So with a busy life who wouldn’t buy into that commercial, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…everyday.”  You know the one, the commercial that is put out by the makers of the Nuva Ring.  The wonder drug for women when it comes to contraception.  So, in my mid thirties with two school age kids and a full time job, as a single mother it sounded pretty good.  Birth control that you only have to worry about once a month.  Let me tell you what a HUGE mistake this was.  I have used oral contraceptives all of my reproductive life, except for during the planning of the birth of my two beautiful girls.

I went to the Dr. and asked about a more “permanent” option like the IUD.  My Dr told me the benefits and risks of the IUD, I admitted to him it did not sound like something I was interested in after finding out more about it.  He then suggested Nuva Ring.  He said how common it was these days and that it was as effective as the “pill” that I’ve been taking for years.  I agreed to try it. 

I went home with a sample and a prescription.  I read the packaging fully over and over to make sure I had it down right.  Seemed pretty simple put this thing in and then 3 weeks later take it out and put a new one in a week later! Super simple, I was excited, no more remembering to take that stupid pill.  No more worrying if I had it with me if I was away from home etc.  this was going to be great.  It was liberating, I was finallyfree of the daily grind of “the pill.”

I started using the ring in the first month of May this year.  I had no ill effects the first month.  I had a regular period, it seemed like everything was going great!  I filled the prescription and started using the ring again after my cycle as stated on the directions.  It wasn’t until about 2 weeks into it that I noticed waking up one morning and my knees hurt and so did my ankles, they were very stiff.  I went to my family Dr to let him know that I was experiencing sore joints after about a week of the discomfort.  I let him know that I had switched birth control methods one month prior.  He dismissed that and said that I most likely had sore joints due to moving some furniture that I had told him about. 

I had also lost my voice for the most part all right around two weeks into the new cycle of using the Nuva Ring.  He gave me nasal spray and allergy pills and said that I most likely was having a bad allergy due to the weather change etc.  I have had an issue with allergies since I’ve been a teenager but it’s nothing that usually isn’t handled by simple over the counter meds or just by simply “dealing” with the symptoms and they generally don’t last for more than a month in the most severe occurrences.

He said that since I am pretty outta shape, (30 lbs overweight) do little to no exercise and had just moved furniture the week before, my joint discomfort was most likely due to strain.  I took the allergy meds as prescribed for one month and continued taking ibuprofen for the next month daily multiple times a day to ease the joint pain.  The joint soreness got so bad that I would have to roll out of bed in the morning and could barely walk for about 15 minutes until the blood seemed to “start flowing” into my feet as I adjusted from laying down all nite to being up and about.  The pain was there all day now not just in my feet (ankles) but had moved to include my knees, my fingers (all of them), as well as my elbows.  Now, I may not be in the greatest shape but c’mon, I felt like I was 80 years old. 

I wrote all of this off as being VERY strange but didn’t know what else to do.  I took the Nuva Ring out at the end of the 3rd week in the 2nd month of using it as directed and I noticed over the next week that my voice seemed to get better.  My joints were also less sore and I needed less Ibuprofen.  I just thought I was over that allergy spell and that I had finally healed from my “strain” of moving furniture.

There was some speculation from my mother, my boyfriend, and other family members that the Nuva Ring may have something to do with all of this.  I decided after one week of having it out as directed and feeling almost 100% normal that it was just a coincidence.  Besides, the Dr said that there was NO WAY that the Nuva Ring could have caused such effects in me.

I started another round with the Nuva Ring.  It didn’t take long, about 3 days and I couldn’t get out of bed again.  I was back to taking Ibuprofen daily and complaining ALL the time about sore joints.  I scheduled my yearly PAP with my Gynecologist and discussed with him what I thought the issue was (Nuva Ring was crippling me).  The Dr acted as though it was so IMPOSSIBLE that this could be the case.  He just shook his head and kinda chuckled and said, “Nah, it doesn’t have those types of effects.”  I went home doubtful this time.

I went a couple more days and this time I went back to my family Dr and complained.  I literally hobbled into the waiting room for my appointment, it was ridiculous.  I told the Dr about my continuing pain and that I was tired ALL of the time.  He prescribed me some pain pills (Vicodin) for the pain as well as Naproxen) for inflammation and some stronger nose spray for my now VERY hoarse voice.  He also sent me to X-Ray for my ankles to see if maybe I broke something moving that furniture.  He also sent me to the lab for a blood test to rule out Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I went to the lab, did the blood work, got the meds and went on my merry way.  The blood test came back positive for Rheumatoid which the Dr said I needed to retest for since sometimes it can throw a false positive.  I have yet to go back for that but I’m pretty sure I have it cause when I was younger I was tested also and it came back positive then but that was about 15 years ago and I haven’t had a symptom since.  At any rate, I called my Gynecologist and asked the nurse if I could just stop using the Nuva Ring since I was now pretty damn convinced that it was causing these ill effects.

The nurse told me, “No way!”  She said if I stopped using Nuva Ring mid cycle I would bleed terribly.  I waited until the next morning agonizing with this dilemma and then against the advice of my Dr I removed the ring.  It only took about 2 days and I started feeling better and better, little by little the joint pain went away and my voice began to change back.

I am now one and a half months without Nuva Ring and I am all the way back to normal.  I don’t take any pain meds now, I have my voice completely back and I have ZERO joint paint.  You tell me, how did all of this go away?  Nuva Ring is poison.  I don’t know why no one wants to talk about the ill effects of this medicine but it is in no way worth losing my mobility in order to avoid taking birth control everyday.  I will never use Nuva Ring and I will not allow my girls to use it either.  Nuva Ring is poison!

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