Norethindrone acetate

Norethindrone acetate, or Aygestin®, is a synthetic form of the natural sex hormone progesterone and does not contain any estrogen. It works by stopping the growth of the uterus lining during your menstrual cycle. By regulating the endometrium lining, norethindrone acetate also helps manage your period. This can be used occasionally to delay bleeding for an event or vacation.

Before using norethindrone acetate, talk to your doctor about your medical history and any medications or supplements you’re currently taking. You should not take this medication if you have undiagnosed vaginal bleeding, breast cancer or liver disease. Tell your provider if you have ever had a heart attack, stroke or blood clot. Do not use norethindrone acetate if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. In some cases, you should not take norethindrone acetate if you are nursing.

Common side effects of taking norethindrone acetate include headaches, nausea, breast tenderness and vomiting. You could also experience acne, stomach cramps, insomnia and spotting.

Before taking norethindrone acetate, tell your provider if you are taking any other medications or if you have any allergies. Interactions are possible with certain drugs, and you may need a dose adjustment to safely take both medications. If you start using a new medication, check with your provider before stopping or starting any of your current medicines. This includes over-the-counter 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.