Nuvaring is ruining my life! UGH!
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| Tue, 06-08-2004 - 10:40pm |
I put the ring in and within 3 days, I was "yeasty." No itching, but I can tell when I am getting a yeast infection. I have had a few in the past, and at one time had a problem getting rid of them. I've always just used OTC to cure it.
Called the doc a couple of days later (holiday weekend) and he said go ahead and treat the infection with an OTC, and leave the ring in. He said he didn't think it was the ring that was causing it. He said it could be stress, change in weather, humidity, any number of things.
I should have listened to myself, and just taken it out, but I didn't. I left it in and bought a 7 day treatment. I completed the treatment last night.
This is gross, sorry, but my undies are still very wet. I have felt the medicine leaking out, which is pretty normal, but in the past, I don't recall still being so wet at the end of the treatment. I can't tell if its the med or yeast.
No itching, but I have never experienced itching with a yeast infection in the past. I think I catch them early enough and avoid a full blown itch explosion.
So I am still soaking wet and changing my undies a couple of times a day.
I took the ring out tonight for the first time and rinsed it off and put it back in.
I have had it in for 2 and a half weeks. I don't know if I should just take it out and have my period, then start bcp next time around, or leave it in and finish up this month.
I guess I will call the doc again tomorrow if I am still wet. The research I have done on Nuvaring has said that yeast infections or "vaginal infections" were a common side effect. On another board, someone said they had the same problem.
Anyone else used Nuvaring and had this problem? What should I do? I am really paranoid about getting pregnant. We always use condoms and I used to be on the pill. I don't want to NOT be on some kind of BC, but this stupid ring in ruining my life.
Help! thanks for reading
Sara

It's up to you as to whether you want to continue the ring, but if you decide to take it out early, I'd probably use backup until you'd been using another pill for seven days just to be on the safe side (though you said you use backup anyway, didn't you?).
Good luck, I hope things get better for you!
Co-cl for Birth Control
My new question is what's the point of yeast when you know you have an actual infection that needs a treatment? Maybe I shouldn't have started the OTC medicine. Maybe I was a little more yeasty than normal but it wasn't really a problem yet.
How do I know if I have an actual yeast infection, or just more yeast than normal?
Still yeasty today btw. Finished OTC treatment 2 nights ago.
Thanks again for your help.
Sara
I have had several yeast infections with the ring but they usually aren't caused by the ring....
Your body can sometimes deal with a mild yeast infection on its own even without treatment, which is why I don't worry about it unless it's actually symptomatic and annoying.
And I always do better with prescription yeast meds too (like Charlene)--the OTC stuff just doesn't work for me, that and I get yeast infections diagnosed every time because bacterial infections can cause those same itching and burning symptoms but can't be treated with an OTC cream.
Good luck! I hope that helps...
Co-cl for Birth Control
I have a friend who did her thesis on her own drug resistant yeast, and she's given me some very good pointers for keeping the population down, as it were.
Any time i'm feeling a little yeasty (i.e. yeasty discharge or odor without any other symptoms) I increase my intake of yogurt containing active culturs. Stonyfield Farms makes the best yogurt, IMHO, but pretty much every brand out there has the cultures necessary to readjust your pH and balance your natural flora. Also, increasing your garlic intake helps rebalance the pH. If you can't tolerate a high-garlic diet or want to avoid being stinky, try OTC garlic supplements.
Seriously, though, yogurt is the way to go. If I eat a 6-ounce cup of yoplait every day for a week the yeastiness goes away.