Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The Nuvaring has taken my sanity.

Those of you out there with odd and ever-changing schedules struggling to remember to take your birth control pill at the same time daily will understand why when the Nuvaring came out, I was ecstatic. Constantly hopping time zones and varying my sleep schedule had wreaked havoc on my birth control regimen - I'd end up either taking the pill sometimes in the mornings, which for me led to a full day riddled with bouts of nausea, or taking it it irregularly and risking ending up, as the British say, "shot in the giblets." (Which, by the way, is the best euphemism for pregnancy ever.)

So a couple months ago, I made the switch to the Nuvaring, which promised to be both revolutionary and convenient. At first, the apparent rigidity and hardness of the thing in its little foil package made me a little apprehensive about its ability to be manipulated in such a way it could be painlessly shoved into my hooha. Thankfully, I was wrong and getting the thing to its proper locale wasn't difficult or uncomfortable.

But then.. the side effects. The side effects began straightaway (I'm in British mode now) - slight headaches, sudden onsets of nausea, decreased sex drive, and mood swings. VIOLENT mood swings. I'm talking getting upset about something and instead of working through whatever annoyance or situation brought it on, collapsing into heaving, uncontrollable sobs - the kind that are appropriate when you're eight and your dog just died.

I decided to give the Nuvaring a fighting chance; maybe my body just needed a period of adjustment at first and that eventually my hormones would even out and things would once again be kosher. Well, currently I'm on Nuvaring #3 and the side effects don't seem to have abated. For the first week after I put one in, I'm prone to debilitating nausea and still seem to forget sometimes that sex is something I highly enjoy. Continuing past the first week is the most difficult one - the mood swinging.

Yesterday morning I got in trouble at work for not being where I was supposed to be when they called me to send me on a trip. The end result of my fucking up is that I will apparently receive a verbal rebuke and may have to send in an apologetic letter. No danger of losing my job, nothing beyond some crow-eating.

I reacted as though I'd been diagnosed with a fatal disease that I'd contracted due to my own stupidity and worthlessness. I felt as though my entire world were collapsing and it was all my fault. True, I've been under a higher degree of stress than usual because my work (and therefore pay) has been woefully inconsistent for the past few months, and I'm contemplating returning to school or switching careers, which I find very intimidating. However, I got so upset over this incident that I found myself so nerve-wracked I was shaking, couldn't bring myself to eat, and began vomiting uncontrollably (that may also have something to do with the stupid nausea).

I was so irrational the types of thoughts going through my head were along the lines of, "My life is ruined. I'm so stupid, I fucked everything up. Nothing is okay anymore. Nothing will work out. Things keep getting worse. They'll never get better," and while fleeting moments of self-flagellation and doubt probably strike everyone once in awhile, the bizarre thing was I couldn't get out of that mindset. It wasn't until ten hours later or so that I finally started to calm down. This can't be normal. I miss the good old-fashioned pill.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Could just ditch the damn thing, feel better and make whatever bloke wear a rubber :) Incidentally, i'm British and that's the first time i've heard of "shot in the giblets" ... some southern term no doubt. Maybe you've heard of "bun in the oven" or "up the stick" :)

6:13 PM  
Blogger Erika said...

Ahh, everyone's favorite hula hoop. A ring, my ass. A ring should be pretty and get a girl loads of compliments. Why don't they just rename it the "Huha Hula Hoop." Much more fitting, I think.

e
p.s. I like the old British euphemism "Up the Duff" Mostly because I can't begin to imagine what in the hell it means. Intriguing, really.

4:55 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Many women have a terrible experience using nuvaring which some women tried it aside from taking pills an alternative method of birth control. However, records shows that nuvaring has risk which are blood clots, strokes, heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, cancer of the reproductive organs and breast, gallbladder and many more. In addition, most women experience nuvaring side effects are vaginal infections and irritation
vaginal secretion, headache,weight gain, nausea. If this may occur, you can consult your doctor immediately.

4:21 PM  

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