question for Al - DDI with Ortho Evra?

[afraidofsurgery]

Has anyone experienced a drug-drug interaction with an oral contraceptive? I have been on Ortho Evra since a few years prior to my surgery. It's now a few years after my aortic valve replacement surgery with a mechanical valve.

My coumadin dose has been raised slowly to accomodate my PT-INR readings. My cardio says this is not unusual. I started out on 7.5 mg/day 6 days/week; 10 mg/d 1 day/wk, and now it's 10 mg/d 5 days/wk; 7.5 mg/d 2 days/wk. But this is not my problem.

Seems after the dose increase to 10 mg/d 3 days/wk; 7.5 mg/d 4 days/wk, I've experienced spotting and bleeding, along with an extended period (2 weeks - yuk!) where I haven't before. As some may understand, this is more annoying to me than the open heart surgery was

I searched pubmed for drug-drug interactions with oral contraceptives but didn't find anything pertinent. Of course these problems could be due to something unrelated and I will be making an appt with my ob/gyn. But wanted to check if I missed anything in the literature about perhaps the coumadin causing increased metabolism of the ortho evra so it's effectieness is decreased.

Thanks!!
Patty

 

[Cooker]

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interaction/ChooseDrugs/1,4109,,00.html

This is the site I use for this type of thing. Hope it is helpful.

Tom

 

[Ross]

No interactions were found for the drugs you selected.
You searched for interactions between the following drugs:

Coumadin
Ortho Evra

Patty what is your INR during these bleeding episodes?

 

[Granbonny]

Patty

Patty

I went back to your first post..when you said, you were age 43..Now must be age 45? Maybe you are going thru menopause?....when I was your age..I started having the same symptoms..Skip a month, heavy bleeding the next month, ect..This lasted until my 50th Birthday....Had my LAST period that day.. ....Best Birthday present I got.. .......Didn't have my surgery until age 62..when I started taking coumadin.....I am sure that other ladies will see your post and reply..about taking birth control pills..(the younger members)Hope your ob/gyn can help you...Bonnie

 

[afraidofsurgery]

stupid body tricks

stupid body tricks

I would welcome menopause! I'd definately think that's to blame if I weren't on the Ortho Evra, maybe I'm wrong about expecting predictability..

I get my PT-INR taken once a month or once every 2 weeks depending on whether my cardio's changed my dose. I've had it taken roughly 3 times the last 6-8 weeks, at 2.1, 1.7, 1.9. My coumadin dose was just increased again since i seem to be burning up the coumadin (this is a non-technical assesment!!).

The bleeding doesn't seem to correspond with an increased PT-INR, but it seems (to me) to have started to show up with an increased dose, since my target range has been 2-3 and I haven't had any big spikes in the reading. It has dropped a bit low a few times, though.

Patty

 

[afraidofsurgery]

Mirena IUD anyone?

Mirena IUD anyone?

I went to the OB/gyn and all is well, thankfully. We talked about possibly getting my tubes tied + an ablation, or trying an IUD that emits progrestins called Mirena. Sounds like a logical approach - periods eventually stop due to the hormone exposure.

But, I found a few blogs where patients were complaining about side effects such as joint and back pain, depression, and weight gain. I know sometimes on websites you only see the complainers, but I would like to get more info.

Anyone use this type of IUD? Sounds like a personal question...

Patty