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Re: ortho evra (the patch) bad for endo? LORI
From: anonymous (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu Jul 27 12:07:25 2006
The patch, according to it's new FDA-required warning, gives you a
considerably higher level of estrogen in your blood than the pill.
According to NuvaRing's website. With a 30 mcg pill (Desogen), the
average blood levels of estrogen are around 35 pg/ml. With the patch
it's 50, depending on where you put it on you. They claim the NuvaRing
gives you an avg. blood estrogen level of only 18 picograms/ml. Given
the understanding that estrogen feeds endo, this may explain why several
people have reported endo suffering on the patch and more success with
the ring.
At Thu, 27 Jul 2006, meredith wrote:
>
>Lori. Hi, my endometriosis symptoms got severely worse once I was on
>the patch as well. Nuvaring has helped a lot though. while I was on
>the patch (two years) I had heightened anxiety and depression as well. I
>recommend you stay away from it. Besides, the sticky adhesive tends to
>break one out in a rash. Good luck!
>meredith*
>
>At Wed, 26 Jul 2006, Lori wrote:
>>
>>I have become increasingly curious about whether being on the patch
>>exacerbated my endometriosis.
>>
>>I suspect that I had endo for a number of years before I was diagnosed
>>and treated with a lap and lupron last year. But I was on the patch for
>>a few months before my symptons started to get really bad. At the same
>>time I had a bout of bad anxiety and depression that made me think I was
>>going crazy. By the time of my surgery I had gone off the patch.
>>
>>That was almost two years ago, and since then warnings have gone out
>>about the increased estrogen content of the patch. Since it is
>>transdermal, women can be exposed to much higher concentrations of
>>estrogen, at least in the beginning of the week. This got me wondering
>>about a few things. First, endometriosis is known to get worse with
>>estrogen, and improve when estrogen is removed. Thus, the lupron's
>>purpose is to eliminate estrogen in order to shrink the lesions. So
>>wouldn't it get worse with increased exposure to estrogen? High
>>estrogenic exposure is thought to cause other health problems, in
>>general changing hormones effects our entire bodies and our moods. I
>>have no doubt that my anxiety came from the patch. I'd noticed once
>>before that ortho tri cyclen did the same thing, but I stopped taking
>>it. I didn't attribute my problems to the patch because I had so much
>>going on in my life.
>>
>>I'd like to know if anyone else has had bad effects from the patch.
>>
>>--
>>Thanks, Lori
>>
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