omg! i'm so glad to hear from you. i tried the nuva ring for the first time last may and within a month i had what i thot was a terrible sinus infection, joint pain, a severe fatique. this went on all summer with little to no relief and now i'm seeing a rhuemy as a possible pm or mctd patient. i do believe the nuva ring was the impetus to my health issues. the gyn does not agree. fyi after 3 months with what i thot was the sinus infection, i called merck and they admitted that chronic sinus infections is a possible side effect of the ring, but they said they had no evidence that joint pain was associated. i realize that these autoimmune disease begin from a virus so i've been trying to find a dr that's willing to study this nuvaring connection too. let me know if you get a professional to concur with this theory and give merck a call to see what they tell you.

Hmmm. I never heard of that. I was on Nuvaring for 3 yrs with no problems. My issues with DM started about 3-4 months after I stopped using it.

Now, I'm intrigued.

i am too. i never used oral or iud contraceptives before then, so what was your previous history before using nuva ring?

I would try the pill but would never stick with them because I always had severe nausea. Tried everything from Ortho Tricyclin to Yaz to Alesse. The Nuvaring was a savior for me.

I took a leftover Vicodin from my muscle biopsy this morning because the cramping was so bad and this is only Day 1. I'm afraid too of becoming anemic because I thought I read somewhere iron supplements aren't good with Prednisone.

My rheumy supposed to be calling me with blood work results tomorrow so Ill see what she says.

Nope. I had my tubes tied several years before getting sick. My gyn was going to put my on seasonal (sp) though because I have such a hard time with that time each month. It was so ungodly expensive though. So, I'm just sticking to the surgical method and dealing with the bs each month.

well i have low pottasium and iron now. pred is the only thing i'm on. gastro is trying to locate possible causes for iron loss now. the integra plus capsules make me feel sick on my stomach even when taken with a full meal.

That's what I wanted to get on was Seasonique and just not get a period especially in the setting of prednsione and Imuran and one shouldn't get preggers anyway. I'll talk to the rheumy first and then bug my gyn.

I take Prednisone and Methotrexate and I am on Ortho Novum 1/35. I've never had a a problem. I take my pills at night so I am not nauseated. I need to take the birth control or my special time of the month is unbearable.

Don't take birth control

So, my GYN called in a script for Seasonique (not liking the $50 copay), and he said he hasn't heard of any contraindications with Prednisone other than it may reduce effectiveness of the birth control but I'm more interested in having 4 periods a yr.

Just got off the phone with my rheumy (my cpk is finally dropping -now down to 13,000 from 16,000 on 6/10) and thank goodness no diabetes or infections. She also didn't think there would be a problem with me starting Seasonique but she would double check.

I'm still on the fence tho. Haven't picked up the script (yet).

I am now going through peri-menopause. I used to have trouble with excessive bleeding and I am anemic. I do take iron everyday. When I had the excessive bleeding, I went to the Hotze clinic in Houston. The doctor put me on the bioidentical hormone progesterone. My periods became normal to small instead of a flood. If you flood then there is a hormone imbalance and progesterone will cure the problem. I also felt much better with my hormones balanced. Look on the internet and see if there is a clinic in your area that specializes in bioidentical hormones. The right hormones will fix many issues. Good luck.