My Birth Control Horror Story

I started taking birth control in the tenth grade due to having problems with my menstrual cycle. I would maybe get it every four or five months, so my doctor decided that putting me on the pill would fix that right up, and it did. I was getting a period every month for two years.

The end of September of my Freshman year in college, I started getting really bad muscle pains in my left calf. I had been working out a lot, so I thought this is normal for my muscles to be sore and I went on with my life. After three weeks, the muscle cramps went away, and everything was fine.

The end of October, my mom and sister decided to come down to visit me at college, and I was so excited! I had spent that whole day showing them around campus, and then we talked about what we were going to do the rest of the weekend. I finally noticed that my calf started hurting again, but this time it was hurting more than the last time. I didn't really think too much of it, until I went back to my dorm. Being dumb, I did what most people do when something is going wrong with their body, they search their symptoms on Google. Of course, the first thing to pop up was a news headline that stated, "College girl found dead in lawn due to severe blood clots." If you don't know what a blood clot is, it's when your liquid blood turns into a gel and it could stop your liquid blood from flowing. This can get really dangerous especially if it breaks off into your lungs, heart, or brain. Me having anxiety, I started freaking out!! I immediately texted my mom, and asked her if we could all go to the doctors tomorrow, so I could get this figured out, so I could put my mind at ease, and she said yes. That night my calf hurt 20 times worse than it ever had, and I tried hard to not cry because I had two roommates, and I didn't want to wake them, but I couldn't help myself. IT HURT!

The next day, my mom picked my sister and I up really early, so we didn't waste the whole day at the doctors. Once we got to the doctors office, I was taken back to have an ultrasound done on my leg. Then came the hard part... waiting. We sat there, which seemed like forever, until the phone rang in the waiting room. I quickly picked it up, and it was the doctor. He finally gave me the news that I had been waiting for... I did have a blood clot in my leg. I kept calm while the doctor told me all the medicine I had to take, and that the reason I got this blood clot was probably from my birth control, and that I would have to stop taking it immediately. He also told me I had to go have a check up on that Monday to make sure everything is going according to plan. As soon as I hung up, I broke down in tears. The thing that I was hoping it wasn't, was. My family and I tried to not think about it, and spent the rest of the day having fun.

On that Monday, I went to have my check up at my college medical center. My mom and sister stayed an extra day so that they could go with me. The doctor started asking me a lot of questions, but didn't seem concerned until she asked me, "if I experienced being out of breath while doing things." I told her that I did experience being out of breath from going up the stairs and stuff, but I am overweight, so I have always experienced that. She looked at me and said that she wanted me to have some kind of scan done on my lungs just to make sure the blood clot didn't break and move to my lungs, so that is where we headed.

This test wasn't that long, and again we were back to waiting. I sat there so nervous, praying to God that I didn't have one in my lungs, and then the phone rang, but this time my mom answered. She talked for a while, and then she got off the phone, and I couldn't wait any longer. She came over to me, looked me in the eye, and said that the doctor found not one but multiple blood clots in both of my lungs. I instantly broke down crying. I honestly thought I was going to die. Then she said, "We have to go to the emergency room so they can help you." So we rushed over to the hospital.

Me and my sister bawled all the way to the hospital. We finally got there and before I was taken to the emergency room I looked at my sister and said, "Do not worry... I am not dying today... I am not letting myself die this early in my life."

I laid in that hospital room from 5 PM to 10 AM the next day before a doctor came and saw me. I guess it wasn't that important. I was by myself when the doctor came in, and I was so nervous. He introduced himself and then got to the chase.

He said to me, and these are his exact words, "You know, you have one blood clot in your leg and multiple blood clots in not one, but both of your lungs. Do you understand how dangerous that is? A normal person with this many blood clots in them should be dead already. I don't know if you believe in God or whatever, but someone is looking after you up there."

I was shocked by what he said, and as soon as he left, I spent just a few moments praying to God, and thanking him for taking care of me, and not letting me die.

After getting out of the hospital, I had to take a blood thinner medicine, and I had to immediately get off of my birth control. I couldn't believe that something that was being used to help me was also the thing that almost killed me. Everything honestly worked out perfectly. I am not someone who likes to go to the doctor by themself. So if my mom and sister weren't down I probably would have never went to the doctors office to get checked, and who knows if I would even be alive right now. It truly was scary, but also a miracle.