If you'd like to share your story through my blog, or if you'd like to write a guest post about a pelvic-pain topic, please email me at madpeachblog [a] gmail.
Hannah's Story
My vulvodynia story basically started after I began having regular sex about 10 years ago. Soon afterwards I started to have recurrent thrush infections and sex was ALWAYS painful. Even when I treated the thrush, the pain, redness and irritation didn't seem to go away entirely. Sex hurt and I was left with a burning feeling for up to an hour afterwards. About eighteen months later I had a pap smear which identified CIN1 and HPV cells. CIN1 is low grade abnormality which needed to be monitored and eventually cleared itself without needing treatment. The vulvodynia and thrush infections continued, even when my partner used thrush treatments as well.
After a few years of this I also began to have bacterial
infections and was mixing antibiotics and thrush treatments and not getting any
better, in fact I was getting worse. Treatment would provide a few days of
relief before the symptoms reappeared. I had countless swabs taken. Many times
they would come back with thrush or bacterial infections but just as often the
swabs would come back clear even though my bits were red raw, inflamed and hurt
to even touch.
Most doctors would tell me the only treatment for the thrush
was over-the-counter thrush treatments and to keep using them. One doctor listened
to me carefully describing all the symptoms I'd noticed and prescribed me a
low-dose antidepressant for vulvodynia – just like Charlotte in 'Sex in the City'.
Things didn’t improve. Another doctor prescribed me steroid cream which only
aggravated the symptoms.
All the irritation and infections led to me getting two
Bartholin's cysts - one either side. I had to have one of them marsupialized
after it grew so big I couldn’t sit down properly. I still have one cyst but it
isn't causing me problems.
Because of the vulvodynia and infections, I had to give up
using tampons as they were painful to insert and remove and seemed to increase
the chance of a thrush infection. I had to stop eating yoghurt (especially
natural varieties), bread, citrus fruits & pineapple juice. One time a
large piece of skin peeled off my nether regions after eating too much citrus,
it simply made my urine too acidic for my own skin to handle. I avoided
exercise which would make me sweat unless I could shower straight away and had difficulty
riding a bike due to the discomfort. And obviously, I avoided sex as much as I
could.
I should also note that over this time I was also suffering
from chronic fatigue that has even made working full-time difficult and ruined
my social life. The chronic fatigue was from glandular fever, CMV and Barmah
forest infections. My immune system was completely battered and worn out.
Eventually I came across an article that said thrush
infections can clear up without treatment. That was when I stopped using
treatments for the thrush and bacteria. I stayed away from things I knew made
the vulvodynia worse and stopped treatments. Surprisingly it seemed to help. I
had gotten to the point where treatments were causing as much, if not more,
irritation that the mysterious cause itself.
Since I first started experiencing vulvodynia there have
only been two times I can remember that I have experienced relief from my
symptoms. The first was after a major cold sore attack (on my mouth) and I was
prescribed anti-viral drugs. There were one or two months were I was symptom
free before the pain and irritation returned. I should note here that I do not
have genital herpes, I have been tested countless times and don’t experience
blistering, but the drugs must have helped my immune system or something.
The next time I had relief from symptoms was during the
course of Gardasil - a vaccination against HPV. For some reason my symptoms
would disappear within days of the shot and then return before the next shot
was due (Gardasil is a three-shot treatment over a number of months). When I
realised the connection I began to think I had some sort of virus that was
causing all the issues but as I’ve said, nothing had ever been detected before.
When I found out I was pregnant, apart from the usual joys
and fears, I was worried about whether I would pass something onto my child
during childbirth as well as how my bits would cope with the trauma of childbirth
while they were already irritated. Thankfully I delivered a healthy child
naturally with the help of an epidural and didn’t even need stitching
afterwards.
My healthy child was diagnosed with dairy intolerance and
suspected reflux at eight weeks. She also had a case of oral thrush even
earlier than that from which I developed nipple thrush. Coincidence? Perhaps.
But seriously! Also, the vulvodynia was present throughout my pregnancy and
after.
Only a few months ago I went to the naturopath for my
daughters intolerances. The naturopath prescribed me a probiotic: Bioceuticals
SB Floractiv. Most probiotic tablets contain bacteria but this one contains a
yeast: Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(boulardii). This particular yeast can create ‘killer toxins’ that are safe
for humans but deadly to other forms of yeast. I took one tablet a day for a
few weeks and only experienced some minor constipation which was relieved by
drinking plenty of water and adding psyllium husks to my breakfast cereal. All
my symptoms have disappeared and six months later I am still waiting for a
relapse. But the best part is I’m finally having sex and enjoying it. “IT”
finally feels the way Hollywood tells us it’s supposed to feel.
NOTE: I really really hope that sharing my story
helps you
in some way. Apart from the Floractiv there have been other changes
that I’ve
made which have helped both the vulvodynia and chronic fatigue. Drink
plenty of
water; add psyllium husks to your diet; cut down on dairy foods, sugar
and
anything that is processed; no caffeine (I’m super sensitive to its
effects);
no alcohol; use plenty of lubrication when having sex, too much is
better than not enough; go and pee straight after sex, if it hurts then
pee in the shower as the water will dilute the urine; if you do need to
use a thrush treatment, use a low dose cream over
a longer period of time instead of a pessary; get enough sleep,
‘enough’ is a
different amount for everyone.
