Qlaira Patient Counseling Information

Before you take Qlaira: General notes: Before you can begin taking Qlaira, your doctor will ask you some questions about your personal health history and that of your close relatives. The doctor will also measure your blood pressure and, depending upon your personal situation, may also carry out some other tests.
In this monograph, several situations are described where you should stop using Qlaira, or where the reliability of Qlaira may be decreased. In such situations you should either not have sex or you should take extra non-hormonal contraceptive precautions, e.g. use a condom or another barrier method. Do not use rhythm or temperature methods. These methods can be unreliable because Qlaira alters the monthly changes of body temperature and cervical mucus.
Qlaira, like other hormonal contraceptives, does not protect against HIV infection (AIDS) or any other sexually transmitted disease.
Taking other medicines: Always tell your doctor which medicines or herbal products you are already using. Also tell any other doctor or dentist who prescribes another medicine (or the pharmacist from whom you got the medicine) that you take Qlaira. They can tell you if you need to take additional contraceptive precautions (for example condoms) and if so, for how long, or, whether the use of another medicine you need must be changed.