Water therapy symptoms and conditions

Wow... I'm glad I stumbled upon this site. I'm 24 years old and had been on NuvaRing for the last 2 1/2 years. I had used the pill until then since I was 16 to regulate my horrible periods, but I decided to switch when I got married because I was always forgetting to take the pill and since I was starting medical school a few months later, we didn't want to become pregnant at that point in our lives (and with NuvaRing I was much more likely to forget it once a month compared to everyday!).
I was always very happy with NuvaRing: my periods stayed regular and manageable, which was all I expected from BC. But oddly, over the next year I gradually developed symptoms which greatly affected my life (and my new marriage): VERY tired & exhausted all the time, horrible IBS symptoms, an aching pain throughout my body, especially in my hips/lower back and shoulders, inability to get a good night's sleep from this aching, HUGE weight gain (25 lbs in 2 years - can't shed it no matter what I do between gym/diet... Dr. doesn't understand of course), NO sex drive, and worst of all, when we did have sex it was very painful. It was horrible. I keep seeing my primary and he insisted it was from medical school & the stress. Being a rational person in med school, I understood the logic in that, but I still felt like it was more... I've always been a "busy" person, and with the increase in symptoms I gradually let other activities go in my life, leaving the only thing left to be med school; to be honest, it was the "least stressed" and most "health conscious" I'd felt in a while. But when we kept going back in my history, it all seemed to start right after I got married / around the time I started med school. So to him it always made the most sense that med school/stress was the cause of it all (of course, I never put 2 and 2 together that it's the same time I started NuvaRing!)
It became so bad I finally took a year off from medical school to spend time to figure it out. After seeing LOTS of specialists and getting lots of tests, the best anyone could come up with was Fibromyalgia. So, I took steps to feel better w/o drugs (water therapy, massage therapy, etc). I didn't like the idea of a synthetic chemical fixing something that doesn't have an exact known cause (drugs can be dangerous when not well studied - as I'm sure you're figuring out), so that's why I went the holistic route. But it never really got 100% better but it was good enough that when my leave of absence was finished, I was thankfully well enough to return to medical school a few months ago.
Oddly enough, in that time off, my husband and I had a lot of time to think about our future, and we've happily decided to try to get pregnant! So a month ago, I stopped NuvaRing. And ironically (I'm sure you can guess where this is going), things have improved over the last 2-3 weeks: I've had lots of energy, and while I still get tired, I feel like it's the "normal" kind of tired, the kind someone in med school should have (not total complete exhaustion like I used to). And wow, the sex drive... we've gone from once every 2-3 weeks (if that) to 2-3 times per week at least (or more! which seems huge for us after what we've been through!).... and the best part, no pain during sex... for anyone knows what I'm talking about, as I've seen in other posts, that's a huge and wonderful improvement!
I always kind of thought NuvaRing might be the problem (I even asked my gyno about it when I had my annual exam during that year off... she said no, most likely not of course)... it was just this odd suspicion, but I have access to all the med journals I want, and when I looked it up, I couldn't ever find any studies that reported these kind of symptoms, so I kept looking for another answer.
So, for anyone who is experiencing these symptoms and others similar to the ones others have posted, I highly recommend you consider NuvaRing as a possible cause. Everyone's different and everyone reacts differently to the same drug. Also, keep in mind lots of other things can cause these symptoms (such as thyroid or anemia issues) so definitely see your doctor about these things first, but if all of that comes out clear, consider giving yourself a break from NuvaRing, and if things improve, at least you'll have your answer finally! Drugs have lots of effects that aren't life-threatening and therefore usually go unstudied (and therefore unreported), but when this many people report similar possible side effects on a post , it's definitely worth considering!

I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in July. I had my colonoscopy/endoscopy the day before 4th of July. Got sick with what I thought was the flu on June 26th. That's when I first landed in the hospital (dehydrated & sick). After the diagnosis I was first put on Entocort and Pentasa (Pentasa is supposed to be a remission drug - keep you from having flare-ups). Entocort didn't work so they switched me to Prednisone. I've been on Prednisone for about 6 months now. Going from 20 mg to 40 mg and then I'm finally weaned down to 5 mg. I get to go completely off of it Jan. 13th. Scared of what other side effects might occur from coming off the drug. While on it I've had emotional problems, acne(never had a problem with it before), moon face, gained 30 pounds, joint pain (I was in therapy for as long as insurance covered. - I recommend water therapy, it helps for some people as it did me), trouble sleeping (haven't slept a full night since I got sick), certain days I'm really really thirsty, I've had sort of what I'd call restless leg (I had this before I was on this medicine but it has gotten significantly worse - mostly at night or when lying down), and dry skin.I have to say though that the WORST side effect is the FOG. It's horrible. I enjoy learning and using my brain and when I'm on this I can't think, I mix up words, and it feels like my brain is covered in cobwebs.I had to drop a calc 2 class and that got me off the track I'd set with my academics. My inflammation rate is down where it's supposed to be as of the last blood test a couple weeks ago. So I guess the Prednisone and Remicade are doing what they are supposed to - but I still don't feel as if the pain (not associated with Prednisone - caused by the disease) has gone completely away even if the inflammation has gone down. And Prednisone's effects are just horrible. Some nights I feel depressed and just want to cry and cry. The past months have been trying because of several hospital stays, switching to many different doctors (gastrointernologists, nephrologist, urologist (kidney stones), primary doctor - and they think maybe I should see a rheumatologist), and Pentasa (it began shutting my kidneys down). I just hope that when I come off the Prednisone the side effects will fade (hopefully quickly but lets be realistic - ill just be happy if they go away sometime in the next few months) and I won't flare up again. Anyone know the best way to get rid of the weight? I'm already drinking lots of water and I go walking and do exercises everyday.

QUESTION: When tapering Prednisone does anyone have a place(s) on their stomach that are sunken in and feels dry compared to the skin around it?

Anyways, I hope that everyone overcomes their difficulties, whatever they might be or concern. It's hard to have a life when you are constantly fighting your own body to stay healthy.There are plenty of situations in life that are already hard enough to deal with without medical issues of your own. Best of luck to all!