Nora-BE^®

Nora-BE® is a daily oral contraceptive. You must take this pill at the same time every day. If you forget a pill, you should use a backup contraception as directed by your doctor to help prevent pregnancy. Unlike combination pills with estrogen, which have a week of inactive pills, all of the pills in your Nora-BE® pack are active. You should move immediately from one pack to the next.

Nora-BE® is the generic form of the pill Ortho Micronor®. If your insurance doesn't cover Nora-BE®, or if you're looking for a similar alternative, you can look at other generics for Ortho Micronor®, such as Camila®, Deblitane®, Errin®, Heather®, Jencycla®, Jolivette®, Lyza®, Nor-QD®, Norlyda®, Norlyroc®, and Sharobel®.

As with all birth control pills, while unlikely, Nora-BE® can worsen some conditions. You should talk to your doctor if you have migraines, kidney disease, seizures, asthma, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a history of depression. If you have any of these, you may need to choose a different contraceptive. If you notice symptoms associated with any of these conditions while you're taking Nora-BE®, contact your doctor immediately. Like most oral contraceptives, Nora-BE® increases your risk of blood clots. This is especially true if you smoke, and this risk increases with age. You should avoid using tobacco products while taking Nora-BE®.

Since Nora-BE® contains only progestin, it is less effective at stopping ovulation than a combination pill. Mini-pills are less effective than contraceptives with two types of hormones, but they are still more effective than barrier methods such as condoms.

Nora-BE® does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, sexually transmitted infections, or HIV. It is effective only for helping prevent pregnancy.

Common side effects of Nora-BE® include headaches, weight gain, nausea, vomiting, bloating, dizziness, darkened freckles or facial skin, and changes in your menstrual period. These usually aren't a cause for alarm, but you should talk to your doctor if any of these effects make you uncomfortable. Serious side effects include migraine headaches, numbness or weakness on one side of the body, chest pain, severe pelvic pain, jaundice, depression, and swelling in the hands and feet. If you have any of these side effects, you should speak with your doctor immediately.

Tell your doctor about other medications that you're on before you start taking Nora-BE®. Some drugs will make this contraceptive less effective, and other medications become less effective when combined with a progestin-only pill such as Nora-BE®. Some drugs that may interact with this medication include:

Rifampin
St. John's Wort
Griseofulvin
Barbiturates
Ketoconazole
Itraconazole
HIV medications

Any weight gain you experience when starting this medication is likely due to fluid retention, and should decrease after your body adjusts. If you experience significant weight gain or loss after starting a new contraceptive, it's important to let your healthcare provider know.

While not originally intended to treat acne, studies have found that some birth control medications can reduce breakouts and inflammation. If you're interested in learning more about what birth control might help your acne symptoms, visit our Birth Control for Acne page to get started.

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), 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.