Scarleteen

Hello, I’ve been on the nuva ring for about three months. This Saturday, my nuva ring fell out after having intercourse, and I’d did not know until about 8 hours later when I got home. I washed it and put it back in. What I’m wondering is if there is a possibility I couple get pregnant, since the nuva ring is effective for up to 3 hours when it is out of your body. I have not had sex since it fell out. Should I be worried?

Hey victoriatori13,

Welcome to the boards

As you mentioned, the Nuvaring is effective for up to 3 hours out of the body. The Nuvaring may not be effective if it is left out for more than 3 hours, and it sounds like yours was out for 8 hours. So for this next cycle you can not count on your Nuvaring to prevent pregnancy. Given this, I would encourage you to do what we would tell someone who was just starting the Nuvaring to do--use a back-up method of birth control (for ex. condoms) for the rest of your cycle. How does that sound? Do you or your partner have condoms, or know where to access them?

You also may choose to use emergency contraception if you have access to it and want to do what you can to help lower any increased risk because of this mishap.

alice wrote:Hey victoriatori13,

Welcome to the boards

As you mentioned, the Nuvaring is effective for up to 3 hours out of the body. The Nuvaring may not be effective if it is left out for more than 3 hours, and it sounds like yours was out for 8 hours. So for this next cycle you can not count on your Nuvaring to prevent pregnancy. Given this, I would encourage you to do what we would tell someone who was just starting the Nuvaring to do--use a back-up method of birth control (for ex. condoms) for the rest of your cycle. How does that sound? Do you or your partner have condoms, or know where to access them?

Hi! Yes I do not intend on have sex again until after I insert my new nuva ring. I am just mostly worried about if I am at risk of pregnancy since I did have sex before the ring fell out. But am I still at risk of pregnancy if I do not have sex during this time?

Heather wrote:You also may choose to use emergency contraception if you have access to it and want to do what you can to help lower any increased risk because of this mishap.

Hi! I tried to buy a plan b to be on the safe sid but every where in my town is out right now. that’s why I’ve been wrorying myself to death. Like I said above, I have not had sex since the ring fell out and don’t plan on having sex again until my new nuva ring is inserted. The ring was in while I had sex but it came out after We he intercourse.

I'm sorry you haven't been able to buy any emergency contraception for this situation! I realize this won't help you now, but some people find it helpful to buy a pack when they don't need it immediately, so they can just have it on hand if it's ever needed; that might be something to look into for the future.

For now, though, have you seen our page of pregnancy scare resources? There might be some info there to help you feel a bit more at ease about the situation for now.