Have any of you tried NuvaRing?

I used it between November, 2005 and September, 2006, and now I have a new perscription for it, to be started soon. I went to the gynecologist back on April 2, as some of you already know. The doctor showed me some of the other non-pill forms of contraceptive - the implant and the IUD - and told me about the shot.

1. I felt the model they had of the implant and imagined that I would not like it.
2. The IUD seemed like some kind of alien implant that wouldn't be comfortable. My contractor also told me about the time she had the IUD and took it out herself and apparently messed up her insides. I think that was, however, before she had her second kid, so it wasn't permanent, just painfull.
3. Finally, the shot would make me infertile for 3 years, and I want to be able to change my mind about my fetility a little more frequently than once every three years.

However, I don't like the pill because I'm not really good at taking a pill at the exact same time every day. I've been taking anti-depressants more or less every day for a decade now, and my sleep and work schedule is finally normalizing, but just yesterday, I forgot to take my anti-depressant until late in the day.

This was why I switched to NuvaRing in the first place, and it is a real shame that the manufacturer that has the patent seems to need to charge so much for it. See, NuvaRing is a plastic ring that contains the same birth control medication found in the pill [though we all know that there are several different pills out there]. You insert the ring into your vagina and the chemical is released into your body. You keep the ring in for 3 weeks, then remove it for a week while you have your period, then insert a new one for another 21 days.

Because the chemical is constantly being released throughout those three weeks, the dosage is lower, and because the chemical delivery method cuts out a LOT of human error, the medication is much more reliable than the pill form. I suspect that the ring method can work with chemical birth control medications other than the one found in NuvaRing specifically, but as with most inventions, the inventer wants to make money off of the invention. This keeps the price for NuvaRing high. When I had Wausau insurance, I paid one $10 co-pay for a 12 month supply [13 rings], but with Kaiser, I almost had to pay $140 for three months. I told Erica this story in more detail, but by returning to the doctor and refusing to pay so much for the medication, I got it for a far reduced price of $30 for that three month supply.

NuvaRing might not be perfect, but I really don't want any other bc method right now. It reduces my own human error but also gives me control of my reproductive functions. I don't have some weird object inserted in me that I cannot remove without the aid of a doctor. Sure, every now and then I get nervous about it falling out, but that has only happened once so far. Most of the time, I forget that I have it in.