Apri®

Apri® is a combination birth control pill, meaning that it prevents pregnancy by altering the body’s levels of estrogen and progestin — two naturally-occurring hormones that help regulate the reproductive cycle. Apri® prevents the ovaries from releasing an egg, making fertilization impossible. The two hormones can also thicken the cervical mucus to block sperm from entering the uterus and they can thin the lining of the uterine wall making implantation of a fertilized egg less likely.

Like other combination pills, Apri® is over 99% effective when used exactly as prescribed. Even when factoring in user error, Apri® is still extremely effective: for every 100 women who take it over the course of a year, fewer than two will get pregnant.

In very rare cases, Apri® can increase the chance of blood clots, heart attacks, or stroke. While only a small fraction of women are at risk of these things occurring, women who are advised to avoid estrogen should not take Apri®. In particular, women who are over the age of 35 and smoke should look for forms of birth control that do not contain estrogen, such as the shot or the minipill.

As with any form of hormonal birth control, some women may experience side effects when taking Apri®. Most of these side effects are generally rare, and those that do appear tend to weaken or go away after several months of continuous usage. Still, it’s important for you to know what you might potentially notice once you start taking Apri®:

Headaches.
Breast tenderness.
Nausea and vomiting.
Weight gain or loss.
Fluid retention.
Vaginal bleeding between periods.
Bloating.
Raised blood pressure.

There are a number of other drugs that, when taken in combination in Apri®, increase your risk of becoming pregnant, including:

Certain seizure medications
HIV drugs
Barbiturates
St. John’s Wort
Rifampin or rifabutin
Modafinil
Griseofulvin
Always consult with your medical provider first regarding the interactions that your existing medications may have with your birth control.

Each pack of Apri® contains 28 pills: 21 pink hormone-containing pills and 7 white placebo pills. The hormone-containing pills should all be taken consecutively, followed by the 7 hormone-free placebo pills. Even though the placebo pills contain no hormones, you will continue to be protected.

Apri®’s packs are designed to be started one of two ways: on a Sunday or on the first day of your period. There’s no “right” way to start taking Apri®, but it’s important to remember that, unless you start taking Apri® on the first day of your period, you’ll need to use another form of birth control such as condoms for 7 days after you begin taking Apri® in order to ensure that your body has the time it needs to adjust to the new levels of hormones.

The likelihood of pregnancy increases with every missed dose (a gap of 24 hours or more between pills) of Apri®. If you miss an active pill dose, take it as soon as possible, and then resume your regular schedule. It won't cause any harm to take two active pills in one day, though you may feel some nausea as a result. If you miss taking an active pill and want to prevent pregnancy, it's important to use a back-up form of birth control for one week after, along with the skipped pills.

Your Nurx medical provider will partner with you to find the best care for your symptoms and medical concerns. As medically appropriate, a Nurx provider may prescribe birth control to help manage symptoms associated with PMS (Premenstrual syndrome) and/or PMDD (Premenstrual dysphoric disorder), or to help with cycle control (delayed period). In some cases, birth control may also be used to help manage symptoms of endometriosis and/or PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome), and to assist with improving acne. While the use of birth control is considered “off-label” for these listed purposes, a licensed Nurx clinician may prescribe birth control if they deem doing so medically appropriate.

Consultation
Anyone who requests a birth control prescription will be charged a $28 consultation fee. Please note that at this time, we do not submit claims to insurance for the medical consult fee.

Medication
For those with health insurance, your prescription will be free in most cases if it is covered by your health insurance, and we accept your plan. Insurance companies set the “copay” for prescriptions and depending on your plan and the prescription, this will usually be $0. Please connect with your insurance company if you would like to learn more about your copay. If you do have a copay, Nurx will authorize a $30 hold at checkout. If your copay is over $30, you will receive a notification to approve the updated amount.

Support Fee
Nurx will charge a flat $3 support fee each month one or more of your orders are processed. This fee covers your unlimited, on-demand access to our customer care team as well as certain processing fees. This fee will only be charged once in any month, even if you have multiple orders processed that month. This fee applies whether the order is filled through Nurx or at your local pharmacy. If your order is filled via Nurx, the support fee is billed at the time of fulfillment. If your prescription is sent to a local pharmacy, a support fee will be applied at that time. In the future, the support fee will be applied on a cadence that matches your medication refill cadence.

Yes, we accept most forms of private health insurance for medications. If you’d like to know if we accept your health insurance plan, please connect with our team at [email protected]. Please note that at this time, we do not submit claims to insurance for the medical consult fee.
Nurx does not accept any federal or state government insurance plans, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, or any of their affiliated managed care plans, nor can Nurx service such patients. We recommend that you find a local provider in your community that participates in your government payer program.