Vulvodynia Diagnosis

As I said in my last post I was diagnosed with Vulvodynia over 2 years ago when I was around 21.
It seemed to come out of nowhere. I had always been quite prone to yeast infections/thrush but they had always gone away and never caused me any serious pain, only discomfort.

One night my boyfriend and I attempting having sex and the pain was terrible! It was like nothing I had experienced before, it was raw and burning. It hurt so much I felt sick to my stomach. I used a dermaid cream to sooth the area and made an appointment to see my doctor. I described my pain to him and straight away he knew I had vulvodynia (or vulvar vestibulitis as he called it). He examined my, and using a cotton bud to press down on the tell tale areas around the vulvar he confirmed the diagnosis.
I had never heard of this before. The only thing that came to mind was when Charlotte on Sex and The City had a 'depressed vagina'. Charlotte's pain and discomfort disappeared in a week, my battle with the condition has been much longer.

My said that the best treatment to start with would be to take a form of Thrush medicine, to fight off the bacterial component to the condition. I started out on Nizoral, which I took once a day for about 4 months. The condition barely improved and the tablets made me feel quite nauseous, so the doctor switched me to Diflucan, which is a similar treatment but you only have to take it once a week.
I took this for several more months but it did nothing to improve the condition. My doctor said this was common with Diflucan and put me back on the Nizoral.

Meanwhile, sex was still too painful too contemplate. Although I was having sex occasionally as I still had desire and I felt so bad for my boyfriend.

Over the next few months the pain did not go away, my desire for sex dropped to zero and my relationship was becoming very strained. The pain around the vulvar area was so intense, and its funny because it isn't terribly painful deep inside, but it was just too much getting past that initial area where the pain comes from.
I also started to find that my pelvic floor muscles were spasming. Whenever I felt any sexual desire, the muscles would spasm so eratically, causing me quite a lot of pain. It became impossible for me to get aroused or contemplate physical contact. As a 21 year old, I felt like a total freak. People my age are supposed to be having fun, and I was incapable of having sex. I went through so many 'Why Me?' moments, cursing the fact that my body was 'broken'.

My doctor referred me to a Physiotherapist specialising in women's health and pelvic floor rehabilitation. Within a matter of weeks I noticed a huge improvement.
More on my experiences with that in the next post.... As I said in my last post I was diagnosed with Vulvodynia over 2 years ago when I was around 21.
It seemed to come out of nowhere. I had always been quite prone to yeast infections/thrush but they had always gone away and never caused me any serious pain, only discomfort.

One night my boyfriend and I attempting having sex and the pain was terrible! It was like nothing I had experienced before, it was raw and burning. It hurt so much I felt sick to my stomach. I used a dermaid cream to sooth the area and made an appointment to see my doctor. I described my pain to him and straight away he knew I had vulvodynia (or vulvar vestibulitis as he called it). He examined my, and using a cotton bud to press down on the tell tale areas around the vulvar he confirmed the diagnosis.
I had never heard of this before. The only thing that came to mind was when Charlotte on Sex and The City had a 'depressed vagina'. Charlotte's pain and discomfort disappeared in a week, my battle with the condition has been much longer.

My said that the best treatment to start with would be to take a form of Thrush medicine, to fight off the bacterial component to the condition. I started out on Nizoral, which I took once a day for about 4 months. The condition barely improved and the tablets made me feel quite nauseous, so the doctor switched me to Diflucan, which is a similar treatment but you only have to take it once a week.
I took this for several more months but it did nothing to improve the condition. My doctor said this was common with Diflucan and put me back on the Nizoral.

Meanwhile, sex was still too painful too contemplate. Although I was having sex occasionally as I still had desire and I felt so bad for my boyfriend.

Over the next few months the pain did not go away, my desire for sex dropped to zero and my relationship was becoming very strained. The pain around the vulvar area was so intense, and its funny because it isn't terribly painful deep inside, but it was just too much getting past that initial area where the pain comes from.
I also started to find that my pelvic floor muscles were spasming. Whenever I felt any sexual desire, the muscles would spasm so eratically, causing me quite a lot of pain. It became impossible for me to get aroused or contemplate physical contact. As a 21 year old, I felt like a total freak. People my age are supposed to be having fun, and I was incapable of having sex. I went through so many 'Why Me?' moments, cursing the fact that my body was 'broken'.

My doctor referred me to a Physiotherapist specialising in women's health and pelvic floor rehabilitation. Within a matter of weeks I noticed a huge improvement.
More on my experiences with that in the next post....

Vulvodynia Blog

Welcome to my blog.
I have been living with Vulvodynia for over 2 years. I have tried many so called treatments but it is only over the last year that I have started to see improvements.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences living with and treating vulvodynia.
when I was first diagnosed, one of the most helpful things was reading case studies and other people's experiences, So I hope this is helpful to others.

If you are reading this then I'm sure you already know the medical nitty gritty of Vulvodynia so I won't be rehashing what you already know. I'm just here to talk about my experiences, what has worked and what hasn't, the highs and the lows. Welcome to my blog.
I have been living with Vulvodynia for over 2 years. I have tried many so called treatments but it is only over the last year that I have started to see improvements.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences living with and treating vulvodynia.
when I was first diagnosed, one of the most helpful things was reading case studies and other people's experiences, So I hope this is helpful to others.

If you are reading this then I'm sure you already know the medical nitty gritty of Vulvodynia so I won't be rehashing what you already know. I'm just here to talk about my experiences, what has worked and what hasn't, the highs and the lows.