Camrese

What is Camrese birth control?

Camrese is an extended-cycle biphasic combined birth control pill. Birth control pills typically come in packs of 28. Camrese comes in a pack of 91. That’s the “extended-cycle” part — you’re extending the length of time you’re taking active hormones. This means you’ll get your period every 3 months instead of every month.

Your typical birth control pill is also monophasic: you get one (mono) dose of hormones in all your active pills. Camrese is biphasic so you get two (bi) doses of hormones throughout the month. This is thought to more naturally mimic your body’s cycle, and can lower the risk of some side effects like breakthrough bleeding.

Combined birth control contains both of the hormones you’ll find in birth control: progestin and estrogen. And in this case, it comes in the form of a pill you take every day.

You’ll take Camrese for three months before having your period. It’s got both progestin and estrogen, and the amounts change over the course of the month.

What is Camrese Lo?

Camrese Lo is an option if you prefer an even lower dose of hormones. Generally, a birth control is considered low dose if it has less than 0.03mg of estrogen.

Regular Camrese has 0.03mg of ethinyl estradiol (an estrogen) in the first 84 pills and 0.01mg in the last 7 pills.

Camrese Lo has 0.02mg of ethinyl estradiol in the first 84 pills and 0.01mg in the last 7 pills. It also has a little bit less levonorgestrel, the progestin, which is only in the first 84 pills.

Some women may benefit from taking a lower-dose birth control. Talk to your prescriber during your consultation to see if Camrese Lo is right for you.

How Camrese works

When taken “perfectly” — that’s without skipping pills or taking them late — Camrese is 99% effective at preventing pregnancy.^[1]

The hormones in Camrese are synthetic versions of hormones already in your body. By changing your hormone levels, Camrese is able to stop your body from preparing for pregnancy. It thickens the mucus in your cervix, making it difficult for sperm to reach an egg and fertilize it. It keeps the uterine lining from growing thicker, so the egg won’t attach and develop. And it stops ovulation, so no egg is even released by the ovary.

How to take Camrese

You should take Camrese at the same time every day. None of the pills in your pack are inactive (without hormones) so it’s important you don’t skip a pill. Before starting Camrese, pick a time that works for you and your schedule, every day of the week.

Most women take Camrese with water but if you experience any nausea or stomach upset this way, try having your daily pill with a snack or small meal.

Your Camrese pack comes with 91 total pills. It’s in an extended-cycle pack which looks like three conventional birth control packs attached to each other. The first two will have 28 pills (four weeks) in each of them and the last pack has an extra week of estrogen-only pills. That’s when you’ll have your period, before starting a new extended-cycle pack.

What is the effectiveness of Camrese?

Like other hormonal birth control pills, Camrese can be up to 99% effective when taken “perfectly.” That means that if 100 hypothetical women took Camrese every day for a year, one of them might become pregnant. Of course, taking medication perfectly can be difficult. But missing the occasional pill or taking it late lowers the effectiveness to the mid-high nineties.

Missed pill with Camrese

For the full instructions on what to do if you miss a pill, refer to the patient info that comes with your birth control.

If you miss one light blue-green pill, take it as soon as you remember — even if that means taking two pills in one day.

If you miss two light blue-green pills in a row, take two pills on the day you remember and two pills the next day. Your protection has been compromised, so use condoms for the next week.

If you miss three or more light blue-green pills in a row, don’t take the missed pills. Just take one pill every day until you’ve finished the pack. Your protection has been compromised, so use condoms for the next week.

If you miss any of the seven yellow estrogen-only pills, don’t take the missed pill(s). Just take one pill every day until you’ve finished the pack.

If you’re ever not sure what to do or worried about your protection levels, use condoms when you have sex and keep taking Camrese until you’re able to speak with your physician.