Atlanta, GAJulia Wilson started wearing the Ortho Evra patch in 2005 but only after she asked her doctor a lot of questions regarding its safety and side effects.
He didn't know of any except nausea. Now, Julia hopes he will warn women considering the Ortho Evra patch of the serious side effects, especially one that ruined her life - a stroke.
"When I first got the patch, I recall reading the side effects in the information packet but I just thought, how often do those things happen? And like many other people, I thought that nothing could happen to me," said Julia Wilson (not her real name pending a lawsuit).
"The main reason that I asked my doctor so many questions about the patch was because I have a family history of a syndrome whereby the blood clots too much. I didn't think it was that serious and I was more concerned about birth control. About a year after I had been taking Ortho Evra, I was tested for this syndrome and the results were positive - my doctor told me to immediately get off the patch. I ripped it off my skin so fast! A few months later I had a stroke, at the age of 29.
At first I didn't realize that I had a stroke. I was at work (I am an attorney) and attempted to answer some questions from my secretary and a few co-workers but my words were all garbled - this should have been my first clue! I also thought I had a fever and felt worse as the day progressed so I left work early and started walking across the parking lot to my car. But the closer I got to the car, the farther away it seemed. It was so strange. But I really got scared driving home. I was swerving on a major interstate highway and almost collided with a few trucks.
I made it home without mishap (amazingly!) and phoned my doctor - I thought I had the flu so he wrote a prescription. I started taking the meds on Thursday. From Friday to Sunday all I could do was lie on the couch with a major headache - it was like someone ringing a gigantic bell in my head every few minutes. When Monday rolled around I started getting dressed for work but just fixing my hair was a major task so I decided to stay home another day.
Next thing I knew, there was banging on my front door - it was my girlfriend and two police officers. Apparently people had been phoning me all weekend (I live by myself) but I had left the phone off the hook and cell phone off the charger. They took one look at me and my girlfriend drove me directly to the hospital.
I was rushed into emergency. At first the doctors thought I had a nervous breakdown so a social worker first asked a lot of questions about my job and my life. Then they thought there might be a physical reason for my condition and I had an MRI. That is all I remember until I woke up in ICU and they still hadn't determined what was wrong. They decided to send me to another hospital that was better equipped to diagnose me.
A few days later they told me that I had a stroke and I stayed at the second hospital for three weeks.
I thought that strokes were for older people so naturally I disagreed with their diagnosis! I don't smoke, I was going to the gym three days a week and I'm on the slim side. How could this happen to me?
I am not sure when I came to accept the fact - it seemed so farfetched... Afterward, coming to realize all the effects of a stroke - problems concentrating and memory loss - was even worse than actually having the stroke. Then the long process of rehab began.
I started seeing commercials on TV about the Ortho Evra patch causing strokes and heart attacks but I thought my case was different because I wasn't using the patch when I had the stroke. I didn't give it a second thought until I read an article on LawyersandSettlements.com: this woman had a pulmonary embolism with a similar story. And she had a genetic condition with blood clotting.
Ortho Evra has ruined my life - I lost my job and it is very difficult to find another one in the practice of law with the disabilities I now have. I currently have a law firm looking into my claim. I mainly want acknowledgement that my stroke was caused by Ortho Evra - I need to know why this has happened to me.
If you have suffered from a blood clot, heart attack, or stroke, while using the Ortho Evra birth control patch, please contact an [Ortho Evra] lawyer who will evaluate your claim at no charge.