Hi Tara,
I'm sorry you had this happen, but it is not uncommon.
Worst-case scenario is you were without your nuvaring for two consecutive days, once you found out (and, I assume did not have unprotected sex afterwards). Next time, it would be a good idea to get emergency contraception the moment you find that your normal birth control method failed; you have up to 120 hours after sex to use EC.
For your current circumstance, the bleeding you experienced was most likely withdrawal bleeding, but it does not indicate if you are pregnant or not. Withdrawal bleeding is simply your body "withdrawing" from the lack of hormones, and this can cause some spotting. You will need to wait until your next cycle to know if you are pregnant or not, but the odds are in your favor of NOT being pregnant.
It would be a good idea to continue using nuvaring, once you discovered it has been out for a 2 days. Never stop using a medication abruptly (you mentioned you have not used it since this time). It is best to continue protecting yourself from pregnancy by re-inserting it, per the nuvaring instructions: http://www.nuvaring.com/Consumer/commonQuestions/index.asp. Sperm can live inside your body for 3-5 days, so you want to continue receiving the dose of hormones.
I'm sorry that I can't give you a definitive answer if you are pregnant or not, but I can tell you that women who use NO birth control only have a 20% chance each cycle of becoming pregnant...even when they are trying. So, odds are for this one incident that you are not likely pregnant, but please let us know when your "withdrawal bleeding" begins with your next cycle of nuvaring. If you are still concerned, it is always a good idea to call your prescribing doctor as well.
Good luck! (You may want to have emergency contraception available in your medicine cabinet, for situations like this in the future...just to be on the extra-safe side).
Comment Reply
Hi Tara,
I'm sorry you had this happen, but it is not uncommon.
Worst-case scenario is you were without your nuvaring for two consecutive days, once you found out (and, I assume did not have unprotected sex afterwards). Next time, it would be a good idea to get emergency contraception the moment you find that your normal birth control method failed; you have up to 120 hours after sex to use EC.
For your current circumstance, the bleeding you experienced was most likely withdrawal bleeding, but it does not indicate if you are pregnant or not. Withdrawal bleeding is simply your body "withdrawing" from the lack of hormones, and this can cause some spotting. You will need to wait until your next cycle to know if you are pregnant or not, but the odds are in your favor of NOT being pregnant.
It would be a good idea to continue using nuvaring, once you discovered it has been out for a 2 days. Never stop using a medication abruptly (you mentioned you have not used it since this time). It is best to continue protecting yourself from pregnancy by re-inserting it, per the nuvaring instructions: http://www.nuvaring.com/Consumer/commonQuestions/index.asp. Sperm can live inside your body for 3-5 days, so you want to continue receiving the dose of hormones.
I'm sorry that I can't give you a definitive answer if you are pregnant or not, but I can tell you that women who use NO birth control only have a 20% chance each cycle of becoming pregnant...even when they are trying. So, odds are for this one incident that you are not likely pregnant, but please let us know when your "withdrawal bleeding" begins with your next cycle of nuvaring. If you are still concerned, it is always a good idea to call your prescribing doctor as well.
Good luck! (You may want to have emergency contraception available in your medicine cabinet, for situations like this in the future...just to be on the extra-safe side).
November 18, 2010 - 1:23pmThis Comment
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