AthenaErdmann
Silver Member
Warning: some of this may trigger people with sexual issues.
Nope, it is a soft but firm ring, about two inches in diameter, which one puts deep inside the vagina oneself (clean hands are of course a must). After it has gone in, one has three weeks of no worries (if one's body agrees with the hormone level, of course). When the three weeks are up, one takes it out, a period ensues, and after one week one inserts a new ring.
Two moves to remember per 28 days - for me that beats remembering a pill every day hands down (been there, done that, way longer than I would have wanted to - I was always frantic that I would forget a pill, that was stressful). Also the "on your body, off your mind" of the patches was cool (just three moves to remember per 28 days - nice!).
If the pill works well and if remembering is not an issue for you, you may not want to switch. But it is nice to know that there are alternatives (more than IUDs - have tried that, too, it came out spontaneously within the first month, and that hurt!).
Both Nuvaring and Ortho Evra (the patch) have pretty informative web sites - if you consider either, do check them out.
Athena
