Bring on your questions
The only once-weekly combination dose patch designed to reduce moderate to severe hot flashes due to menopause and prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis in women with an intact uterus. If you use Climara Pro® only to prevent osteoporosis due to menopause, talk with your healthcare provider about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
Below you’ll find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions regarding Climara Pro®, postmenopause, and osteoporosis.
About Climara Pro®
A. Climara Pro® is a prescription medicine patch (Transdermal System) that contains two kinds of hormones, an estrogen and a progestogen.
A. Climara Pro® is used after menopause to:
- Reduce moderate to severe hot flashes
Estrogens are hormones made by a woman’s ovaries. The ovaries normally stop making estrogens when a woman is between 45 and 55 years old. This drop in body estrogen levels causes the "change of life" or menopause (the end of monthly menstrual periods). Sometimes, both ovaries are removed during an operation before natural menopause takes place. The sudden drop in estrogen levels causes "surgical menopause"
When estrogen levels begin dropping, some women get very uncomfortable symptoms, such as feelings of warmth in the face, neck, and chest, or sudden, intense feelings of heat and sweating ("hot flashes" or "hot flushes"). In some women, the symptoms are mild, and they will not need to use estrogens. In other women, symptoms can be more severe
- Help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones)
If you use Climara Pro® only to prevent osteoporosis due to menopause, talk with your healthcare provider about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you
A. Do not use Climara Pro® if you have had your uterus (womb) removed (hysterectomy).
Climara Pro® contains a progestogen to decrease the chance of getting cancer of the uterus. If you do not have a uterus, you do not need a progestogen and you should not use Climara Pro®.
Do not start using Climara Pro® if you:
- Have unusual vaginal bleeding—Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb). Your healthcare provider should check any unusual vaginal bleeding to find out the cause
- Have been diagnosed with a bleeding disorder
- Are pregnant or think you may be pregnant—Climara Pro is not for pregnant women
- Currently have or have had certain cancers—Estrogens may increase the chance of developing certain types of cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus. If you have or have had cancer, talk with your healthcare provider about whether you should use Climara Pro®
- Had a stroke or heart attack
- Currently have or have had blood clots
- Currently have or have had liver problems
- Are allergic to Climara Pro® or any of its ingredients
A. The Climara Pro® patch contains 0.045 mg per day of estradiol and 0.015 mg per day of levonorgestrel.
A. Before you use Climara Pro®, tell your healthcare provider if you:
- Have unusual vaginal bleeding or spotting—Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb). Your healthcare provider should check any unusual vaginal bleeding to find out the cause
- Have any other medical conditions—Your healthcare provider may need to check you more carefully if you have certain conditions, such as asthma (wheezing), epilepsy (seizures), diabetes, migraine, endometriosis, lupus, angioedema (swelling of face and tongue), or problems with your heart, liver, thyroid, kidneys, or have high calcium levels in your blood
- Are going to have surgery or will be on bed rest—Your healthcare provider will let you know if you need to stop using Climara Pro®
- Are pregnant or think you may be pregnant—Climara Pro is not for pregnant women
- Are breastfeeding—The hormones in Climara Pro® can pass into your breast milk
Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Some medicines may affect how Climara Pro® works.
Climara Pro® may also affect how your other medicines work. Keep a list of your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine.
A. Side effects are grouped by how serious they are and how often they happen when you are treated.
Serious, but less common side effects include:
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Blood clots
- Dementia
- Breast cancer
- Cancer of the lining of the uterus (womb)
- Cancer of the ovary
- High blood pressure
- High blood sugar
- Gallbladder disease
- Liver problems
- Changes in your thyroid hormone levels
- Enlargement of benign tumors of the uterus (”fibroids”)
Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following warning signs or any other unusual symptoms that concern you:
- New breast lumps
- Unusual vaginal bleeding
- Changes in vision or speech
- Sudden new severe headaches
- Severe pains in your chest or legs with or without shortness of breath, weakness and fatigue
Less serious, but common side effects include:
- Headache
- Breast pain
- Irregular vaginal bleeding or spotting
- Stomach or abdominal cramps, bloating
- Nausea and vomiting
- Hair loss
- Fluid retention
- Vaginal yeast infection
- Redness or irritation at the patch placement site
These are not all the possible side effects of Climara Pro®. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.
You may report side effects to Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals at 1-888-842-2937 or to the FDA at
1-800-FDA-1088.
A.
- Talk with your healthcare provider regularly about whether you should continue using Climara Pro®
- See your healthcare provider right away if you get vaginal bleeding while using Climara Pro®
- Have a pelvic exam, breast exam and mammogram (breast X-ray) every year unless your healthcare provider tells you something else
- If members of your family have had breast cancer or if you have ever had breast lumps or an abnormal mammogram, you may need to have breast exams more often
- If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol (fat in the blood), diabetes, are overweight, or if you use tobacco, you may have higher chances of getting heart disease. Ask your healthcare provider for ways to lower your chances of getting heart disease
About postmenopause
A. Postmenopause occurs any time after a woman has gone through menopause.
A. Women may develop moderate to severe hot flashes during menopause that may last for up to 10 years following the final menstrual period.
A. Although hot flashes can last for variable amounts of time, a study showed that hot flashes usually begin 2 years before menopause, peak one year after periods end, and then decrease over the next 10 years.
Are you dealing with moderate to severe hot flashes?
Talk to your doctor about Climara Pro®
