A petition to remove the contraceptive pill ‘Rigevidon’ from the NHS has nearly 5,000 signatures

A petition to remove combined contraceptive pill Rigevidon from the NHS has nearly reached 5,000 signatures. The petition was launched by Exeter-based Laura Ephraums after her negative experience taking the medication.

After just eight weeks on the pill, Laura developed a blood clot in her brain and suffered an early onset stroke. She has since recovered from the ordeal but wrote on her change.org page “I feel very passionately that this pill should not be prescribed to anyone. The dangers are becoming more apparent and more and more stories are coming out of girls who have developed blood clots.

“Many alternative combined pills are available which I believe renders this pill an unnecessary danger that should be removed from the drugs market entirely. I would really appreciate your support in making this change happen and preventing any more potential fatalities that could occur from a drug that we would not expect to be harmful.”

Laura is not the first to have potentially fatal complications related to the contraceptive pill. In 2014 when a mother suffered a major stroke due to a double clot in her brain as a result of high blood pressure and cholesterol caused by Rigevidon. Earlier this year, a girl from Staffordshire died just 25 days after taking Rigevidon after developing a blood clot in her lungs.

Laura is calling for those with similar experiences to share their stories and sign her petition to have it removed.