Is NuvaRing's effectiveness mitigated by weight?

February 22, 2010 6:38 AM

Is NuvaRing's effectiveness mitigated by weight?

I know, you are not my doctor and a real doctor is researching this, but if anyone with some education in the field could shed some light, I would appreciate it. All I can find is discussion about how it may cause weight gain. I want to know if a person is overweight, would it result in ineffective birth control and potentially pregnancy?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

In fact, NuvaRing has a better track record with this than more-systemic forms of hormonal birth control. All forms of the pill, for example, have to enter your bloodstream by way of your gut before the hormones will get to your reproductive organs. So, if you are a larger person, you will need a larger dose of oral contraceptive -- compounded by the facts that steroid hormones are fat-soluble and therefore tend to go there, and that fat itself produces hormones.

Since NuvaRing delivers its hormones more locally, this effect is mitigated, so heavier women do not have an increased failure rate (as per the above article).

If you're worried about failure rates of different contraceptives, you might also be interested in looking at the modern IUDs. I can't use other hormonal contraceptives because of bad side effects, but I'm in my 4th year with the Mirena, it's worked very well, I haven't had the fits of acne, crippling depression, and weight gain that I experienced with Every. Single. Other. Method., and it has a lower failure rate than any other hormonal method and should work regardless of whether or not a woman is overweight.
posted by kataclysm at 10:11 AM on February 22, 2010