Birth control

I am a 23-year-old female from South Africa who was on the hormonal birth control pill for skin purposes. As a human physiology and genetics graduate, I knew the risks of taking contraceptives and how it increases blood viscosity, or thickness, but I never thought that it was going to happen to me, even though…

I have always been someone who believed I could overpower being sick— at 31 years old, a hot shower, big glass of water, an over-the-counter pain medication, and a fresh face of makeup could still solve just about any ailment I experienced. But, when I broke my ankle in late November 2018 and started experiencing…

When my symptoms started, I was 34 years old, a bride-to-be and an avid runner. In fact, I was going to run a half-marathon the week before my wedding. Training had been going well, but as race day approached, I noticed I was feeling unusually tired. To save energy for the wedding, I skipped the…

Eight years ago, when I was 23 years old, I suffered a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clot in my leg. My doctors put me on heparin and warfarin for six months, and I was instructed to stop hormonal birth control. I figured since I stopped estrogen-based birth control, I would be fine, even…

At 19 years old, I never knew how much blood clots could affect my life. I worked at a daycare center all summer and, as a result, I was active every day chasing and playing with kids. One day, I woke up with severe back pain. I brushed it off at first, and blamed the…

I started estrogen-based birth control in December 2018. I had a cramp in my calf, and two days later it was dismissed as nothing by my gynecologist. I stayed on birth control and what were actually clots in my right leg grew. I would later learn that the blood clots extended from my knee to…

My name is Lucy, and I am 22 years old. I had DVT (deep vein thrombosis or blood clot in the leg) and PEs (pulmonary embolism or blood clots in the lung) due to estrogen-based contraception. I am sharing my story to raise awareness about the risks of estrogen-based birth control in women of my…

For my college graduation trip, I went to Hawaii with my family. After our red eye flight back to LAX, I got up out of my seat and had severe calf pain in my left leg. I attributed it to running and didn’t think much of it. The next day, it was still bothering me,…

I was 29 years old when I was first diagnosed with blood clots. I dropped a bench on my right foot and about a week later, I started to feel pain in my right ankle and knee. I went to see my doctor about two weeks after the pain started, because it wasn’t going away,…

December 21, 2017, started off just like any other day. I woke up early, worked out, and then got ready for work. I had a headache for two days prior. I was taking over-the-counter pain medication, but my headache was not so bad that it stopped me from my normal routine. While I was at…