Life and Death

I would like to share this story with any woman who is taking birth control. This is very important information that I feel, as woman need to know with complete certainty, because our LIFE DEPENDS on us knowing our bodies and what we are putting into it. I also urge men to become educated on this subject and know what the person you love is putting into her body.

Monday I went to the emergency room because I had a "gut" feeling that something was not quite right. I was completely prepared to be told to go home as a silly girl, who was worried about nothing and just wasting important doctors time for nothing, however, I was immediately admitted into the hospital and told that I could have dropped dead at any moment. This is not a joke.

Last week I noticed swelling under my right arm. It became quite painful, very quickly. I thought I must have strained it somehow, but as the days wore on, it was so painful, that six Advil could not relieve the pain. I was also experiencing a fever and waking up in the middle of the night drenched in perspiration. I also had a cough for several weeks, which was not getting any better, and recently noticed that climbing stairs made me short of breath. The following day I went to the doctor and she put me on anti-biotic. She told me it seemed as though I had an infection and it was trying to come out of my arm, instead of my nose or mouth, which may have been caused by my deodorant clogging my glands. She told me that if my arm tuned black and blue, I should immediately go to the emergency room. I thought this comment was strange, being that I had just been diagnosed with an infection, nonetheless, I was prepared to go home and feel better within a couple of days.

When I got home that night, my veins started to appear like a road map across my chest and down my arm. My arm was also swollen. I did not recognize that as a sign of ‘black and blue’, so I went to bed. That night, I woke up, drenched in sweat and this time was having trouble breathing. I assumed I was just breaking my fever. The following morning I felt a little better and went about my day. I assumed that in a couple of days, the anti-biotic would kick in and I would start to feel like my old self again. A few days later, I was getting my daughter ready for school and I felt faint. I almost passed out, right there in the kitchen while making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but somehow I gained my balance, drove her to school and actually volunteered there until after lunchtime. As I was driving home, I felt that something wasn’t quite right. I was not feeling my strong healthy self, my arm was still in pain and very swollen, in fact it was almost twice the size of my other arm. I decided to stop by the emergency room on the way home, with the hope they would tell me I was just getting rid of an infection.

After receiving an ultrasound on my arm, followed by a terrible CT scan of my chest - now let me tell you…this procedure is not pleasant - they inject a horrible dye into your veins, so they can get a good picture of what’s happening inside your body, it feels like poison, it tastes like metal, it feels hot, it feels like you wet your pants, and although it’s over with quickly, it isn’t something I would like to do again. The doctor immediately diagnosed me with a blood clot in my arm. It had traveled through my heart and into my lungs. It is still in my arm and lungs and by pure chance or luck, missed the main artery of my heart, thus not killing me. The cause they say….birth control….I could not believe it. After three days in hospital with nurses and doctors coming in every few hours to draw my blood like vampires, check my blood pressure, monitor my heart, inject me with medication and so on, I lay there bewildered and emotional that this has happened to me. I simply cannot believe I am laying here a sick person, in a hospital with sick people, because of birth control.

I am home now, I have to inject myself each morning with blood thinners, which is horrible, and I have to take a pill version of blood thinners for, at least the next 6-months. This means that if I cut myself, I could bleed to death, if I hit my head, I could bleed to death, if I bump myself I am going to bruise easily, and thus may cause more blood clots. In essence, I have to treat my physical body like a delicate flower for the next six months while it repairs itself. I cannot even eat green leafy vegetables, as vitamin KI, found in green leafy vegetables, combats that blood thinning medications, which by the way is a form of Rat poison. Could it get any worse? Probably, but at this point I am questioning if sex is even worth it. Well… ok, sex is definitely worth it, but this experience has my eyes wide open on the subject of birth control.
Almost all my girlfriends are on some form of birth control, which most of them get from the free clinic. Are they educated about the risks? Are you educated on the pros and cons of birth control? If you knew all the side effects it can cause, having a baby might be a hell of a lot easier and a lot more rewarding. I know I am being a little cynical, but I certainly know what it is like to have a baby, and I know what it is like not to want a baby.

Choices…...we have many choices. However, we should be very well informed about our choices. My doctor never told me I would be at risk for blood clots, or any risks for that matter. He knows my entire health history, my age, my shoe size. Not only that, he gave me free samples and sent me on my way. There was no brochure inside the package with any form of warning labels on them. I did my own research on the Internet on this particular form of birth control (NuvaRing) and must have overlooked that blood clots were a side effect, or maybe I just ignored them thinking that none of the side effects would ever happen to me; after all, I am a healthy, strong 35 year old woman, who is immune to any kind of dangerous, life threatening side effects and my doctor prescribed it to me…….right? Wrong…. In fact, I just researched NuvaRing and there are several lawsuits pending as it has caused many blood clots in woman, some have even died.

This has been a terribly emotional, stressful and horrific experience for me that I am still trying to digest and make sense of what has happened.

Please, lovely ladies…..I beg you to ask questions. I urge you to get educated. Do your research. I advise you to know exactly what you are putting into your body. Men too…….ask your ladies if they have questioned everything, everything………. Woman are the too beautiful, wonderful, caring, lovely and precious to be lost to something as sheepishly simple as birth control.