When I started Nuvaring for the first time this past sunday, I had been on my period for four days already. Usually experiencing bleeding for at least 6 days, I was pretty excited to notice I had not bled anymore after the insertion of the ring. Alarmed by a persistent odor, I decided to take it out and rinse it off in case it had acquired some bacteria. Little did I know there was also a tampon up there with it. This has never happened to me and I can't even remember if I put it in before or after the insertion of the Nuvaring, meaning the tampon was inside me for potentially 5 days. I have been feeling sick this week which may or may not be related to starting up rigorous workouts again, but after removing the half bloody tampon earlier today, I began to experience mild pains in my pelvic area--different from cramps. Could this or my feeling sick have anything to do with the prolonged use of the tampon even though it wasn't fully bloody?