I am not currently using nuvaring anymore because of a side effec...

Kellie, Thanks for the reply. I have gone for a battery of tests including stress test, asthma, CTscan, about 12 EKGs, chest xrays and spoke with a thoracic specialist...everything came back normal. The lump on my chest is visible by eye, but no xray can see it. I think the nuva ring caused a weird deformity that I now have to live with. The breathing is tough at times, but I am still able to keep up a challenging cardio routine, so the docs do not even pay attention to that aspect. I have no news to report. I suggest going and getting some test done just to be sure..as of now I am just living with it. I hope they take this off the market..inserting that ring was one of the worst mistake I ever made. Good luck

I am actually experiencing some pains in my rib cage also. But mines is like sharpening pian, it justcame out of no where. I thought it could be the nuvaring, and you just confirmed it forme. Thanks, because I just woke up and i experienced a weird dream telling me to do some research on the side effects, and thats how i found this website.

Hi Kellie,

I just tried to post but it didn't show up, so hopefully this one goes through!

I had similar problems while on the birth control pill, so I dont think this is a Nuvaring problem. However, after a lot of research, it seems like the problem is a rare and uncommon side effect of hormonal birth control, which would also include Nuvaring.

I ended up in emergency one night because of these pains (I was convinced I was having a heart attack even though I'm way too young) and it turns out I had been having recurrent attacks of pancreatitis. If severe enough, it can be a very serious problem so please ask your doctor to test for this. One of the easiest tests they can do is to check your blood lipase levels to see if they are excessively high.

Wow, thanks silly! I just looked up pancreatitis on web MD and it's pretty much all the symptoms I've been experiencing! Turns out I'd been looking in the wrong area the whole time. Hopefully once I go see my doctor he will agree with me and this can all be put behind me!

Hi all :) I am posting because I experienced a very weird episode a few days ago. I have been on the NuvaRing for about 6 months. On Wednesday night, I had a sharp shooting pain running up and down my left leg. Then, the pain traveled to my chest. It was an unbearable tight, burning pain. There was so much pressure, and the pain extended to my back. I was so scared, I also thought I was having a heart attack, but I am 21 years old and I knew it couldn't be possible. The pain eventually subsided, but I went to the ER to make sure everything was OK. Same thing, EVERYTHING came back normal. I had an EKG, Chest Xray, blood work, urine sample and everything checked out fine. They tested for a pulmonary embolism, becuase I thought it could be that, but that also came back negative.One thing that REALLY alarmed me was my blood pressure when I was admitted was 173/110. As of now I have no pain and feel fine, but I wasn't sure if this could be related to the NuvaRing. I have been on birth control for two years (I used to take the pill) and have never experienced a symptom like this. Based on what all of you posted, I'm pretty sure this must be because of the ring. I'm going to talk to my doctor, but I'm thinking I should probably discontinue use because I definitely don't want that to happen again. I wanted to post this, Kellie, and let you know I experienced the same thing. It's strange that after you stopped using it, the chest pain continued though. Are you still having those symptoms?

Oops, sorry, just re-read your post and realized that the pain is still going on. I'm sorry to hear that :(

Hi. My name is Summer. I am 30 years old. I started using NuvaRing in July of 2008. In November 2008 I went into the hospital for pancreatitis. I knew nothing about pancreatitis before that day but that day changed my life forever. I went into the emergency room 3 times before they finally figured out what was wrong and admitted me. Once they realized the severity of my condition they said if I had waited even 24 before getting treatment I could have died. I was there for 10 days. I spent my birthday and Thanksgiving in that hospital. I couldn't eat or drink anything for 8 of those 10 days.
BUT never during that whole time or months afterwards did any doctor link the pancreatitis to the NuvaRing. It was not until I started having problems of missed periods and horrible cramping pains that had never been that bad before, that I started doing research to try and figure out why I was having these problems and if the were normal.
I remember having bleeding a week early even though the ring was still in. At that time I just thought it was because of the catheter.
Thank you so much for posting this. I will never use the form of BC again and think it is ludicrous that doctors are not better aware of the link between the two. There should be test or some kind of precaution set forth.

Thank you,
Summer
Mamabuterfly6@aol.com