Before Using

Drug information provided by: Merative, Micromedex®

Allergies

Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to medicines in this group or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.

Pediatric

Use of this medicine before puberty is not recommended. Growth of bones can be stopped early. Girls and boys may develop growth of breasts. Girls may have vaginal changes, including vaginal bleeding.

This medicine may be used to start puberty in teenagers with some types of delayed puberty.

Geriatric

Elderly people are especially sensitive to the effects of estrogens. This may increase the chance of side effects during treatment, especially stroke, invasive breast cancer, and memory problems.

Pregnancy

Estrogens are not recommended for use during pregnancy or right after giving birth. Becoming pregnant or maintaining a pregnancy is not likely to occur around the time of menopause.

Certain estrogens have been shown to cause serious birth defects in humans and animals. Some daughters of women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) during pregnancy have developed reproductive (genital) tract problems and, rarely, cancer of the vagina or cervix (opening to the uterus) when they reached childbearing age. Some sons of women who took DES during pregnancy have developed urinary-genital tract problems.

Breastfeeding

Use of this medicine is not recommended in nursing mothers. Estrogens pass into the breast milk and their possible effect on the baby is not known.

Drug Interactions

Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking any of these medicines, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.

Using medicines in this class with any of the following medicines is not recommended. Your doctor may decide not to treat you with a medication in this class or change some of the other medicines you take.

  • Dasabuvir
  • Ombitasvir
  • Paritaprevir
  • Ritonavir
  • Tranexamic Acid

Using medicines in this class with any of the following medicines is usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.

  • Abametapir
  • Amifampridine
  • Amobarbital
  • Amoxicillin
  • Ampicillin
  • Amprenavir
  • Anagrelide
  • Apalutamide
  • Aprepitant
  • Armodafinil
  • Artemether
  • Bacampicillin
  • Belzutifan
  • Betamethasone
  • Bexarotene
  • Boceprevir
  • Bosentan
  • Bupropion
  • Butabarbital
  • Butalbital
  • Carbamazepine
  • Carbenicillin
  • Cefaclor
  • Cefadroxil
  • Cefdinir
  • Cefditoren
  • Cefixime
  • Cefpodoxime
  • Cefprozil
  • Ceftazidime
  • Ceftibuten
  • Cefuroxime
  • Cenobamate
  • Ceritinib
  • Clarithromycin
  • Clobazam
  • Cloxacillin
  • Cobicistat
  • Colesevelam
  • Conivaptan
  • Cyclacillin
  • Cyclosporine
  • Dabrafenib
  • Darunavir
  • Dexamethasone
  • Dicloxacillin
  • Dipyrone
  • Donepezil
  • Doxycycline
  • Efavirenz
  • Elagolix
  • Elvitegravir
  • Enasidenib
  • Encorafenib
  • Enzalutamide
  • Eslicarbazepine Acetate
  • Etravirine
  • Fedratinib
  • Felbamate
  • Fexinidazole
  • Fosamprenavir
  • Fosaprepitant
  • Fosnetupitant
  • Fosphenytoin
  • Fostemsavir
  • Glecaprevir
  • Grazoprevir
  • Griseofulvin
  • Guar Gum
  • Indinavir
  • Iron
  • Isotretinoin
  • Itraconazole
  • Ivosidenib
  • Lesinurad
  • Lixisenatide
  • Lopinavir
  • Lorlatinib
  • Lumacaftor
  • Mavacamten
  • Mephobarbital
  • Meropenem
  • Methohexital
  • Minocycline
  • Mitapivat
  • Mitotane
  • Mobocertinib
  • Modafinil
  • Mycophenolate Mofetil
  • Mycophenolic Acid
  • Nafcillin
  • Nelfinavir
  • Netupitant
  • Nevirapine
  • Nirmatrelvir
  • Octreotide
  • Oxacillin
  • Oxcarbazepine
  • Oxytetracycline
  • Paclitaxel
  • Paclitaxel Protein-Bound
  • Penicillin G
  • Penicillin G Procaine
  • Penicillin V
  • Pentobarbital
  • Phenobarbital
  • Phenylbutazone
  • Phenytoin
  • Pibrentasvir
  • Piperaquine
  • Pitolisant
  • Pixantrone
  • Prednisolone
  • Prednisone
  • Primidone
  • Red Clover
  • Repotrectinib
  • Rifabutin
  • Rifampin
  • Rifapentine
  • Rilpivirine
  • Ritonavir
  • Rufinamide
  • Saquinavir
  • Secobarbital
  • Simeprevir
  • Somatrogon-ghla
  • St John's Wort
  • Sugammadex
  • Sultamicillin
  • Tacrolimus
  • Tazemetostat
  • Telaprevir
  • Telotristat Ethyl
  • Tetracycline
  • Theophylline
  • Thiopental
  • Thioridazine
  • Ticarcillin
  • Tigecycline
  • Tirzepatide
  • Tizanidine
  • Topiramate
  • Troglitazone
  • Ulipristal
  • Valproic Acid
  • Voxilaprevir

Other Interactions

Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.

Other Medical Problems

The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of medicines in this class. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

For all patients

  • Asthma or
  • Calcium, too much or too little in blood or
  • Diabetes or
  • Epilepsy or seizures or
  • Heart problems or
  • Kidney problems or
  • Liver tumors, benign or
  • Lupus erythematosus, systemic or
  • Migraine headaches—Estrogens may worsen these conditions.
  • Blood clotting problems, or history of during previous estrogen therapy—Estrogens usually are not used until blood clotting problems stop; using estrogens is not a problem for most patients without a history of blood clotting problems due to estrogen use.
  • Breast cancer or
  • Bone cancer or
  • Cancer of the uterus or
  • Fibroid tumors of the uterus—Estrogens may interfere with the treatment of breast or bone cancer or worsen cancer of the uterus when these conditions are present.
  • Bulging eyes or
  • Double vision or
  • Migraine headache or
  • Vision changes, sudden onset including or
  • Vision loss, partial or complete—Estrogens may cause these problems. Tell your doctor if you have had any of these problems, especially while taking estrogen or oral contraceptives (“birth control pills”).
  • Changes in genital or vaginal bleeding of unknown causes—Use of estrogens may delay diagnosis or worsen condition. The reason for the bleeding should be determined before estrogens are used.
  • Endometriosis or
  • Gallbladder disease or gallstones, or history of or
  • High cholesterol or triglycerides, or history of or
  • Liver disease, or history of or
  • Pancreatitis (inflammation of pancreas) or
  • Porphyria—Estrogens may worsen these conditions. Although estrogens can improve blood cholesterol, they can worsen blood triglycerides for some people.
  • Hypothyroid (too little thyroid hormone)—Dose of thyroid medicine may need to be increased.

For males treated for breast or prostate cancer:

  • Blood clots or
  • Heart or circulation disease or
  • Stroke—Males with these medical problems may be more likely to have clotting problems while taking estrogens; the high doses of estrogens used to treat male breast or prostate cancer have been shown to increase the chances of heart attack, phlebitis (inflamed veins) caused by a blood clot, or blood clots in the lungs.

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