ways to use the nuvaring!

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

after a very in depth conversation with my ob-gyn and the midwife in the office yesterday i feel pretty well-informed on how the nuvaring works, and i thought it might be helpful to have some of the information i received in one post because it seems like people ofte have questions about this. i am also a librarian, and did a lot of research on my own before i even decided to start using it (6 months ago) and the doctor just confirmed what i'd already figured out.

basically, this is the information that is available now, based on studies and approval in other parts of the world, about how you can use the nuvaring effectively (in terms of weeks on and off) regardless of what the u.s. directions might say.

we already know that the ring is effective for 4 weeks (in terms of dispensing hormones to the body). and we mostly know all that i'm putting in this post. but like i said, thought i'd be helpful to have it clearly stated in one place!

three options:

option one - wear it as directed. three weeks in and one week out. three weeks with hormones, and one week without hormones. you should bleed during that fourth week. you will be protected through the four weeks, continuously.

option two - wear it for four weeks, and then remove it for one week. you will bleed during that fifth week. this puts your body on a five week cycle instead of a four week cycle, but you will remain protected for the entire time continuously.

option three - wear it for four weeks, and immediately insert a new ring when those four weeks are up. you won't bleed at all and you will be protected continuously. at some point you might spot, and my doctor recommends that if that happens, you could take the ring out (at whatever point you are in the cycle) and leave it out for one week, allowing yourself to bleed. it's not necessary, but she recommends it. after the week insert a new ring and leave it in for four weeks (repeating the original process).

i use option three and it's been great! i bleed every 3 to 4 months and it has really helped me with pre-menstrual migraines that i used to get during my week off of hormones. now that happens a couple times a year instead of every month!

ok, hope this was useful to someone. feel free to delete if you feel it's extraneous.

Comments

[whydoihavethis.livejournal.com]

I've been using Nuvarign for about two months now, as per option 1, but option 2 sounds lovely. When you initially switch from a 3 week to a 4 week cycle, do you generally spot during that forth week?

Thanks for the info!

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

that's a great question! i don't really have an answer, and i think the answer is most likely "it depends...everyone reacts differently to these things". i didn't spot at all when i switched from using it for 3 weeks to using it for 4 weeks. so hopefully the same would be true for you!

[maggiewatchie.livejournal.com]

I just switched to a 5-week cycle this month, after about 4 months on the 4-week cycle. I spotted on the day I took the ring out, and it increased to a normal period, where it used to be I wouldn't bleed at ALL until about the 4th ring-free day. So we'll see what happens this month. My body seems to like to bleed every four weeks come hell or high water, so I was surprised it (almost) made it the four weeks with the ring in!

[essos.livejournal.com]

I'd like to clarify your post a little bit.

Wearing the ring for anywhere in between 3-4 weeks is acceptable.

Removing the ring for anywhere between 0-7 days is acceptable (a full week isn't necessary).

I, for example, might wear mine for 25 days and take it out for 4. (My doctor actually recommended to me a shorter hormone-free 'week'. I can't remember why.)

Basically, there aren't three options. There are many: Wear it for 3-4 weeks, take it out for 0-7 days.

[essos.livejournal.com]

It's the same for most BC pills.

Take at least 21 pills consecutively.
Don't go for more than 7 days without taking one.

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

yeah, totally. sometimes harder to negotiate with birth control cause the packets only have so many pills (so the options are a bit more limited unless you are dealing with specific pill brands).

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

thank you, you're completely right. i hadn't thought about really the multitude of options, i was sort of looking at it more in weeks cause it was how we were talking yesterday.

but thanks for adding! it'll make the post even more useful and more clear.

[essos.livejournal.com]

No problem. (Also, I hope my comment didn't sound mean. I re-read it and realized it wasn't really warm and friendly.)

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

no worries! i try to assume people are being warm and friendly, since it's so hard to tell in writing (especially when it's just an lj comment). it's easier than being on the defense all the time, eh?

[thisxabovexall.livejournal.com]

The more I hear about the five-week cycle, the more I'm interested in trying that out.

Without HBC, my cycle was about 36 days long, so my periods are more frequent on HBC, which kinda sucks. This would put it back to normal for me.

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

give it a try, then! it might be great for you!

[twirly.livejournal.com]

I've been using option three for the last six or seven months. It's really helping me because of my endometriosis. I have my ring free week every three to four months as I tend to get breakthrough bleeding if I go longer than 4 months without my ring free week.

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

that's exactly how i do it (and exactly how long i go before i have breakthrough bleeding)! it seems like a great way to go if you have any health problems relating to that drop in hormones during a hormone free week. it's been a miracle for my migraines!

[twirly.livejournal.com]

migraines are the worst!

i've noticed that last couple of months that by the end of the 4th week i start to get headaches but once i have the new ring in i start to feel better.

i'm also not cramping as much as i had been when i was on the patch. do i still cramp? of course, i have endo and i cramp a lot but it's nowhere near as bad as it had been.

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

that's so great! congrats on finding something that seems to work well for you.

yay us!

[twirly.livejournal.com]

it's taken YEARS to find something that has worked this well for me. i am sooooooo happy.

yay yay yay us!

[diamondxavenue.livejournal.com]

just out of curiosity, do you and/or your partner feel it when you're having sex?

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

he never does. i do on occasion, and when it's uncomfortable i just take it out. sometimes, if i don't want to spoil the mood, i'll take it out before we even get to that point, just in case.

[individuation.livejournal.com]

Neither me nor my partner ever feel it.

[individuation.livejournal.com]

I am so happy I just saw this post. I'm on the three week cycle - out for one. Today is the day I would normally remove the ring, but I'm going camping next weekend - and the LAST thing I want to deal with when camping out in the woods away from real bathrooms is my period.

I'm going to leave this ring in for another week. I really hope I don't mess myself up.

[gallyko.livejournal.com]

I know this is an incredibly late comment but your post really helped me today! I've been using option 1 but since my birthday happens to fall on the 4th week I was planning on leaving it in. My boyfriend is quite worried that I won't be protected and might have ill side effects, but I think showing him this post will put his mind to ease.

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

so glad it helped!!

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

yes - if you used the ring for 3 weeks before taking it out, you are protected while it is out, similar to how you are protected during the "placebo pill" week of birth control pills.

[misscassandrap.livejournal.com]

I hope this isn't a hopeless question since this post is from so long ago...

I'm due to put my Nuva Ring in today, I've been following option 1 accurately ever since I got it and the time I am to take it out falls right on my Florida vacation, so I want to wait a week to put this month's ring in, that way my period week will be the week right after FL. Will I still be protected?

[dearanxiety.livejournal.com]

hey - if i understand correctly, you can still be protected. you can only wait a week to put it in, if you left the last one in for four weeks. in other words you can never go more than 7 days with no ring inserted and be protected.

this is basically the key:
as long as you have it in anywhere between 21 and 28 days and then out between 0 and 7 days, you are protected.
you are not protected if it is in for less than 21 days or more than 28 days or if it is out for more than 7.

hope that helps! if it's too late to put it in late (you already have had it out for more than 7 days) i would just put it in and leave it in through your vacation (up to 28 days). so instead of putting it in a week late, you'd be taking it out a week late. this would still keep you from bleeding.

[peggy3000.livejournal.com]

sooo... just in theory, as an experiment: if I weren't sexually active, I could just leave one ring in until i start bleeding - then I'd know roughly how long those hormones really last?
although I realize there'll be a gradual decline in hormones before the bleeding starts so I might ovulate
but still, i wonder if anyone has tried this, since information on how long the ring REALLY lasts are hard to come by (I've read one 2001 study where the ring fully inhibited ovulation through its 5th week of use).

[mooselover13.livejournal.com]

I knew your post was here, and THANKS! I have been up and down about doing HBC and different forms, and the ring is the most easy that I've had besides Mirena. I think I'm going to give that option 3 a try too, because I get mental around my period, and I'm hoping that will help reduce the frequency/severity of those instances.

Thank you!

[kymberleeanne.livejournal.com]

If I do the 4 weeks in 1 week out..do I have to use condoms for the first week of the new ring?