Expert: Diane Cheryl - 8/8/2011

Question
I became sexually active for the first time on May 29, 2011.  My fiance is the only sexual partner I have had.  Before me, his only sexual partner was his ex-wife and their relationship was monogamous.

About three weeks after becoming sexually active, I developed a yeast infection which was successfully treated with OTC medication.  1.5 weeks later my period began.  On the first day of this period, I began taking the Microgestin birth control pill for the first time.  By the third day of my period, I noticed it was becoming more and more painful to insert/remove my silicon menstrual cup (which I have been using painlessly for 2.5 years).  Upon palpation, I noted that I could barely insert two fingers into my vagina comfortably, and when I attempted to spread them apart, there was one particular ring of skin that was very tight around the opening.  I had a relative who is a family physician take a look and she determined it was not vaginismus or accumulated scar tissue from use of my menstrual cup, but that the tight skin was my hymen.  (I chose not to inform my relative that I was no longer a virgin and therefore my hymen should not be intact/tight.)

My hymen has never been tight before, however.  I have been using a menstrual cup painlessly for years, and the first month of sex (including the first time) was completely painless.  I don't understand why my hymen would become tight AFTER I had already been sexually active for a month without pain.  The family doctor's best guess was that it was a reaction to the yeast infection and that it would stretch with sexual intercourse.  It has not stretched with sexual intercourse, and my partner can only enter about halfway before I am stretched to the point of pain.

I was also examined by two other professionals at Planned Parenthood, both of whom told me I looked fine and had neither of them had an explanation for why my hymen tightened up.

I would like to know if my use of birth control pills is what caused the tightening of my hymen, as the tightening began shortly after I started the pills 1.5 months ago.

I am also planning to switch from birth control pills to Implanon for birth control, and I would like to know if this problem will continue once there is only progestin in my system, rather than the progestin + estrogen the pill provides.

Answer
Dear Emily,

I'm not a medical doctor so any physician would have more knowledge about this situation that I would.

I have not heard of this problem before in my 23+ years of experience with pregnancy and other women's health issues. I would encourage you to keep searching for the cause and not give up. Do you have another doctor you can consult. You need to be able to say that you are sexually active.

I can't really tell you if the birth control pills could be causing these problems. I do know there are side effects from the hormones in the pills. The hormones would also be in the implanon. I don't recommend any kind of hormonal birth control methods. I have heard stories from women about implanon and it cannot be removed easily. I would be cautious about implanon.

I would love to talk to you more if you would email me privately at CHERYL51@aol.com so hope to hear from you soon.

Diane Cheryl