I was really getting nervous about my dwindling supply of birth control pills, but this is China, right? They have the famous one-child policy, so birth control has to be available. Of course, in the US you have to have an exam with a physician before you can get a prescription for “the Pill.” However, today I learned that in China you can buy birth control pills over-the-counter at the pharmacy! Still, there’s always some fear that you’re not getting the real deal with drugs here, so it’s a little frightening.
Today I bought two months worth of birth control for the awesomely low price of 19RMB/month (~$2.50). The brand is Marvelon with 0.150 mg desogestrel and 0.021 ethinylestradiol. It’s actually different from my current prescription. I was using Ortho Tri-Cyclen®, containing varying amounts of norgestimate (0.180 mg – 0.250 mg) and ethinyl estradiol (0.025 mg). I’ve never been on this particular dosage of estrogen/progestine, so who knows what it will do to me.
Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of research online. Google pointed me to this page containing lots of nice charts and figures. I found that the brand Marvelon is equivalent to Desogen® or Ortho-Cept® in the U.S. That’s good, right? And I was relieved to find Marvelon had an English website (a Canadian one) in addition to their Chinese website. Very useful.
I’ve been far too embarrassed to ask anyone to help me with this, so I was madly searching online for some discussion about finding birth control in China. But the information for English-speaking foreigners living in China somehow doesn’t touch on the subject of oral contraceptives. Everyone’s full of advice about a lot of things, but I couldn’t find any discussion of birth control pills — where to start looking or what the process would be like. (I imagined having to go to some awful hospital for an invasive exam.) So, anyway, I feel obliged to mention my experience online.
I started out by walking into a pharmacy and showing the pharmacists the packaging from my current prescription. They were completely baffled, and I failed to look up any related vocabulary before beginning the conversation, so I left. Then I tried calling one of my teachers: “I have a very embarrassing question to ask you…” She couldn’t figure out what I meant, so finally I went home and looked up the word “birth control”: 节制生育 (jie2zhi4 sheng1yu4). I called her back, armed with this new knowledge, and she instantly understood. She gave me a different term — 避孕药 (bi4 yun4 yao4) — and sent me back to the pharmacist. Huzzah! They had both “the Pill” and emergency contraception. Wow.
I know this is kind of personal stuff to broadcast so publicly, but it’s really very important that information about birth control isn’t buried. I hope it helps somebody out.
![Expat Women—Helping Women Living Overseas](http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://expatwomen.com/expatblog/"http://www.expatwomen.com/images/expat-logo.gif"){kind=logo}
28 comments ↓
its free here in the uk!
You’re right — this is really important and not well covered by any expat website (all expats are lecherous men with asian fetishes anyway) or Chinese textbook (can’t imagine my previous Chinese teachers getting anywhere near this subject). I have a bit of info on condoms, which brands are safe and comfy — maybe I’ll post that soon too. :)
VERY INTERESTING… (GRIN) Grandparents can get an education from the nxt generation…
Love,
Grandpa Paul
Congratulations!!! Finally you got it.
from what you said, i find that the differences of the regulation and management of medicine between chinese and american.i am amazed that you are so prudent and careful to check the information of the drug.I had never did it as same as you. And I want to know how you could get the phsicial knowlodge initiatively, from schools, peers,parents,or …? Compared with you, many chinese girls are too ignorant in the field to protect themselves well.
Hello there, i know i dont know you or anything but i found your website by chance and i am having the exact same issue!! soo ok personal question i guess, but have you been taking the marvelon and does it work out ok? it would really be awesome if you could email me about it because im about to have to take it!! thank you soo soo much!
Meg
Hi! I have the same question as Meg….how has the Marvelon worked out for you? I have the same problem, and it would be great to solve it here in the Mainland. I am an English Teacher in Nanping, and I am stationed here with my boyfriend, so BC is an important issue for me. I would absolutely be in your debt forever if you could email me and tell me how Marvelon is working out for you. Thank you SO SO much for your post, it is essential information.
Karli
Great post! I’m having the same issue, since I came from Spain to China with a year’s worth of BC pills, (called Triphasil in US/Canada) and am almost out. Thanks for the issue, I will go with a friend to the pharmacy to see what kind of selection is available!
Hi, I’m an American who has been living in Hainan for the past three years. After the first year, my prescription of the Patch (Ortho-Evra) ran out, and I did the same research as above, and began taking Marvelon. I’m still on it, but I also have fears about the pill’s genuineness and efficiency, so we always use a back up method. Hey, if one fails the other should catch it, right? Anyway, I do experience a pretty nasty side effect – during my period week I often get migraines. I believe it’s some sort of withdrawal symptom from the Marvelon drugs. I never got them before I started taking Marvelon. I treat it with Aleve, which helps somewhat. Thought I’d add my experiences here to help anyone else who is facing the same situation!
I left a comment earlier saying I was going to investigate BC choices in my part of China and I’m back to let you know my results.
Linyi is located in Shandong Province, about 3 hours south of Qingdao. It is a small city of only 2-3 million people. Before visiting pharmacies, I contacted a pharmacist in Shanghai who works for Global Health Care, an expat health clinic. She told me that my BC, Triphasil, was available under a different name but with the same preparation of estrogen and levonorgestrel. She gave me the name written in Chinese characters, so off I went to buy it at a local pharmacy.
I ended up getting… Marvelon. After asking for birth control pills, they insisted they didn’t have any and offered me both the abortion pill and the day after pills instead. NO! I insisted they MUST have birth control pills. Finally, after they practically refused to serve me, someone remembered they have Marvelon. I went around to other pharmacies and it would seem that Marvelon has pretty much cornered the Chinese market on BC pills.
I believe that I could find my Tri-pills in Shanghai, but I only go there once or twice a year so it will have to be Marvelon for me as well.
I’m starting them tonight. Your posts on this subject helped me immensely. Thanks again!
Hi Elizabeth,
I found your website hugely helpful. Thanks for the info. I walked into my local pharmacy in Ningbo, China, and sure enough they pointed me straight to Marvelon. Without reading about it here, I’d have had no clue what to ask for!
Hey ,
Thanks you so much for this info!!! Im heading to China soon and was rather concerned about my BC pills. I actually take Marvelon now in Canada!!
Thank you!! About to head to my local Chinese pharmacy right now!!
Hey. Like everybody else on these posts, I am on my last pack of Tricyclen and probably will have to take Marvelon but am afraid because of the possible side effects. Can anybody tell me what they went through when switching. Also, I heard it doesn’t regulate your period only acts as a birth control. Is that true? Has anyone found Tricyclen in China?
I’ve been using it for over a year now, and it wasn’t hard on my system at all. And I’m not sure what you mean by it not regulating… it regulated things for me.
If you are in Beijing or Shanghai you should be able to find Tricyclen, but I couldn’t find it in Kunming.
Good luck!
Hi, I am also working in China, in Xinjiang province. I went to the local pharmacy to get BC pills, and the pharmacist gave me a pack, don’t know the brand, coz it’s all in Chinese. It’s got a pink packaging. I later found a website printed on the packaging, and went to check it out. Found that this pack of pills is manufactured by a Chinese co. called Zizhu Pharmaceutical. According to the website, my pack of pills is called the “Levonorgestrel(0.15mg) and Ethinylestradiol(0.03mg) Tablets (22 tablets)”. Does anyone know about this? Would really appreciate any comments about it, because this is the only brand they’ve got in this area. It’s a 22 tablet system (which I am not familiar with), and I am meant to start a new pack on the 5th day of menstruation. So, I would really really hope to hear from anyone about this. Thanks.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I just signed a contract to teach in Beijing, and have to be there in 10 days! I’ve been frantically trying to schedule an appointment with a Gyno here in the states, as my Rx is getting ready to run out. However, no one seems to have an appointment open that will work within my short time frame. Even if I get an appointment, it is up to the Dr. as to whether or not, he’ll write me a script for a whole year’s worth of meds. Now that I’ve found this website, I guess it’s one less thing for me to worry about, because I can just pick up a pack at the local pharmacy when I get there! SWEET! You’re a lifesaver Elizabeth! Thanks for posting.
im on it to!
I really appreciate this tidbit of info! I lived in China before but wasn’t on the Pill – now I’m getting ready to head back and was trying to figure out how to work out 1 yrs work of prescript. Now I know I don’t have to! Thanks a million!
Hi,
Thank you so much for the info! I’ve called my western clinic in Beijing and they don’t have tri-cyclen! How has the Marvelon worked? And has anyone found tri-cyclen anywhere in Beijing?
Thank you!
I was on Marvelon for about a year without a problem. I have a friend who gets tri-cyclen in Thailand I think, but no word of finding it in China. If it’s available, seems like you’d be able to find it in Beijing. Good luck!
omg this is so helpful!!! I got the same you did here in china as well . I was nervous because I didn’t want it to be fake! Mine was a little more pricy at 40 RMB for my two months.
I’m haveing some spotting but thats expected but I’m afraid I’m takeing it wrong!?
The arrows don’t point to a certin start day. And I read you take this pill the day you start you period rather then the first Sunday your period stops or whatever. …
@dani Spotting is scary, but not necessarily wrong especially if you’re just starting. You can always take a pregnancy test if you’re really nervous. The Marvelon pill is the same dose for 21 days and then you should take a break (no pill) for 7 days. That’s when you’ll have your period. You should make sure you take them at the same time each day. The first time you start taking the pill you can choose to begin on the first Sunday after you start your period or you can start them the first day you start your period. Both work. The pill doesn’t instantly work — when you first start taking it, you should use condoms or another method of birth control for 14 days. If you don’t, YOU COULD GET PREGNANT. Please take care. And remember the pill does NOT protect you against SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES, including life-threatening ones like HIV/AIDS. Stay safe.
Thank you so much,it was very helpful.
I had to write thanks. Your post is so helpful, and it helped me out so much. I discovered on the train that I had forgotten my birth control (bought from back home) at my school and wouldn’t be able to take any for 5 days. I was so stressed out I couldn’t sleep. I once went through sudden withdrawal in China before and it was such a hard, horrible thing for your body to go through. First thing in morning, I found a computer and googled around for some help. With the info, I looked for the nearest pharmacy, and was in total relief in like 20 minutes. Your post is SUCH a lifesaver. You are the best, awesomest person ever for posting it, helping out exchange students all over China :)
I wanted to comment on this post because I was living abroad in India and discovered Femilon that I bought over the counter and returned to the US to buy it on-line inexpensively. I have used this pill for the past three years with no back-up method and it works just fine. I met a wid-wife from Australia on my travels and asked her if I could trust this pill and she said it all depends on the packaging and if the packaging looks old or is damaged then it’s no good. Otherwise,she said it should work fine! The packaging has been brand spanking new everytime. I took her advice–since she is a mid wife and I’m happy I did.
http://www.your-onlinepharmacy.com/dr/n/FEMILON.shtml
Thanks for the post! I’m leaving for Shanghai today and realized I forgot to grab some and I was wondering how I was going to find it in China. Your post was exactly what I was looking for so thanks for “feeling obliged”!
Thank you so much for this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this exact information.
hi i would like to know if marvellon is a good contraceptive, i’ve been using some contraceptive before and been putting on so much weight. do you think the level of hormones is lower in marvelon than the other pills
Leave a Comment