Corinna M., 21
apprenticeship as a nurse

Corinna M., 21
apprenticeship as a nurse

Corinna (born 1996) lives in Essen and is doing an apprenticeship for becoming a nurse. At the age of 19, she first saw a gynecologist because she wanted to get her period more regularly. This gynecologist prescribed her the pill Cyproderm. But according to the patient information leaflet, this pill is rather used to treat acne than exclusively or specifically for contraception.

After four months of being on the pill, Corinna suffered a deep vein thrombosis in her leg that, even after several visits at the doctor, was not recognized. After approximately one week after the first symptoms appeared, two emergency surgeries saved her life. The doctors discovered that she had the genetic predisposition called May-Thurner-syndrome. The left leg vein is compressed by the right leg artery, which slows down or even obstructs the blood flow and increases the risk of a vein thrombosis. The syndrome occurs more often in women than in men.

Like Corinna, the doctors at the hospital assumed that the pill was a relevant factor for causing the thrombosis. She was told that the syndrome is sometimes never diagnosed in some people or never causes any problems. Ever since the surgeries, she has to wear thrombosis stockings every day that are only partly paid by the health insurance company and that impede her when doing sports and in her everyday life.