AboutDr. Ravindra Bhaskar Ghooi Expertise I can provide information on drugs and medicines, their actions, uses, interactions and adverse effects. To avoid confusion, generic names of
medicines may please be provided. I am a pharmacologist, having worked
on animal and human pharmacology, and presently I am the Dean of Bilcare Research Academy, where we teach courses on clinical research. We dont work on saturdays and sundays, hence questions reachng me on these days will be replied on Monday, please bear with me.
Question I am a journalism student at SDSU. I am writing a story about the risks of birth control in relation to blood clots. I have discovered that a large number of women have experienced dvt's and pulmonary emboli following use of the Nuvaring. There are at least 20 women on this web site I found that have entered blogs saying they used the Nuvaring and then had DVT and PE. The women were non-smoking, healthy and young. The insert enclosed with the Nuvaring does indicate that blood clots are a risk of the ring, but I don't think a lot of young women realize they could die from using it.
Do you think that doctors should play a bigger role in informing women of the risk of clotting? Do you think the FDA should approve a contraceptive that carries this kind of risk?
Can you add any knowledge you have on the subject.
Thank you. I appreciate your response.
Answer Dear Cecilia,
Nuvaring is known to cause thrombosis and is contraindicated in patients with such a history. Now is the question whether the FDA should have allowed such a product or not. We are aware that all drugs and medications carry a risk. There is a risk in everything we do and in everything that we do not do. If we were to reject all risky actions bicylces, motor cycles, cars, trains, ships and planes would have to be banned. No adventure sport or even other physical sport would be permissible if we were to totally avoid risks. Nuvaring does carry a risk but it is not significantly greater than that of oral contraceptives, or of maternity which could occur in the absence of contraception. It is for these reasons that accept agents with minimal risks. For medicines we balance the risk and benefit and if the balance is in favour of the drug we use it. I hope my opinion is clear.
Regards
Ravi Ghooi
