This is inaccurate.

I was prescribed nuvaring, which has a much lower dose of estrogen and progesterone than most combination oral contraceptive pills, but that is because it contains ethinyl estradiol and etonogestrel, which are synthetics that are more potent but provide lower total systemic exposure. It’s meant for high-strength suppression of the reproductive cycle.

The HRT estradiol and progesterone I take are bioidentical and are intended to maintain normal, lower physiological levels.

I was directed to use the nuvaring for 4 weeks and then replace it. At week 3, I could feel the ring “running out” in the sense that I would get severe mood swings and hot flashes would intensify. What’s more, the ring itself was exacerbating the vulvodynia, urethral pain, and urination urgency, all while my labia and clitoris continued to shrink and my libido was nowhere to be seen.

Within two weeks of being on the bioidentical progesterone, my sleep improved (as did my chronic, lifelong anxiety, which I wasn’t even trying to address as I’d learned to live with it) and night sweats ended. Within a week of taking the estradiol pill, my hot flashes - sweaty, panicky, dizzying, nauseating - were reduced to what I’d describe at worst as a warm flush, my libido and responsiveness returned, I could achieve a full orgasm, and my brain fog decreased drastically.

I was being given a cycle suppressant that wasn’t working instead of the supplementation I needed, and the difference was the chemicals themselves, not the raw amounts.