pharmacist10

Nuvaring (and any combined hormonal contraception (CHC) (eg. estrogen + progesterone)) does increase the risk of a venous thromboembolism which can lead to a pulmonary embolism. However, don't freak out! Let's put it into context of what the risk actually is.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) - absolute risk:

• Baseline: Non-CHC users: 4-5 per 10,000/year; ↑ with age e.g. >39yrs

• CHC Users: 8-9 / 10,000/yr (up to 14/10,000); highest in 1st yr;

• Pregnancy: 29 / 10,000/yr (Immediate post-partum period: 300-400 / 10,000/yr)

So what does this mean? Being pregnant increases your risk of having a VTE MORE than the birth control. Also, the longer you're on a form of birth control, the risk further decreases over time.

Obesity, sedentary life-style and smoking makes your risk go up just as much, or more than birth control.

So, someone who is overweight, >40 years old, smokes and isn't active already has lots of risk, so adding more to that with a CHC might be a bad idea, and would be better served with other options.

Progesterone only forms of birth control (the depo-provera shot) or the IUDs do not appear to increase risk of any of this.

SOGC guidelines: http://sogc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gui252CPG1012E.pdf

Glad you're ok--if you want any other info about endometriosis or meds you might be on, feel free to PM me

Reminds me of the episode when Mr. Burns gets Homer a "reward" for saving his life.

That's the biggest one of those I've ever seen!

Hello! For your tip #1, cleaning the brush roller / agitator, how exactly do you clean it? I've been cutting the hair out with scissors, but it's kind of nasty. Can it easily be dismantled to free everything?

As far as I know, asthma will not increase the risk of having a pulmonary embolism. Smoking is a big (giant) risk factor because it causes vasoconstriction (blood vessels narrow) and also damages various vessels that the body then has to repair. Similar to when you cut yourself, the blood vessel will clot up to repair the area, but the more this is occurring, and with narrower blood vessels, the higher the chance one of those clots breaks off prematurely and travels through the blood stream until it gets caught somewhere, like the lung.