Ok, so I never put two and two together until now. I had been on the Nuvaring for probably 4 years and stopped taking it in January b/c it was not necessary and thought it would be a good break from the hormones. I started back in August and since then have had some severe pain in my abdomen, the most recent being last night when I put it back in after my period. It was the strangest pain I have ever felt, I could not decide if I needed to go to the bathroom or puke. This morning, my boyfriend suggested that I look to see if it could be a side effect since the last time it happend was about 4 weeks ago. Other than that, my vision has been a little worse and have contemplated changing prescriptions. Within those couple of months I have also gained about 10-15 pounds and had chalked that up to new relationship and a guy who could eat anything, however I still eat pretty well... Now I know it could be that. Maybe my body has become more sensitive to the hormones over the years. There are also a few other things that I have noticed that had not previously attributed to the ring, but may check with my doctor and stop using b/c all together.