An Introduction to Ocella Side Effects
As with any medicine, side effects are possible with
Ocella™ (drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol); however, not everyone who uses the contraceptive will have problems. In fact, most women tolerate it quite well. If side effects do occur, in most cases, they are minor and either require no treatment or can easily be treated by you or your healthcare provider.
(This article covers many, but not all, of the possible side effects with Ocella. Your healthcare provider can discuss a more complete list of Ocella side effects with you.)
Common Side Effects of Ocella
Ocella has been studied thoroughly in clinical trials. In the studies for most medications, the side effects that occur in a group of people taking the drug are documented and are then compared to side effects that occur in another group of people not taking the medicine (who take a placebo with no active ingredient). This way, it is possible to see what side effects occur, how often they appear, and how they compare to the group not taking the medicine.
It is not possible to use a placebo in clinical trials for contraceptives, as this would lead to many unintentional pregnancies. Therefore, some of the possible "side effects" of Ocella may not really be true side effects, but there is no way of knowing, because the studies did not use a placebo.
These studies did show that common Ocella side effects (occurring in more than 1 percent of women) included but are not limited to:
Women are often concerned about weight gain due to
birth control pills, but this does not seem to be a common problem with Ocella.
