Birth control

I had my first blood clot when I was 24 years old after ACL reconstruction surgery — a risk factor for blood clots that I was unaware of. After my surgery, I noticed that my arm was warm, swollen, and red, all signs of blood clots. I knew something was off, and decided to go…

I am 18 years old and during November 2020 I contracted COVID-19. A few months later, I started having pain in my leg and I found it difficult to breathe. My mom took me to the doctor and they told me it was just anxiety. But three days later, I convinced my mom that something…

The morning of November 14, 2019 I fell in my bathroom and hit my head on the bathtub. I was unconscious, lying in a pool of blood, until I finally gained some life and crawled to call 9-1-1. When the medics arrived, I was barely able to breathe and went into cardiac arrest three times.…

In May of 2021, I dislocated my ankle. I was also on hormonal birth control. After the ankle injury, I was told to go home and rest, and not to bear weight on my ankle for 4-6 weeks. After about a week and a half, I had intense pain and cramping in the calf of…

After twisting my ankle a few weeks prior, I had a dull charley horse ache in my calf. Nothing worked to relieve it, but it wasn’t too bad, and it was easy to ignore most of the time. I started to notice when climbing up my stairs at home I would get a little out…

In September 2020, at the age of 24 and in good health, one week away from graduating with my master’s degree, I nearly lost my life. I woke up one day with a headache slightly worse than normal. Over a week, things got worse until I was in more pain than I had ever experienced…

I was diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in my lungs, on July 20, 2020, at the age of 28. This clotting was provoked by estrogen-based birth control combined with immobility due to a recent wisdom teeth extraction. This was a day I will never forget and a day that changed my life…

My mum saved my life. I was diagnosed with upper extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or a blood clot in my arm, in late June 2019. I started showing signs and symptoms at the beginning of the month. I was 26 years old, had a 9 to 5 job, and loved going to the gym.…

December 19, 2019, will always be a day I remember. Three weeks prior to that day, I noticed calf pain in my left leg that would come and go. I chalked it up to a running injury. I was in the best shape of my life, running 20 miles a week and attending fitness classes…

I thought I was being responsible.  My husband and I had been married for nearly 10 years. We’d mutually agreed that we didn’t want biological children and I’d faithfully remained on the same birth control, having never experienced any adverse effects. I’m a big believer in the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix…