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Best way to come off Nuvaring?

by Alexandra
(Canada)

I am 37 years old and have been on birth control for 20 years. The last 10 years I have been on Nuvaring. I do not have any kids and do not plan on getting pregnant. I also have a very stressful job.

I went on birth control in the first place because my periods were extremely irregular. I would only get 4-5 per year and I had pretty bad acne.

I have tried to go off birth control many times and just feel horrible - extremely nauseous and unable to function. When I brought this up to my doctor, she keeps saying there is no risk in taking birth control and to just stay on it.

I have been married for 6 years and over this time I have noticed my libido going down hill as well. And then this past year, I have experienced something that I have never had to deal with - anxiety, panic attacks, chest tightness, mental fogginess, lack of motivation, sugar cravings, mood swings, heat intolerance, hair thinning. It has been a horrible year and I have tried everything to get it under control with no long term success. For example, I will read that Niacinamide will help for anxiety. So I would take it and it would work for a month or two and then the symptoms would return. So I would keep looking, trying things and this has been going on for over a year now.

Recently I stumbled upon your site and decided to have my hormones checked. I went to my doctor and she refused. She just wanted to prescribe me a anti-depressant and benzodiazepene. So I ordered a home test online and received my results. Both my Vitamin D and Pg/E2 levels are low. (Vitamin D: 28 ng/mL; Pg/E2 ratio is 16).

So today I ordered some NatPro cream and have started taking 5000IU’s of Vitamin D daily.

I would like to know once the cream comes in, how to come off Nuvaring since the regular protocol suggested on your site only refers to pills and not the ring. It sounds like I may have to do it cold turkey.

In addition, since my Pg/E2 level is extremely low, would a higher dose of progesterone be recommended 400-500mg/day instead of 100-200mg/day?

Thank you so much for the wealth of information you provide on this site and I'm hoping this is will provide me the relief I have been looking for all this time!

Thank you!

Comments for Best way to come off Nuvaring?

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Jul 15, 2016
 RE
by: Viviann

Hi!

The way I would do it is to wait the moment you usually take it out and I simply wouldn't use any more. At first you MAY experience some withdrawal effects and also some estrogen dominance effects but rest reassured that it will be temporary and it does get better with each cycle. I would also suggest you to take a good b vitamins complex, magnesium glycinate which is very calming (up to 1000mg/day),vitamin d (and also a bit of sun each day like 10-15 minutes). As for the progesterone cream, I would start with a small amount (20mg/day) on day 12 ,40mg/day on day 13, 60mg/day on day 14 and then at day 15 increase it to 100mg/day until day 27 for the first cycle anyway. As you may not ovulate right away or may not have regular cycles right away it's really about trials and errors for what works for YOUR body. From there you can adjust the amount you use and if you do a non stop cycle use or not. Also try avoiding sugar as much as you can and a supplement like calm forte has helped me tremendously when I needed it ...Best of luck to you!
Jul 18, 2016
 Best way to come off Nuvaring?
by: Joy

Hi Alexandra

Gosh what a long time to be on BCP! All drug based Contraceptives have a potential to cause harm. Ideally it is always best to wean off HRT, estrogen, progistin and testosterone drugs, but as you have the Nuvaring inserted this is impossible. If removed, your levels will plummet. If you can tolerate this then fine, but you have reacted every time you tried to come off. It is always best to use progesterone cream for at least 3 months BEFORE weaning off any of the above. I do not recommended that you go cold turkey until you have been using progesterone for at least 3 months. This may be a little 'kinder' on your body. I suspect that you will need to use 400-500mg per day, to help you get over those dreadful Estrogen Dominance symptoms that you are already experiencing. Your estrogen levels must be excessive. Using anything less than 400mg per day is not going to help, you may even need to use more. This is something that you will have to experiment with. Once the Nuvaring has been removed and you feel stable enough, then and only then can you consider reducing the amount of progesterone to a level that suits you.

You are most probably in or heading towards Peri-Menopause which can be a difficult time in a woman’s life, but it need not be with the correct use of progesterone cream which will also prepare you for Menopause. PM also brings on Anxiety, Hair Loss, and Insulin Resistance. Stress is a killer, it destroys not only progesterone and Vitamin D3 levels, but so many other valuable nutrients to. Please consider taking the calming aminos mentioned on the Anxiety page. Whatever you do try not to go on the benzos, I am so pleased that you refused, they are all highly addictive and make matters worse!! Why do they always suggest anti-depressants when very clearly your hormones need to be balanced?

I assume that you have worked out your P:E(2) ratio correctly as per the Hormone Testing page, it is very low and should be around 600:1. Your Vitamin D3 level is also very low and I suggest that you take 10 000iu’s per day for 3 months, have another test, if the level is where it should be as stated on the Vitamin D3 page, then drop down to 5 000iu’s per day. If not, continue with 10 000iu’s.

Please do not used the commonly incorrect amount of 20-40mg, this will drive you insane and merely stir up your estrogen receptors, you certainly do not need that. Please use Natpro every single day, do not take breaks, at Peri-Menopause it is best to use the cream every day anyway, so forget about following your cycle which is going to become rather erratic.

Just a word on Vitamin D3 and its co-factors which are extremely important. Magnesium is considered to be the most important, but you need the others too. Between 250-800mg of COMBINDED magnesium is required. In other words you need oral and transdermal. Glycinate is excellent to be taken at night, but NOT 1000mg per day. Please read the Magnesium page for more information.

Please read the following pages and I wish you well.

How to use Progesterone Cream
Estrogen Dominance
Peri-Menopause
Menopause
Contraceptives
Hormone Testing
Stress
Hair Loss
Insulin Resistance
Vitamin D3
Magnesium
Benzos
Jul 20, 2016
 Thank you!
by: Alexandra

Thank you for your responses and advice! I received my order of NatPro today. I wanted to say thank you for how fast it was shipped considering it had to go through customs.

I did see a post about excessive shipping fees. I wanted to comment. I paid $15.50US for First Class Mail International and I think that is very reasonable. I have paid way more for other products from the US into Canada. The shipping I I paid is usually what I pay when I order products within Canada!

Thank you again!

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