QuestionOh, I am sorry...I just realized I was not clear in my question. I should have better articulated. I was wondering if these symptoms I am feeling could actually just be due to hormonal changes from discontinuing birth control and not pregnancy. Also, the first day of my last period was 7/25/05.
And now to add to this, since I wrote you just a few hours ago, I have had some bleeding, which I assume must be the start of my period. But why so early? If anything, I have always been late when not on birth control. I wonder if my discontinuation of the Nuva Ring is to blame for all of this.
I just saw my doctor, so I don't want to run back there so soon after just to ask questions like these if they can easily be explained. However, if they cannot be answered without an examination, that is entirely understandable. Thank you for all your assistance.
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Followup To
Question -
I have been using the Nuva Ring for the past 8 months as my chosen contraceptive method. I removed the Ring on 7/21/05 and am currently not using contraception. In the past couple weeks, I have had what feel like pregnancy symptoms, i.e. nausea, backache, heartburn, sore breasts, etc. It's a little early to do a home pregnancy test yet, and I don't want to get my hopes up too much before I test. I just wanted to see if, in your experience, you have found that women can have this sort of reaction when discontinuing hormonal birth control. I do want to also add that I did not have these symptoms when discontinuing my use of Ortho Tricyclen in the past.
Thank you in advance for your response!
Answer -
You did not mention when the first day of your last period was. If you stopped the Nuvoring on July 21, then the earliest that you could have ovulated would have been on August 4. YOu could have conceived if you had unprotected sex on August 3,4,5, or 6. If you did become pregnant on one of those days, the earliest that a pregnancy test would show a positive result would be 14-21 days later. The best time to take a pregnancy test is seven days after you miss your next period. The earliest symptoms of pregnancy are, as you know, breast tenderness, nausea, and fatigue. Certainly, you can become pregnant two weeks or more after stopping hormonal birth control.
AnswerThe first few cycles after stopping any hormonal birth control method can be irregular. If your last period started on July 25, and you started your period on August 17, this cycle is 24 days long, which is within normal limits. I do not think you need another exam. I would suggest keeping a careful record of your bleeding for the next few months and, if it remains unusual, call your doctor's office and discuss it. Usually your cycles should return to normal within a few months.
