Nuvaring Attorney

by Steve Fields on February 14th, 2011

Your body’s natural clotting system prevents bleeding after a vein becomes injured. A blood clot covers the injury, and allows it to be repaired. Once the trauma has been mended, the clot dissolves. This mechanism essentially preserves your life. If you have suffered serious Nuvaring side effects please contact us and a Nuvaring attorney can discuss your legal options including filing deadlines.

Nuvaring side effects caused by blood clots (or, thrombi) form outside your body’s clotting system. They develop, in part, due to the release of estrogen and desogestrel into a woman’s bloodstream. These hormones have been known to sharply raise the risk of thrombi, especially in the deep veins. While your body’s clot-dissolving mechanism can help contain their growth, they often persist, and pose a risk of triggering several dangerous complications. We’ll describe the most serious side effects below.

Chronic Venous Insufficiency

Most Nuvaring blood clots symptoms develop in the deep veins (often, in the legs). In contrast to superficial veins that lie near the surface of your skin, these blood vessels are buried among muscles. They drain into a large vein called the inferior vena cava (IVC), which carries oxygen-depleted blood to your heart.

Your blood vessels are equipped with one-way valves, which help ensure blood moves in one direction: toward your heart. When clots form in the veins, they can inflame these valves, damaging them in the process. The damaged valves eventually become incapable of preventing blood from flowing backward. This allows fluid to accumulate (called edema) instead of draining into the IVC. The condition is known as chronic venous insufficiency.

The veins may become severely damaged over time, resulting in scar tissue. This can trap fluid permanently in the legs, which leads to skin ulcers and related problems.

Impaired Lung Function

Nuvaring side effects involving blood clots can break away from the wall of the deep veins. In some cases, a small portion of a thrombus can break free of a larger mass. It embolizes and travels into the inferior vena cava. Recall that the IVC delivers blood to your heart. The embolus can be carried along this same path, until it arrives in the right atrium (one of two upper chambers of your heart). When the atrium pumps blood into the right ventricle (one of two lower chambers), the embolus is pumped along with it. The right ventricle then pumps the blood and embolus into the pulmonary arteries.

These arteries carry blood to your lungs. Emboli that migrate into them can cause an obstruction, starving a portion of your lung tissue. This is known as a pulmonary embolism. Depending on the size of the obstruction, the event may be mild or lethal.

Heart Problems

Under certain circumstances, emboli can gain access to the left atrium or ventricle. This can occur in a few ways. For example, they may cross from the right to the left side of your heart through a hole in the wall that separates the atria. Or, they can form in the left-sided chambers. In both cases, the emboli can eventually be pumped outside your heart into the aorta.

Your aorta is responsible for sending oxygen-rich blood to the tissues and organs throughout your body. It originates at the left ventricle, and ascends for a short distance before curving downward, and extending toward your abdomen. Near the left ventricle, your left and right coronary arteries branch off the aorta and carry blood to your heart muscle. If an embolus migrates downstream in either of these arteries, it can cause an obstruction, and trigger a heart attack.

Brain Damage

Emboli leaving the left ventricle may pass the coronary arteries, and continue traveling through the aorta as it ascends. At the top of the aorta’s arch are located the left and right carotid arteries. These carry blood to your brain. A blockage will prevent blood from reaching a portion of your brain, setting off a stroke. An embolus that travels into one of the carotid arteries can cause such a blockage. While some strokes result in mild side effects, others can be severe, and trigger lasting impairments that require long-term care.

Life-threatening complications associated with Nuvaring and blood clots are rare. For this reason, they are often neglected or dismissed. But a single embolus can break free of the deep veins and cause serious consequences. If you have suffered from blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, or other dangerous Nuvaring birth control side effects, you may be able to file a claim against the manufacturer. Contact an experienced Nuvaring attorney to discuss your case.