Cudahy High School athlete says birth control caused stroke

CUDAHY (CBS 58) -- Cudahy High School senior and athlete Hannah Drummond was in gym class when she just didn’t feel right. She went to the hospital and learned she had a stroke.

“All of a sudden my body went tingly, went numb,” Drummond said. “It was actually scary knowing I was so young, I'm 18 and  this is happening to me.”

Drummond says doctors believe her stroke was caused by birth control. And, at the hospital, doctors found that Drummond had a hole in her heart.

“They said the birth control I was taking, the estrogen in it, caused a blood clot, which must have slipped through the hole and up to my brain,” Drummond said.

Drummond is not alone, a woman from Maine also had a stroke when she was a teen and her doctors believed it was caused by birth control too. 

Health experts say birth control can put your health at risk. The Loyola University Medical Center found that for healthy young women without any stroke risk factors, the likeliness of having one is small. However, for women with stroke risk factors, the risk is higher and health experts advise those women not to take oral contraceptives.

Drummond is now hoping her story can help other young women.

"Most definitely, don't be scared of birth control just because this happened,” Drummond said. "Find the one that works for you and listen to your body, if you don't feel something is right, tell someone."