Always take this medicine exactly as your doctor or pharmacist instructs you.  Consult the Patient Information Leaflet for more information about taking Norimin.

Norimin can be taken with or without food.

• Take the first tablet on your first day of bleeding. This is the day when your period starts.

• Take the tablet marked with the correct day of the week.

• You will be protected at once as long as you take a tablet every day.

• You can take the tablet at a time that suits you, but you must take it at about the same time every day.

• Take a tablet every day until you finish a blister strip.

• If you cannot start the tablet on the first day of your period you may start to take it on any day up to the fifth day. However, if you do this, you may not be protected for the first seven days, so you should use another method of contraception such as a condom during those days.

Starting the next blister strip:

• Once you have finished all 21 tablets, stop for seven days. You will probably bleed during some or all of these seven days.

• Then, start the blister strip. Do this whether or not you are still bleeding. You will always start the next blister strip on the same day of the week.

• You are protected during the seven day break, but only if you start the next blister strip on time. The first tablet in your blister strip is the worst pill of all to miss or take late.

The active substances are norethisterone and ethinylestradiol.

Each Norimin tablet contains 1 milligram of norethisterone and 35 micrograms of ethinylestradiol

The other ingredients are maize starch, polyvidone, magnesium stearate and lactose.

It is very important to consult the Patient Information Leaflet about possible risks and side effects before taking Norimin.  

Do not take Norimin :

• if you are allergic to norethisterone, ethinylestradiol or any of the other ingredients of this medicine

• if you are currently pregnant

• if you have had blood clots in the legs, blood clots in varicose veins, the lungs, the brain or elsewhere (coronary and cerebral thrombotic disorders)

• if you or a member of your family have ever had a problem with blood clots, including deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

• if you have had swelling (inflammation) of a vein caused by a blood clot

• if you have had a heart attack or stroke or have had or have angina

• if you have had or have high levels of fats in your blood (hyperlipidaemia) or other disorders of body fats

• if you have had or have cancer of the breast, cervix, vagina or womb

• if you have had the following during pregnancy:

  • pruritus (itching of the whole body)

  • jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes), for which your doctor could not find the cause

  • pemphigoid gestationis (a rash previously known as herpes gestationis typically with blistering of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet).

• if you have had or have severe chronic liver disease (liver tumours, Dubin-Johnson or Rotor syndrome)

• if you have had or have vaginal bleeding, for which your doctor could not find the cause

• if you have had or have bad migraines.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking Norimin if you have any of the following conditions:

• Migraine

• Headaches

• Slow or sudden development of visual disturbances such as complete or partial loss of

• vision

• Asthma

• Epilepsy (a condition where you suffer from fits)

• Diseases of the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease)

• High blood pressure (hypertension)

• Kidney disease

• Diabetes

• Multiple sclerosis (a problem of the nervous system)

• Tetany (muscle twitches)

• Breast problems of any sort

• Varicose veins (widened or twisted vein usually in the leg)

• Liver dysfunction

• Severe depression

• Fibroids in your uterus

• Irregular periods

• Sharp pain in your abdomen

• Gallstones

• Sickle-cell anaemia

• Otosclerosis (an inherited form of deafness)

• Porphyria (a metabolic disease)

• Chloasma (brown patches on your skin which can happen during pregnancy but may not

• fade completely)

• Any disease that is likely to get worse during pregnancy

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken, or might take any other

medicines. This includes the following medicines:

• the herbal remedy St John’s wort – Latin name Hypericum perforatum (depression)

• carbamazepine (epilepsy)

• oxacarbazepine (epilepsy)

• phenytoin (epilepsy)

• phenobarbital (sleeplessness, anxiety, epilepsy)

• primidone (epilepsy)

• topiramate (epilepsy)

• nelfinavir (HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus - infection)

• nevirapine (HIV infection and AIDS)

• ritonavir (HIV infection and AIDS)

• rifabutin (bacterial infection)

• rifampicin (bacterial infection)

• griseofulvin (fungal infection)

• modafinil (narcolepsy i.e. daytime sleepiness)

Your doctor will advise you whether to stop taking these medicines or use an additional

contraceptive method, such as a condom whilst taking Norimin.

Norimin contains lactose - if you suffer from diabetes or you have been told by your doctor that

you have an intolerance to some sugars, contact your doctor before taking Norimin.