Thinking about using Nuva Ring
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| Mon, 06-14-2004 - 9:41am |
I am looking for new method of birth control, we are currently using condoms but due to my age (43) I am starting to be irregular which is proving a bit of a worry as we are never sure just what is going on. I have heard about Nuva Ring and done a bit of research here on the net and it looks as though it may be just what I am looking for.
As I said I am 43 which I realise is a little old for hormonal contraception. However, I am not overweight, don't smoke and I am basically healthy. This would be a short term option as I plan to get sterilised in about a year to 18 months. I would like to hear from anyone who is using it at the moment as to how they find it, is it as easy to use as they say, is it safe, and any little tips that the health professionals don't tell you! I would really like to hear from any "older" users out there.
Thanks a lot
Bitchhound

The good thing about Nuvaring, particularly for a woman at your stage of life, is that it's the lowest estrogen dose on the market (15mcg/day) and the progestin dose is pretty low too. It seems that doctors are wanting their patients (and patients are wanting it too) on low doses to reduce side effects and potential for trouble.
I've been using Nuvaring for a year and a half and I really like it for the convenience and its lack of impact on my life. Everybody is different, but I don't have any side effects (other than a lagging libido that could very well be due to stress and fatigue). I don't feel it, once it's inserted, it doesn't move around, and it's been very effective protection for my fiance and I. And my periods are very predictable and fairly light. But we've had women who tried it who may have had problems with the ring slipping out, excess discharge, some did have the other more common hormonal contraceptive side effects (nausea, moodiness, bloating), but a lot of women are having success with Nuvaring.
If you're interested, your doctor could probably give you a couple of sample rings to get you started, if your insurance doesn't cover them they are a little more expensive than the pill (about $37 in the Chicago suburbs). The other thing I love about the ring is that it's more flexible than the pill--the ring has about 35 days of hormones in it, but the patient information advises you not to use it more than 28 days. But if you wanted to move your period by a few days to get around a weekend or something like that, it's possible without screwing up the next month.
Does that help? ;)
Co-cl for Birth Control
I just started using Nuvaring about a week and a half ago and I like it so far! No worries about remembering when to take a pill.. I have my mobile phone alarm set to remind me to remove it when 3 weeks time is due.
I was worried at first about it falling out or that it wasn't far enough inside of me.. But I don't feel it all and it hasn't fallen out once. This may be too much info (TMI), but when DBF and I had sex and he didn't even realize it was there.
I am a bit worried that I might have a yeast infection or maybe Nuvaring is just making me discharge more (I know, TMI again..but this stuff has to be said for the full effect/opinion to be heard). I'll try and otc yeast stuff and see how that works.
Other than the immediate thing above, I am liking Nuvaring. My sex drive has even come back some! That is the main reason for switching from BCP.
Hang in there--you can always see your gynecologist to determine if you've got any infection, that's what we used to have to do before the OTC treatments were available. And if you see your gyn and need treatment, you might be able to save your $$ and get a sample...
Co-cl for Birth Control
I had been having problems with yeast infections for a while (since like last Oct/Nov until not to long ago). I didn't realize (well, not totally true) until I had started the Nuvaring that a potential side effect was an increase in discharge.
Also, DBF and I did have sex without a condom..so it could have just been left overs that were bothering me "down there".. I will wait even a bit longer before doing anything.
About the money part, I am semi lucky atm, because being a student here I get free nurse and doctor appointments via the school nurses and it only costs 11€ for OTC yeast treatments. (And the Nuvaring is ~15€ for 1 and even a bit cheaper if I buy 3 at a time)
I started NuvaRing last summer when I was only 18, so I'm not one of the 'older' people with input like you preferred, but I thought I'd put in my two cents anyway :).
I really liked the NuvaRing. It made my periods scheduled and light, (which was nice after being extremely irregular in the past), it helped my complection, I don't think i had much of a problem with weight gain, and it was effective birth control -the most important attribute! It also had the much appreciated, added pirk of breast enlargement. I did have problems with getting the ring to stay up in my vagina though. I have pretty strong vaginal muscles, for whatever reason, and so laughing, yelling, singing, and doing anything that uses those muscles would cause the ring to be forced down. It was really a problem in the few days preceding removing the ring because by then it's kind of drying out and isn't as flexible, but it was manageable on most days, (I would just go in the bathroom and 'adjust' it back into place. It also helped to have sex because when you're aroused and your uterus and sex organs balloon up into your abdomen it takes the ring up with it and that can help position it in place then afterward (this ballooning affect is also what makes the male unable to feel it during intercourse).
With me though, I happened to stop using it about four months later in August. I have problems with chemical imbalances in the brain and I take a few medications which I thought were maybe being affected by my birth control, so when I was having some problems with mood and that, i went off of it to see if I felt better -and really I don't think it made too much difference (I still felt crappy afterward :P). My breasts still stayed the size they were while I was on it, but my periods lost the regularity and my cycle seems more screwed up now than it was before I started the ring. I have one period about every two months. Now that I'm entering into a new sexual relationship, I'm about to go on it again so that I can try to use it and, hopefully, I won't see it causing any problems with my other medications and mood problems. Hopefully.
Hope this info helps :)
Miz Elijah Wood (or Lindsay...Wood) :P
Thank you all for your anwsers, they are just the sort of thing I was looking for, input from the users of this method. It really does sound like the sort of thing that would suit me as I want something safe but without too may side effects.
Bitchhound
PS I took that name as I used to have several hounds and I am a major bitch at that PMS time of the month lollol