I'm a 22 y/o nursing student and have been on the nuvaring and monogamous for the past 3 years. I didn't start experiencing undesirable symptoms with the nuvaring until June, 2011 when I scheduled an emergency appt with my OBGYN doc after discovering a painful fissure below my vagina that I had no idea as to what caused it to develop. STI's were ruled out & no explanation was given to me as to why it appeared and no treatment ensued. However, within the past six months during EVERY intercourse session with my fiance, I feel those same tears in the skin below my vagina occur. I'm lucky if I have sex more than once per month due to the pain as some of the larger tears took weeks to heal completely. I did notice that my skin below my vagina did seem more frail and discolored than when I had last looked at it. I did some research and discovered that many women who use the nuva ring have a problem with vaginal dryness which, in some women, can lead to vaginal fissures during intercourse. Makes sense. I just had an appointment with my doctor today and I stressed that I never wanted to experience vaginal dryness again and how I'd like to switch to a different form of contraception. I also let her know how I have absolutely no desire to have intercourse with my fiance during the time period that the nuva ring is in, however, when it is removed, I'm a completely different person sexually. And I did try it for a few weeks past my menstrual cycle to make sure it wasn't just the hormone elevation doing it! She explained that she believes the nuva ring puts me into a hypo-estrogenic state which has caused the weakening of the tissue. She gave me some cream containing estrogen in it to beef the tissue back up, and gave me some IUD brochures.
The Ultimate Question:
Is the Paragard (no hormones) or the Mirena (hormones) better for me??? I want my libido back and don't want the dryness/tears anymore!!! I want to enjoy sex from now on, not dread it...