Comments on: Birth Control Gave Me Blood Clots

By: shannon

shannon — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:09:47 +0000

I too had a near fatal blood clot in my brain, that was 6 months ago, and it's still there. I too go for blood tests every few days because my blood won't stay at a therapeutic level. I'm on a high dose of warfarin and have to be really careful that I don't cut myself or bruise. I was taking natazia birth control pills given to me by my doctor who was very well aware of my age 45+ in addition to having a tumor in my uterus, all which apparently increased my risk for a blood clot even higher. I would be very interested if anyone else here was taking natazia?

By: Carrie

Carrie — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:49:08 +0000

This article has def helped me realize that im not the only one. I was on Ortho Tri Cyclen for 4 months. The past month and half Ive had charlie horses in my right leg almost every night. I went to a primary care doctor (who i might add is a piece of crap) I told him he sent me away with doing blood work, come back in a week for results. I go back and he says well all your blood work is normal, no charge for visit. I was like well something is wrong I know my body. He says well there is an elevated level in your blood tests but that means there is an infection somewhere in your body. But dont know where. I was like umm ok.. he still sent me on my way (that was a tuesday) On thursday I couldnt walk.. I went to the ER they found a DVT in my right leg and admitted me into the hospital. Put me on lovenox and warfin. They kept me one night because I lack insurance since no companies or the govt want to help single ppl carry insurance. So i had to go home and shoot myself with the lovenox which I have a big fear of needles. So it was my life or give myself the shot.. Since then my stomach looks like i got beat up. then the past 3 days I have a rash on top of every bruise and they itch so bad… My leg still is in some pain. I have had my INR checked it is steady at 2.4 which I guess is good.. I hate that I can not eat green veggies, since I love them. I am hopeful that this will be over soon I hope… I do have PCOS which is why I was on birth control.. It seems I cant win for losing… Thank you for allowing me to post and read this article. It has helped me alot in thinking that this DVT is hopeful to go away and that I caught it before it was too late..

By: Ashley

Ashley — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:44:30 +0000

I completely feel for you I went through the same thing when I was 14 it’s pretty scary and when it comes to alternative birth control is hard bc your scared to try a pill again bc the chance of it happening again but all you really have as an option after that is condoms And diaphragms I was just offered the “mini pill” honestly don’t know what road I should take its not just me I have to think about I have 2 young children a husband and two loving parents that I don’t want to put through this ordeal.

By: Caitlin-University of Alabama

Caitlin-University of Alabama — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:08:04 +0000

I don’t discourage the use of birth control at all. It’s more about being safe and learning about what kind of medication you’re taking, birth control or not.

By: Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:01:37 +0000

Just saw this post. This is why many elders discouraging not to use any kinds of birth control. But then due to lack of financial income, we cannot blame other couple agreed to use contraceptives.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:41:08 +0000

Also, forgot to post on my previous post, that they have had me on Diamox for 2 months beecause the cerebral fluid hasn't been draining, so I've had intracranial pressure pretty severely….

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:39:10 +0000

I am 37 and, over 5 months ago, I started having really bad headaches and double vision. As I was seeing my GP and he was running blood tests all symptoms got much worse. I ended up going to a neurologist over 3 months ago…. after 4 mri’s, 2 spinal taps, 1 CT Venogram and dozens of blood tests they have found a blood clot in my brain; however, for some reason they feel that “treatment” is to simply take me off of my bc pills (orthocyclen). They believe that it will dissolve itself within 2-3 months… not sure how I feel about this. I am nervous that I am not on a blood thinner bc it seems that every case that I have read about has been treated with blood thinners. I am uninsured and having to pay for all of this myself, which may be one reason why? However, I would much rather be in medical debt than take a chance of death or paralysis, etc. Also, they have not given me any restrictions or parameters to stay within…. any thoughts?

By: I Almost Died From Taking Yaz | BuzzMonster

I Almost Died From Taking Yaz | BuzzMonster — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:29:23 +0000

[...] these days. Some of you may remember my issues with the birth control pill, Yaz. After surviving a pulmonary embolism, I can now consider myself relatively healthy although doctors are not sure if I will have more [...]

By: I Almost Died From Taking Yaz : CollegeCandy

I Almost Died From Taking Yaz : CollegeCandy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:31:06 +0000

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:57:20 +0000

Last Tuesday, I drove back from NYC to WV with my husband – a 5 hour drive. I'm fairly certain that we didn't go for more than 3 hrs without stopping. That night, I gave a lecture to my students (I'm a professor) and was very out of breath – so weird. Also, my right calf had started hurting. My foot had been hurting for a month or so from wearing flip flops, so I thought that the pain had just moved into my calf muscle from over-compensating my foot pain, or from driving a long distance.

The leg pain and breathing problems (when lecturing and when walking to/from work) continued. Saturday I did some internet research and came up with DVT/PE and my dad, who has a background in medicine, said that with those symptoms (leg pain, breathing issues), I should go to the ER. I went the next morning, this past Sunday. They said I was very low risk (no smoking, family history of blood clots, 37 yrs old) I had no lung pain, no coughing, no discoloration or swelling of my leg… they weren't expecting to find anything. The ultrasound of my leg showed no clots. The intern came in and said that my leg had no clots – and he was going to go look at my CT scan. My husband and I were planning where we were going to go eat lunch after the visit. Then, the guy came back and said "well, unfortunately, there are clusters of small blood clots and a bigger clot in your lungs. We need to treat those – Is it okay if we admit you?" I was pretty shocked – and so I responded, "wait, what? You want me to stay?" Very surreal experience. I'm healthy. I'm overweight, but have always been very healthy. I haven't smoked in 6 years, I'm vegetarian so I have great cholesterol levels, perfect blood pressure. This came as a real shock. Nobody talked at all about this being a result (possibly) of me using Nuvaring.

I spent the night there, with lots of blood tests, Heparin IV and then they started Lovenox and Coumadin. They kept listening to my lungs and they were clear, which is great. I went home on Monday. I STILL had the leg pain and I asked if it was possible that the machine didn't see a leg clot and the Dr. said no. (of course)

Magically, overnight (Monday) the leg pain went away. I know there was a clot. It went away with the drugs. I am going to tell my Dr. about this, but I don't think he'll believe that there actually was still a clot in my leg. We'll see. I've also been hypersensitive about every little thing that my body is doing – leg cramps, chest flutter/squeeze etc. I can't wait until this obsession goes away. That's the good thing about going back to work. More OTHER things to focus on.

Anyway, I've been doing the Lovenox shots and Coumadin since Sunday and aside from them making me feel like crap, I feel okay. I've been back to work since yesterday (Wednesday), and giving my students PSAs about blood clots and birth control. I would have NEVER imagined that this could happen to ME, and with all of the scary stuff I've read online since Saturday about blood clots, blood thinners, and all of the complications, I've been freaked out but trying to stay positive. It's hard to know what is legitimate and what is over-reacting.