40th birthday symptoms and conditions

I have been on the NuvaRing for a little less than 2 years now. Everything seemed fine until four months ago when I started to get very intense "irritations" in my vaginal area. I thought I was inflicting this upon myself because I switched to boy shorts underwear and a little tighter jeans. My ob/gyn attributed my problem to using a new brand of soap and a new brand of pantiliner, and she simply suggested I "soak my bum" in the tub 1-2 times a day to reduce the irritation. (She's British.) She also suggested I use as much A&D diaper rash ointment (which is mainly petroleum jelly) as I wanted or needed. After 2 months of continued vaginal irritation, my ob/gyn simply said that what I had can take a while to clear up, and that I should just continue to soak my bottom and use as much A&D ointment as I needed.

After reading everyone's postings, I've learned that it's not unheard-of for one's body to take several months to show NuvaRing side effects. I share the same symptoms of complete loss of sex drive, vaginal dryness and intense pain during sex that many of you have described. I went through so many months of accepting these conditions because I thought all of those things were happening because I was nearing my 40th birthday and simply getting older. Those of you in your 20's that described similar symptoms helped me realize that what I was experiencing wasn't natural.

I've decided to take my NuvaRing out and stay birth control free for a couple of months to see the irritability goes away. I am very eager and hopeful to lose my dependency on A&D ointment, to want to have sex again, and to wear boy shorts and tight jeans again.

I just had my 40th birthday and I've had the mirena for a year and two months now. From the beginning I started gaining some weight that I could not shake off. I've always been 125 lbs but I got up to 133 which may not seem like a lot but I was pudgy all around my stomach area. Anyway, I actually thought I was starting to go thru perimenopause. I've been getting anxiety, depression, mood swings, acne, itchy, brain fog, longer periods, ovarian cysts and I saw my primary doctor today and told her I can't take it anymore. She actually told me to consider having the IUD removed. After reading all of these blogs I'm having it removed 8/5/08. I feel better knowing that I'm not going crazy. Thank you Ladies for writing about what's really going on.