicine/11267/PIL/Yasminelle/ has a link to a PDF. The PDF says: "Each blister of Yasminelle contains 21 light pink, film-coated tablets." And it also says, "Each tablet contains 0.020 milligram ethinylestradiol (as betadex clathrate) and
3 milligram drospirenone." So that's a 3/.02 formulation, same as Yaz (24/4), in a 21/7 pill.

Even more interesting, Yasminelle's PDF says: One tablet forgotten in week 3
You can choose between two possibilities:
1. Take the forgotten tablet as soon as you remember, even if that means that you have to take two tablets at the same time. Continue taking the tablets at the usual time. Instead of taking the tablet-free period start the next strip.

Most likely, you will have a period at the end of the second strip but you may have light or menstruation-like bleeding during the second strip.

2. You can also stop the strip and go directly to the tablet-free period of 7 days (record the day on which you forgot your tablet). If you want to start a new strip on the day you always start, make the tablet-free period less than 7 days.

If you follow one of these two recommendations, you will remain protected against pregnancy. Which is very O_o -- so there could be some debate as to how accurate the assumption is that their 21/7 dosage, in 3/.02 levels, is a good idea. On the other other hand, Yasminelle is marketed in the UK, and I would assume they're at least as good as the FDA for this sort of thing.

Cookie for tired Beth, for feats of Google Fu? Though you may want to check to make sure I haven't typoed or mis-read anything, first, just in case. I am kinda tired.

[paraxeni.livejournal.com]

NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) are more than trustworthy. In fact, I'd say more so than the FDA because they're on the side of the end user than the drug developers, because of how our system is set up. They frequently remove medicines from the drug roster entirely for offences like "not fulfilling a unique need" or for having tiny discrepancies in efficacy vs claimed efficacy. So if they say it's safe, it's safe!

[archangelbeth]

Sounds good! (Though removing things from the roster always makes me twitch -- what if the side effects are slightly different, such that someone might actually have a unique need for something? O:( )