Does Ozempic Affect Birth Control | Birth Control

Oral contraceptives have provided immense value to women across America for many decades now, and no one will disagree about the importance of family planning. These days a birth control patch is an option too, and advances in pharmacology like that are always positive. A contraceptive patch means you don’t need to worry about forgetting to take a birth control pill, but one possibility that women may be wondering about relates to Ozempic and birth control. 

No one will need to be told about Ozempic nowadays either, but does Ozempic affect birth control? It is a Type 2 diabetes medication, and diabetic women are just as likely to be involved in their family planning as others who don’t have issues with blood sugar control. They may be taking Ozempic for weight loss aims in the same way that so many people are in North America right now, and asking does Ozempic affect birth control. There’s also interest in taking Ozempic after childbirth to lose baby weight now too. 

They may wonder whether or not they should stay on the medication if it might mean either reduced birth control effectiveness or potential adverse side effects from Ozempic related to their using contraceptives. There are not many well-documented connections between Ozempic and birth control, but one thing that is known is that hormonal changes caused by the medication often cause a woman’s menstruation period to arrive earlier. 

Digestion Connection  

The main focus of Ozempic and birth control is around gastric emptying, and whether or not slowed stomach emptying can contribute to medications like Ozempic, making birth control less effective. It’s legit to think that it might be because Semaglutide causes slowed stomach emptying. Although not to the same extent that would be experienced by someone with gastroparesis. 

Pharmacology studies seem to suggest there’s no reason to think this will affect a woman’s birth control if on Ozempic. In trials, Semaglutide did not affect the absorption of orally administered medications to any clinically relevant degree. However, you may have unique physiological characteristics that could lead you to have slowed digestive emptying to the point that you are not absorbing birth control medication sufficiently enough for it to be working reliably.  

If you are taking Ozempic then using a birth control patch like the Ortho Evra may be a better choice for you. A contraceptive patch means the medications are absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream, and digestive function will play no part in that. 

Suggested Spacing  

There are cautions about using Ozempic and birth control medication that contain ethinyl estradiol along with drospirenone or levonorgestrel as their active ingredients. Ethinyl estradiol is one of the more common contraceptive drugs that are part of the makeup of combination birth control medications like Yaz, among others. These oral contraceptives work in two ways; stopping ovulation so an egg is not released from the ovary and the thickening cervical mucus. 

The concern with these meds around Ozempic affects birth control is that if absorption is lessened it won’t stop the delay of ovulation, but it may mean that thickened cervical mucus and changes to uterine lining won’t stop sperm from entering or preventing any egg that might still be released from attaching to the uterus wall. That may be the concern with Ozempic and birth control and again related to Semaglutide causing slowed stomach emptying. 

One thing that your doctor may do is suggest you take your Ozempic, and birth control medications spaced out at different intervals rather than at or near the same time. This may reduce the chance of any interactions that might reduce birth control effectiveness.