Woman switches birth control pills, develops DVT
June 2, 2014; Posted by: WeBleed staff
Michelle Winters, a 32 year old woman from Dallas, TX develops DVT after switching birth control pills.
When Michelle Winters woke up one Monday morning and she thought she was having a heart attack. She had symptoms of pain, weakness and shortness of breath. She called 911 and was transported to the emergency room.
Winters was lucky to be alive. A blood clot had started in her leg traveled up to her lung, resulting in a pulmonary embolism. “My right lung was clotted entirely, and my left lung was at 80 percent, ” she said. “My blood was so thick that when they tried to take blood out, they had to squeeze my arm and push it out.”
Before this event, Michelle Winters had been seen previously by doctors for pain and trouble breathing, but she was misdiagnosed three different times. Turns out Winters had a Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT. Although she did not have many of the risk factors of DVT, Winters had switched to a new birth control pill, and the slightly higher estrogen levels of the new pill could have caused her to have a DVT. “They told me that I am not able to use estrogen anymore,” Winters stated.
Dr. Andra James, MD, is an obstetrician/gynecologist and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville told to everdayhealth.com, “estrogen appears to be the primary connection between birth control pills and DVT. If you use combined birth control pills, your risk is two to six times higher than if you don’t.”
To read more about Michelle Winters’ story and recommendations to lower risks of blood clots, check out everdayhealth.com.
Photo Credit – everydayhealth.com
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