NuvaRing and high blood pressure

I am 31 years old. I had my daughter when I was 24 and developed pregnancy induced hypertension. After her birth my high blood pressure never went away. My doctor and I went around in circles trying to find a birth control that wouldn't make my blood pressure crazy. We finally came across the NuvaRing. I was so excited that it worked. My blood pressure was regulating and it was so perfect because I didn't have to remember a pill and I didn't have to worry about the patch showing in my bathing suit!!! I've been on the NR for almost years now and I'd say the first year or two were good. But I've had all kinds of problems that I just didn't know what was wrong with me anymore. I've had terrible headaches, nausea, severe depression, fatigue, anger issues, crying uncontrollably and lately my hair is falling out in the shower (in chunks). I actually went to a hospital and sat in the parking lot for hours because I thought I was going crazy. Every now and then I thought MAYBE it could be my birth control but then I thought, surely not! The only reason I finally started checking into this is because my boyfriend and I,who I've been with for a year and half, are having some serious issues in the bed. I have lost all desire to have sex. He keeps asking me what he did that made me not like sex with him anymore. I've tried to explain I have no idea what is wrong with me. Now I know. I hate to get off the birth control especially since I had such a hard time finding on that wouldn't effect my blood pressure, which I still take medication for, but this is killing me. I literally feel terrible. I don't wanna get out of bed and my head always hurts. I'm only 31. I shouldn't feel like this. Im so glad I found this website and Im not alone.

I started using the NuvaRing in 2003. I am still on it and now really having second thoughts. When I started usign the nuvaring I was already taking the anti-depressant Lexapro (not sure if it's spelled correctly). Since I started taking both of the medications around the same time, I could not decipher which symptom went with what medication. I was experiencing numbness in my face, hands and legs. I was also very fatigued, had a candida related rash for 6 months, and gained weight.

Yet, through these symptoms my period was easy, painless, and short. So I quickly assumed it was all related to my anti-depressant. My doctor prescribed me Prozac and most of the symptoms I had been experiencing went away. But for the next four years I had numbness in my face and hands the week after my period, the first week I had a new ring in. During that week my doctor prescribed me to double the amount of prozac and it cured most of the numbness and nausea. Yet taking more prozac seemed to really affect my short term memory.

Last November 2008, I decided to ween myself off of the anti-depressant. By January I was totally off of Prozac. It is now February 16th 2009 and it is the week after period and just got a new ring. Today I am experiencing major numbness in my face, hands, and legs. I am having terrible headaches, vision problems and have no energy. After reading all the posts tonight I realized that all these years I have been on the Nuvaring I have mistaken its side-effects for other medications side-effects. I am really trying to cleanse my body of medication b/c my stress level and lifestyle has changed.

I want to go to the doctor and discuss other alternatives since I feel terrible and have been on this for so long. If I hadn't had gone off the other medications I never would have associated my symptoms with the NuvaRing. But now it all makes sense.

I believe nuvaring caused me to have a severe affect on my endometriosis.
I experienced a terrible bruising in the bottom of my stomach (where the endometriosis is). I could barely walk for a few days. I my doctor prescribed nuvaring because I was experiencing heavy bleeding from fibroids. After few months of being on birth control, I found myself having surgery with my uterus being doubled in size by the fibroids. I believe instead of shrinking my fibroids, birth control increased the fibroids in size. Lastly, I suffered from high blood pressure. At times my head felt like it was going to explode.

I responded to a previous post but don't see it here so I'll post again. The post I was responding to suggested that maybe it was a different ring than the past rings:

You may have something there, regarding a change in the ring's chemistry. I'm 47, and I've been on it, happily, for 4 years. Just this last month I had my period and, at 4 weeks am still having it with large clots coming out. (I went through 3 boxes of 40 tampons, 2 boxes of 20 and 2 packages of pads. I'm extremely dizzy and sleep 12-14 hours a day, still waking up exhausted. I went to my natural doctor and he gave me some supplements that usually help immediately, but still I bleed. I've decided to take the ring out after reading all of these posts. Have you stopped? I'm hoping to get my life back. I've had no energy to do anything, I love the beach (live 3 minutes from it) and went ONCE this whole summer. I've read that some women feel better within a day or so of taking it out - any thoughts? Also, I, too, went through a period in June/July of extremely high blood pressure. I'm normally 120/80 and I skyrocketed to 250/120....felt like I was going to collapse. I also couldn't sleep which is SO not like me. I love my sleep. I went to the doc thinking it was my hormones. He said "If you're on BC your hormones are regulated, so I don't want to do a panel." He then prescribed Ambien for a few days just so I could get some sleep. Three days later I couldn't stop crying and was extremely depressed. I thought it was the Ambien. I never thought about it being the ring, just thought it was my high-pressure job. I really wonder if they've changed it in the past few months. There are lawsuits against NuvaRing - does anyone know about these? Take Care.

I used Nuva Ring after the birth of my first child in 2003 until I decided to get pregnant again in 2007. I've always had a low sex drive, so I never suspected Nuva Ring could be the culprit, but after reading some of the testimonials, I'm wondering...By the way, after I stopped taking it, my sex drive soared - I was having the time of my life and so was my hubby. We got pregnant right away.

I just went back on the NuvaRing 2 months ago after the birth of my second child, which was a scheduled c-section (no harm done to the vaginal area in other words). We've had sex about four times since I started birth control again and it has been extremely painful every time. When I'm not on my period, I'm experiencing a yellow discharge accompanied by some minor irritation. I have been wearing a pad around the clock for literally 3 months! I started bleeding (a period I guess) the day after I started the NuvaRing for the first time. When I called my ob, she said it was a normal side effect of the Ring and to keep it in business as usual until I was scheduled to take it out again in 3 weeks. I bleed the entire 4 weeks until inserting my second NuvaRing. We've had sex twice since and it was almost unbearably painful both times. Now, I am experiencing a yellow discharge again accompanied by some minor itching and discomfort. My ob again said it is a normal side effect but just in case, prescribed a yeast infection med. I completed the course and still have the symptoms.

I loved this product and highly recommended it to my friends for the past 5 years - it is so easy! Now I'm wondering if they've changed it over the past year? Plus, the last thing I need is an even lower sex drive.

I'm 25 and have been on Nuvaring for a little over 2 weeks now (because I suck at remembering to take the pill every day). I'm overweight so I thought the chest pains and left arm pain was because of that --- for the first time in my life I have high blood pressure. I thought, seriously, that I was showing signs of an impending heart attack. The chest pains come and go but I'm getting really concerned. I haven't had any noticeable mood swings. I'm just wondering when is the time to stop wondering if the chest pains will get worse and actually say something to my gynecologist.

My birth control journey (including Nuvaring) has been horrendous. I was on Alesse for several years when I moved to a different country where it wasn't available. I went on Yasmin for 3 months and proceeded to gain 15 lbs. of weight I had worked really hard to lose only a few months before. I was depressed, moody, and nauseous all the time. My doctor then put me on a different pill which made me so nauseous I would sometimes vomit in the first week of the pack, then when the nausea subsided the PMS and moodiness started. Again I researched birth control options and heard about Nuvaring. I asked him if the lower dose of hormones would help and he said I should try it. 4 months later, during a routine medical exam I was told I had EXTREMELY high blood pressure. I had never had high BP before. I couldn't figure it out, I had my kidneys tested and they were fine, my diet was healthy, I just didn't understand until I took it into my own hands and googled it. It clicked that it was the Nuvaring. I took it out and have never felt better. I feel less bloated, my mood is amazing. I am having my BP tested again in 2 weeks and only hope that it's gone back to normal. I am NEVER returning to hormonal birth control methods.

Hello, I've never been on birth control before, but i recently had an abortion and decided I really need to get on some kind of birth control. I am 27, married, and I am a NON-SMOKER. Nuvaring seemed to be the best option for me, easiest, effective and practical. I'm only on my first ring, it comes out for the week break in few days. So far I have NOT had any irritability or headaches, or anything like that. I have gotten a little "spotting" which to me can still be linked to the abortion or even sex. What I DID notice, however, is that I had a few sharp chest pains here and there, quick and not consistent, my husband thinks that could be from stress. I also noticed what I thought to be a pulled muscle in my lower calf could be a sign of a blood clot, which totally scares me. A persistent issue I HAVE had so far, is that I have that numb "pins and needles" feeling in my limbs a bit more often than usual. I do sit odd and my limbs tend to fall asleep more than the average person, but I actually notice it happening more frequently, like my blood circulation isn't as good as it was. I have NOT had high blood pressure. I ALSO noticed I wake sometimes with severe leg pain (cramping) that reminds me of those "growing pains" one would get as a child. I haven't had those since I was a child, wondering if it could be due to the NuvaRing. If anyone has felt similar pains let me know. I am visiting the clinic tomorrow to discuss these things and to see what could be a safer method of BC 4 me!

This site is like a moth to a flame for me.

I took my damned ring out a week & a half ago after finding this site & reading so many testimonies & side effects I could have written myself that it wasn't even funny. This makes me so mad that a freaking pharmaceutical product could make so many women this sick without being recalled. And what the heck is wrong with all the doctors not being able to tell any of us what was causing all these problems?

In the fifteen months I was on NuvaRing I have seen every type of doctor you can imagine. Including TWO neurosurgeons who wanted to do TWO different types of surgery on me. BOTH docs sent me for MRI's of my pelvic region/lower back & KNEW I was on NuvaRing. I mean, I know it was CLEARLY right there in the middle of both the results of those MRI's!

So why did it take me finally figuring it out by using GOOGLE?

I've had chronic lower back pain (diagnosed degenerative disc disease in JUNE), severe pelvic pain & cramping (diagnosed pelvic inflammatory in JANUARY), UTI's turning into kidney infections that were so bad I went to the emergency room in APRIL, another UTI & kidney infection in JANUARY, not being able to sit or stand for more than a few minutes without severe pain, leg pains & weakness that two neurosurgeons couldn't figure out WHY they were happening, anxiety, depression, terrible temper, severe fatigue, headaches, stinging painful feeling in my vagina, high blood pressure (that has to be treated with expensive blood pressure meds now) etc etc etc.

I can't believe my husband has stuck around through all of this. When they say the first year of marriage is tough, they weren't joking around huh? The person that said that must have used the NuvaRing their first year of marriage too.

Please, if you are thinking of using this product or are leery to stop it - JUST TAKE THE THING OUT! and DON'T USE THIS PRODUCT! It's just not worth it to feel this bad for convenience sake. Not even slightly.

PS - For those of you who want to say something like "Oh it works for me. You just had a bad reaction."...

That's like saying just because some people don't get cancer from cigarettes that they are still a good product.

has anybody had an onset of hypertension?? (high blood pressure) from this??

I still think a class action lawsuit should be filed and this product taken off of the market, i felt like i lost 3 years of my life on this medication!! Not to mention i put my husband and daughter thru hell!!