ortho evra and folic acid ?

Avatar for ilovemyfeet
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
ortho evra and folic acid ?
3
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 1:26pm
A question for you ladies that are on the patch or have been on the patch. Does anyone know if its safe to take folic acid while on ortho evra. I took it every day while on ortho tri cyclin but now that iv switched to the patch and iv been told not to take vitiman c i startedto question it.I know Bc depletes the folic acid in your body and thats what helps reproduce dna and rna when you do get pregos. Its also good for your heart among other things. does anyone know if its safe for me to still take it wether or not it will affect the patch or not.. thanks for the help. Julie
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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-06-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 5:54pm
That's interesting.. I'd never been told anything about vitamin C.

As for the switch from OTC to Ortho Evra - the hormones in them are basically the same; they contain the same kind of estrogen, and the pill contains norgestimate while the patch contains norelgestromin. From the prescribing information on the patch: "Norelgestromin is also the primary active metabolite produced following oral administration of Norgestimate...." So, basically, when you took the pill, you were taking norgestimate, when you use the patch, your body automatically converts the norelgetsromin into norgestimate. It follows logically that just about anything that you could mix with the pill would be safe to mix with the patch. I'll have to do some more reading on the vitamin C thing, though.

Link to the prescribing information:

http://www.orthomcneil.com/products/pi/pdfs/orthoevra.pdf

***

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 10:13pm
I've heard that vitamin C can affect how estrogen is metabolized, but that doesn't change the effectiveness of your protection--that's the progestin's job! Where vitamin C is an issue is if you're taking megadoses (+1000mg/day) and then stop--that can cause bleeding temporarily, but nothing bad as far as I know.

Everybody is encouraged to take folic acid! Men and women. It's important for preventing neural tube defects in early pregnancy, but for regular adult peoples it's important for cardiovascular health too. You can't take too much of it, what's not needed by the body is excreted, just like vitamin C.

Vitamins are a-ok! Just watch out for certain prescription drugs (ask your pharmacist when you get a new script filled) and herbal supplements that aren't tested for drug interactions.

Judie
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Avatar for ilovemyfeet
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Thu, 08-12-2004 - 9:31am
thanks for the info about hte folic acid my dad got me taking it years agaio it just occured to me the other day to ask about it and the patch haveing a probelm. I know its verry good for you to take it i do it every day... As for the vitiman c it was in the papers i got from the pharcmy it just said could cause drug interactions and should be avoided. but it dident say why. so i could still take it when i get sick? thanks a buntch you guies are great.

love julie
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