open relationships

[deaddaughter.livejournal.com]

not sure if this is okay to post about here but..

what are your feelings towards open relationships? my boyfriend is fine with me hooking up with girls, even though we are in a committed relationship. i've only slept with one girl since we've been together. now we are discussing him sleeping with other girls. i think i'd be okay with it, but i'm not positive. i mean, i think i'll only know AFTER if i'd feel jealous or angry, and that would sort of be too late. of course i don't want to be a hypocrite either.... i'm just so confused.

birth control

[http://users.livejournal.com/_economy/]

I switched to yasmin last month with no problems.
A week ago when I went to get it refilled the pharmacist
informed me there was a generic version (that would only cost me $10!)
I took 3 placebo pills of my yasmin (without getting my period yet)
and decided to try and skip it. I started taking the generic ocella.
The next day I started spotting and it has progressed even more each day.
There isn't any red it's just the brown chunky stuff that I usually get as my period is ending.
I have also been in the worst mood the past 3 days
and am uncontrollably irritable.
I tried to find some information about ocella but it was mostly forums
with ladies talking about nausea and migraines (which I haven't experienced)
Any information on this?

Forgot to change my patch!

[aeryn.livejournal.com]

I'm on Ortho Evra. Last week I forgot to change my patch, and now I am a full week behind. Wednesday is my patch change day, and so I put on the second patch in the box when it SHOULD have been the third, meaning next week should have been my period.

What do I do? Just take the patch off next week like it should be? Will I still get my period?

(Note: I am not concerned with pregnancy as I'm not sexually active. I'm just want to know what I should do and when I'll get my period.)

Heat Rash!

[inlurvewithlife.livejournal.com]

Good Morning!!!

So,  I have a bit of exciting news to share. I had my first g-spot stimulated orgasm last night! I've posted in the past about fearing I'll never get one and asking on advice on the best ways to try for one. Well, last night my boyfriend went to town fingering me. He's NEVER done it like that before. Well, to be honest, no one ever has. He hit a spot that I have NEVER had hit during sex and just went at it and oh.my.god. it was amazing.

Anyway, sorry for rambling about my sexy party :D

I have heat rash on my bum and a little between my legs.  Do you know of any at home remedies for this? It doesn't hurt, it's just not very pretty :)

Thank you!!

planned parenthood appointment + periodness = ?

[alitaorg.livejournal.com]

Alright guys - I've been around the block a couple times on this, but now I'm in a bit of a bind and want to hear what you guys think.

I'm moving across the country on Tuesday, and almost immediately after that am going to Scotland for a month. I finished my second-to-last pack of Yasmin on Sunday, and I need to get an annual exam at PP so I can get more. The problem is that I finished Yasmin on Sunday, so my period is out in full force.

There's been one time before (last year, actually) when I was scheduled for my exam and started my period that morning, so I popped in a tampon and didn't pull it out until just before they called me. I told the n.p. that my period was due any minute, and once the nurse got me spread-eagled she said it was starting, but did the pap all the same.

This time it's not just starting. So!:

Do I start my birth control three days early in the hopes that the period magically disappears in 12 hours, or do I do the tampon trick, or am I doooomed??

EDIT: I called PP back and got them to specify that I had to get an exam once a year - but since I got my last exam in September, they'll give me BC to hold me over till then.

So, any hints on how to survive a visit to PP in NYC? =O

Veins and Boobs

[stretch.livejournal.com]

So I go to get undressed last night and notice that the veins in my breasts are bright blue and really visible. I figure it has to do with being cold and getting out of the shower. But when I woke up this morning they were still visible around my nipples. Naturally I googled this, and naturally google told me that I was pregnant (as google or people on it seem to equate everything with pregnancy).

So two ept tests later, and two reassurances that the Ring is 99.9% effective, I'm fairly certain that while I am many things, knocked up does not seem to be one of them.

So then what the hell is going on with my boobs, and how can I make the butt ugly veins disappear again?

Abcess on Vulva?

[blackginger.livejournal.com]

Ok so, a few weeks back I posted about pain in my lower labia and many of you assured me it was probably a Bartholin gland cyst. You were all correct and I was taken in for surgery and had that marsupulaization procedure conducted on me. I am still healing but things are much better.

The thing is ever since I was 15 years old (before any sexual activity), I have always been prone to vulvar cysts and abcesses. They come and go and its just very aggravating. I try and take care of the skin of the area to my best of my ability. I have very sensitive skin there so I am extra careful. They keep appearing and going away then reappearing. I know this is not an STD issue, I have been tested many times, and the gyno has seen them and told me they are abscesses and will go away.

Note: I do not shave that area. I just trim when I can, shaving just destroys my skin there. So I do not do it there..

Do any of you ladies have issues with reoccuring abcesses on your vulva? What do you do to prevent them? Also what do you do to get rid of them :( I just am really sick of them. I usually have one at any given time. No matter what I do. It makes me very insecure too. And sex can be painful depending on where its located. I just want to get this issue under control.

I will be seeing my gyno for a well visit tomorrow so I can talk about this with her. I just wanna know if I am alone in this.

Bathing affecting NuvaRing effectiveness?

[tehmeats.livejournal.com]

I've been on the NuvaRing for a bit, and it's been pretty great (aside from a sometimes wonky libido).

I take baths all the time, and I'm wondering if it could have any effect on the Ring's... effectiveness, since the body temperature rises and all that?

Traveling with NuvaRing

[jessalae.livejournal.com]

(I remember someone asking this question a long time ago, but I couldn't find it when I searched, so here goes...)

I'm leaving on a two-week trip on Tuesday, which (unfortunately) is also the day I take out my current NuvaRing. I'll need to put the new Ring in on the following Tuesday. Until then, I need to be able to store it in a cool place, preferably in the fridge. I will most likely have a mini-fridge in my hotel room, but I'm going to be in transit for about nineteen hours (long plane flights and a layover in between).

Is there a good way to make sure my Ring stays cool? If I put it in a toiletry case with an ice pack, would that be too cold? Or will the airport and plane probably be cool enough that it won't really have any effect?

Thanks!

Red dots on boobs

[creativexangst.livejournal.com]

About a year ago, I had a red dot show up on my boob, and it went away within a week. Now their showing up more often, and in greater numbers. I have no idea what they are. They remind me of chicken pox in a way, but they dont itch, they dont hurt, they're not upraised at all, its just little purply/red dots like pin pricks riddling my breast. Any idea what this could be? I'm including a pictures, but its not the greatest.( NSFW-Top of boob )

Peroid changes since starting progesterone

[citivolus.livejournal.com]

I have poly-cystic ovarian syndrome, and my doctor recently changed my medication from 5mg progesterone to 10mg progesterone. Since this change, my periods have been very dark with no crimson at all. They have also been extremely light, and I feel very dry. There has been little to no cramping involved, and I always have had horrendous cramping in the past, as well as extremely heavy flow. Now, I can use a liner instead of a maxi or tampon for the entire 5 days.
Has anyone else had this problem? I checked the drug facts, and this isn't mentioned on them.

GYN Questions

[inktip.livejournal.com]

I was remember when I went to my old GYN and she was asking questions before she decided to put me on birth control. One of the questions was if I had been having diarrhea. Why did she ask that?

lotion on your vulva?

[http://users.livejournal.com/____cassiopeia/]

hello all, long time lurker, first time poster. this community is fabulous; i love getting in touch with my own body and not feeling ashamed about doing so and that would have never happened without this site!

i have a quick question..i noticed while doing some 'sploring down there that my vulva is insanely dry. not around my vaginal opening, but more the inside of my labia majora. it feels really smooth to the touch and i noticed that it's so dry that the skin has cracked in two places. these cracks burn badly if urine happens to touch it the right way, or if i'm in the shower and the water hits it in the right way. i've always been on the dryer side, self lubrication wise, but i'm not sexually active and don't really see that as a problem just yet. i'm curious as to whether or not i could use a small amount of lotion on my vulva just to get SOME moisture down there, or if i run the risk of getting an infection from certain types of lotion near/in my vagina. (note, i don't plan on pumping my vag full of bath and body works, i'm just talking about the folds and creases and areas of skin around the opening.)

does anyone else have this sahara-desert syndrome? any way for me to fix it?

TIA!

Nuvaring/Skipping Periods

[on-my-heart.livejournal.com]

SO, I am due  to have my period on my wedding day. I am on the nuvaring.
Do you think it'd be more effective to work for sure if I do 
12 weeks in/1 out, from now until then, 
or
To just keep it in for 4 weeks at the time of the event? I want to do what will most likley allow me to have NO bleeding.
Opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

Effectiveness of birth control? And what is this pain?

[kat144.livejournal.com]

So there's really no way of knowing whether your birth control is working unless you do or don't get pregnant, right?

Here's my deal. Every so often I get a pain in my right side, around ovary area. We're talking intense pain, nausea and barfing. It's not my appendix, though (obviously, or I'd be long-dead by now). The first time it ever happened was a loooong time ago, actually before I even started my period. The second time was several years ago; it was early in my period and started as cramps, then became bad cramps, then a pain so bad that I was throwing up and would've been doubled over had that not hurt MORE. I took several ibuprofen and it didn't help, so later I took a couple more and finally the pain subsided and went away.

Today again I had that pain (it's the second day of my period and I did have cramps this morning but they went away before I went to work), although it didn't get really bad or the point of throwing up, and shortly after downing three ibuprofen I could feel it subsiding and now I'm not even sore.

The last time it happened I assumed I'd had an ovarian cyst that burst--not long before that I'd had trouble with a cyst. And thought that maybe that was the explanation when I was younger, too--sure it was before my first period, but maybe I was already ovulating then and just didn't have a period because things were wonky (I can't remember how soon before my period it was but I do remember that when I first had my period, before it actually started I had cramps and I was afraid it was that again, so they must've been somewhat close together).

And of course today that is not a plausible explanation, because I'm on the pill, so I shouldn't be ovulating. SHOULDN'T BE being the key word! When the pain subsided it sure felt like what I've always thought was mittelschmerz, though, and in the past I've thought I've felt mittelschmerz as well (it's always been on the right side, never the left). And, again, I'm on the pill--I should NOT be ovulating (and on the off chance that I am, I'm now sorta afraid to have sex, obviously).

So now I'm confused. Either this pain, and what I always assumed to be a small ovulation twinge, have not been what I've thought they've been (and I can't think of anything else they could be), or my birth control is not working.

Any ideas? I know this is a lot of questions in one post, sorry. I'm just really stumped right now. I plan on asking my doctor about it when I see her again next month, but in the meantime...

Odour issues (first post, I cannot believe I'm typing this).

[pookykabuki.livejournal.com]

Okay, so for the last few years, only off for short periods of time, I've had vag odours that I cannot stand;  I don't stand too close to people sometimes for fear that they might smell something weird and figure it out. My discharge seems normal, and I'm on Diane 35 for my skin; I'm not sexually active. I've only had my doctor look down there once because I thought I had a sore (I didn't) and he didn't think anything was abnormal.

I'm still too shy to describe it (I will if you ask - erk) but do any of you have a vag odour you dislike? I really don't think I have a yeast infection, but maybe you guys have better insight. Do you know of any way to minimize vag odour?

I'm Ok, You're OK

[beamishgirl.livejournal.com]

Yep, so I had those dozens of expensive tests and freaked out for the past 2 weeks, and it turns out I'm healthy as a horse.

Trans-vaginal ultrasound showed that I have a benign polyp on my uterus, which is a fairly normal for a woman my age (40). I spoke to my GP and he says that it might be part of the cause for my stomach problems (pressure of the polyp on my tummy and other internal organs.) The nurse practitioner at the OB-GYN said that if I have continued pain, I can have it removed in a one day surgery either in the clinic office or in a hospital.

I can live with the discomfort I've been having, so I'm forgoing the surgery and instead opting to exercise, eat healthy, and continue to monitor my lady parts.

I am soooo relieved.

Thanks to all for your support. I really appreciate all the feedback and input.

***X-posted to my LJ