[amelillo13]

I can still have sex, it's just kind of irritating feeling a lot of the time and like r3dh3ad I feel all swollen right afterward. =/ Amelillo, is the pain you feel when you have something inserted inside you different from the normal irritation you feel on a daily basis?

I had a typo in my last response, I meant to say while I was sick, not on my period. Haha.

Anywho, I used to just have pain in general, which was usually pelvic pain mostly on the left side, sometimes on the right and very low back pain. Once in a while I still get pain whenever I have really heavy discharge for some reason, but for the most part it has since subsided. I only get pain when anything at all is inserted; no matter how small. Speculums and the plunger things for any kind of vaginal gel all hurt. I've never used tampons in my life, so at least it hasn't effected how I deal with my cycle at all, but it is quite annoying. I mean, I know some of it has to do with the fact that I haven't been able to be intimate at all, your body just tightens up a bit, but man, something else is just not right with it. I've never been told there was any scar tissue or anything, just that sometimes it appears a bit irritated, though it's healthy looking inside aside from all the discharge.

[Sarah001]

Nope no sex for me, my skin is just wayyyy too sore to even contemplate it. I feel like someone has poured acid on my vulva alot of the time so the thought of friction on top of that isn't something I want to try! I also got given a sachet of lube at the hospital I went to with the instructions to try it out and see if it helps but it stung my skin even though it's supposed to be one that won't. For now I'm not even going to attempt sex, alot of the sites I've been to recommend abstaining if it causes pain or your body learns to expect pain and clamps up and won't tolerate anything going in there.

[lafemelle]

Amelillo and Sarah--have any of your doctors mentioned giving you lidocaine for your pain? I have my tube of it (that I still haven't tried...), but my doctor prescribed it to me specifically FOR sex. She told me putting it on 20 minutes before sex and then wiping it off immediately before will make sex much more comfortable. It's not the sexiest thing in the world, but if it happened to help it might be worth it.

[Sarah001]

I've got some but as my skin looks like it may bleed if my clothes even rub on it I'm not risking tears and splits from sex, that would just be too much to bear on top of the current problems and my other joint condition means I don't heal very well so it would take me forever to get over it. Not sexy either!

[lafemelle]

Amelillo, I remember you saying your symptoms started up with a UTI problem, but Sarah and r3dh3ad, I can't remember if you said anything about if there was something specific that seemed to "spark" your problem? The thing that's driving me nuts about my symptoms is that they coincided with a (stupid) instance where I had unprotected sex with a new boyfriend. I've tested negative for all STDs (and been treated for several of them anyway), but my symptoms started about 2-3 weeks after having sex with that guy and I have a hard time believing my symptoms don't have something to do with that. Since my biopsy showed I have VIN, the doctors I've seen have deduced I must have HPV (although I've never had a test performed for it), yet the only real symptom of HPV is genital warts, which I've never had. So all of this leaves me even more confused. Anyone else remember something significant igniting their symptoms?

[Sarah001]

Mine coincided with a UTI like Amelillo's, all symptoms came on at the same time and I just went to bed feeling like I might have a bout of thrush coming and woke up with my current symptoms with the exception of I no longer feel like my urethra is swollen and I no longer have blood in my urine. I was utterly convinced I would have an infection of some kind because of how it started but I didn't, not a thing.

I know for a while they speculated HPV could cause all kinds of painful and irritating problems but recently I think they're leaning towards it doesn't. Can't they test for HPV now? I'm not sure they do it here in the UK or not but I thought I read somewhere they could.

I think the fact I had a UTI has got to be relevant but apart from infections which I don't have I don't know how. I've never had a UTI in my entire life, that was the first one ever and I just keep thinking what connects the two problems other than infections?

[lafemelle]

Yeah, they can test for HPV but none of my doctors have bothered doing a test, probably because it's highly unlikely to be the cause of my symptoms. The only thing I can think is if I have HPV it might lower my immune system functioning, thus making it impossible for me to fight off whatever it is causing my symptoms. Problem being, there's no magical treatment to just "get rid" of HPV.

[amelillo13]

I have not heard of the cream you mentioned Lafemelle, but I will ask my doctor about it. Sarah, I too have been trying to make a connection because that UTI I had was the first and only I've ever had in my life as well. The only thing I can come up with is it being a kidney thing, but I've asked several doctors and they said even if there was something wrong with the kidneys, that it would never cause a vaginal discharge, so I have no idea. If it was viral, the only thing I can think is HPV but as Lafemelle said, there's no way to get rid of it if it even if it was. Your body needs to just work it out or it'll lay dormant.

UTIs are caused by bacteria, which is probably the only reason I'm leaning towards this being bacterial if anything, regardless of tests. It annoys me that they didn't culture when I had the UTI to begin with, they just used a test strip on the urine. If they could have figured out what caused it, maybe it's also what is causing this vaginal infection that won't go away. OR the Ciprofloxacin I was on for the UTI (not sure what medication you were given Sarah, was it the same thing?) completely depleted my good bacteria and my body just hasn't been able to build its defense back up yet and I don't know how it would if this femdophilus isn't doing it.

[Sarah001]

I was given Trimethoprim and same as you just a dip stick test followed weeks later by a culture which showed nothing. I've been wondering if it's the other way around and something vaginal caused the UTI, it seems strange we got them at the same time as our other symptoms, especially given that neither of us have had a UTI before. I tried searching for things that can cause vaginal symptoms and UTI symptoms but I just found the usual things like e coli, stds etc so that didn't get me anywhere either. However I did realise that the skin of the vulva and vagina is exactly the same as the skin of the urethra and if one gets inflamed the other often does and obviously inflamed areas are more prone to bacteria so maybe that's the link.

[Sarah001]

Ok I'm having a bit of a problem with the ointment given to me working on the assumption it's Lichen Planus, I've found it very, very painful to use and it's actually been making me feel like I want to be sick from the burning pain it's causing so I decided to have a look and it seems the ointment has actually burnt a layer of skin off in several patches! I've stopped using it from today and will try and get back to the GP as soon as I can but I'm sure it will be days before she has any appointments free. I can't believe it's so harsh it's done that and obviously has made things worse.