Expert: Norman Solberg - 7/5/2010

Question
Hi, I am a seventeen year old sexually active female who has had three partners total and is currently in a relationship.
I have been sexually active for almost two years now and have been on both the Pill and Nuvaring in that time. I took the Pill for about 6 months, took a 6 month break from hormonal birth control (during which time I used condoms religiously,) and then started Nuvaring, which I have been using for about four months. I do not always use a condom currently, but my boyfriend pulls out. I understand that pulling out in and of itself is not an effective method of birth control, but in addition to the hormonal method we've had no trouble.

I've been noticing a trend with hormonal birth control. The only negative side effect I get is vaginal dryness. No real drop in libido, but I will be feeling very aroused after foreplay nd ready to go... only to discover that I'm very dry down below. I usually have to wet myself with my saliva, and even then penetration is difficult and very painful.

I discussed this with my boyfriend and he said that, from his perspective, the difficulty only began once I started Nuvaring and that once he is fully inserted and we get going I moisten up considerably. Nevertheless, I am usually very sore and tender afterwards. I experienced this trouble when on the pill also and had no problems with moisture while using condoms alone. I am, however, uncomfortable using just a barrier method so I feel like I have to use some kind of hormonal method.

Do you have any suggestions for me as to what could be causing this and how to combat it? I would rather not switch back to just condoms. They make me nervous and I'm slightly allergic to latex, which is problematic.

I recently had a yeast infection

Answer
Vaginal dryness is not usually due to hormonal birth control, although it's possible.  Vaginal dryness is a common thing for women in general.  Fortunately it's easily remedied by using one of the vaginal lubricants found in any drugstore.  Perhaps the dryness would disappear if you stopped hormonal birth control, but the pill and ring work so well in preventing pregnancy that the trade off may not be worth it.  As long as you're using the ring or the pill without missing any day, you probably don't need to use withdrawal, but condoms are important for preventing STD's, especially if you get a new partner (or your present partner does).  Best wishes.