7 Comments   
Hungry for sex advice you can trust? Each week the resident sex experts at Good in Bed will answer your most pressing questions. Go on, ask 'em anything.

Your Sex Question: I was on the NuvaRing for six years but just switched to Yaz. What changes should I expect?

What Anna from Good in Bed had to say:
Ah, hormones -- sometimes it can feel like a "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" sort of thing! Your body is adjusting to a new set of hormones in a new form (read: the NuvaRing has estrogen in it, and Yaz doesn't), so this could definitely be related to the switch.

This change alone can affect your moods, period, cycle and all of the things that come along with the hormones that your body produces and that are introduced into your body by your birth control. Also with your switch, there will be the obvious change in how often you have to remember your birth control.

The NuvaRing is super-convenient because you only have to put a new one in every three weeks. With Yaz and any other birth control pill, you have to remember to take it every day; not only that, but it's important that you take it every day around the same time ...

You'll want to take your pill within an hour of when you took it the day before. (So, if you took your pill at 2 p.m. yesterday, you'll need to take it between 1 and 3 the next day.) The best thing to do is to set a watch or cell phone alarm to go off every day at the same time so that you know when you're going to take it, and to have your pack of birth control with you (in your purse or work bag or whatever) wherever you go.

With any birth control switch, chances are you'll have some new side effects. Some of them will go away once your body has had some time to adjust, some might not. If the migraines aren't too bad, stick with the Yaz for a little while to let your body adjust. (Some advice from a gal who gets migraines: I usually get them at night, so I am lucky enough to be able to sleep them off. If you can't go to sleep, lie in a dark, quiet, cool room, take a painkiller, and relax.)

If the migraines don't go away or they are so bad that you don't want to keep taking Yaz, make sure to talk to your doctor about what your other options are. It also might be worth talking to your doc about going off hormonal birth control for a while, if you're only using it to regulate your period. You said you've been on the NuvaRing for six years; sometimes periods can be really tough for a while and then they adjust and lighten up as you get older.


Anna is completing her master's in public health with a focus on sexuality and health at Columbia University. She has an extensive background in safer sex, HIV and STI prevention, and reproductive rights. She has worked with youth and women of all ages, with a focus on empowering others to take responsibility for and control of their emotional and sexual health. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she created and implemented the now-annual Orgasm Awareness Day. Anna can be reached at Good in Bed.


Need more birth control advice? We got you faded, G. (Aol Health)