[amelillo13]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that Sarah
Isn't the cream you were put on just a corticosteroid? I didn't think that sort of thing was supposed to burn like that.

[Sarah001]

It's a strong one and I've got sensitive skin as it is and as we all know the vulva is a particularly delicate area and clearly mine didn't like it much. I thought it felt severe when I applied it but I was warned it would feel like burning for a while but I wasn't warned it could actually burn the skin off. I could literally sit and cry at this point, I just don't know how much more I can take.

[lafemelle]

Sarah, I'm so sorry to hear that's happened. That happened to me when they put me on Aldara, and they gave me a burn cream that worked like a charm (and it was fast-acting), so hopefully your GP will do something like that for you. No one should have to deal with that to begin with, though.

The more you describe it, the more it sounds like atrophic vaginitis. I think it's ridiculous that doctors are flat-out refusing to test your hormone levels...have you tried calling different doctors and explaining your situation to see if someone's willing to give that a shot?

[r3dh3ad]

Well I will try to make a long story short. My kids dad cheated on me in 2003. We broke up for a while but then got back together. The first time we had sex after that I could feel something wasn't quite right almost immediately after. The next day I was all swollen and it burned really bad when I urinated. I was dx'd with a UTI. I was given Bactrim DS- which seemed to kick it -no problem. Except a couple days post antibiotic tx came the discharge, redness and minor swelling. No more problems with urinating or anything so when I went back to my pcp at the time I was tested for std's and such. Everything showed normal. No std's, uti and no yeast. But that is definitely when everything became anything but nomal for me. The uti was dx'd by urine culture. I didn't have a vaginal exam or blood drawn with the uti.

[r3dh3ad]

I'm siiting here thinking about it now. So back then when I kept having the same symtoms and being told 'everything is normal' I actually started thinking I was allergic to his sperm becuase my symptoms were all worse after sexual intercourse. I would (and still do )feel terribly swollen inside, I have increased discharge and vulvar irritation. It does subside but it never fully goes away. When I switched pcp's he started treating me just to treat me, I believe. He gave me doxy and flagyl ( common tx for std's ) at first which did nothing. Then just flagyl for bv ( ph was always normal!) so no remedy there. Then on to clindamycin and so on and so on....................

[r3dh3ad]

Lafamelle
What you said about you symptoms beginning with the relations between yourself and a new boyfriend reminded me of a post I read written by a guy on a site like this (or maybe this one,I can't recall). He posted because his girlfriend started having vaginal problems after they had intercourse but both of them were std free. The thing was his previous girlfriend had the same symptoms post sexual intercourse with him and he was pretty certain he was the cause of it and was wanting to know if any of the woman on the site had found out what "it" was or what was causing their symptoms- if it was on this site you may have already read it. I don't know - I just thought I would mention it.

[lafemelle]

I haven't seen a post like that r3dh3ad, but that is interesting. From time to time I get scared that I have some new STD that hasn't been officially "discovered" and that there's no cure for. I just think it's too much of a coincidence that my symptoms began so closely to my having intercourse with that guy, it doesn't make any sense that they wouldn't be related. But that was 2 and a half years ago now, and I still have symptoms, so I'm just scratching my head over this trying to make sense of it.

[r3dh3ad]

Me too. I know how you feel- and I have actually considered that exact same thing. I mean it's not too far off base really because new viruses come around all the time. My boyfriend was tested for everything also in 2004 and again in 2006 and was clear. He was even treated simultaneously with me at one point with no results. So I'm just as baffled as everyone else is. I'm considering asking for the vaginal estrogen cream because from what ii've read it's been used for both atrophic vaginitis and div which my symptoms seem to most resemble.

[Sarah001]

Been back to the GP today and she had a look at my steroid burns and declared they look very sore, indeed they are. She has given me a barrier ointment with an anti-inflammatory in it to see if it helps but if doesn't (I'm not expecting it to) then she wants to refer me on but as I've already got an appointment with a vulvar dermatologist in August I doubt she can send me anywhere more useful than that. She wouldn't give me oestrogen cream and wouldn't check my hormones either as I still have regular periods so I've got no further really. You can't really phone round doctors here in the UK and take your pick, you register under a practice and have the doctors there to go at and no others and none of the others would do anything hormone related either because I've seen them all. So I'm stuck now until I go to dermatology and after that the only other option is a vulvar clinic hours away which I would struggle to get to with my other joint issues so I don't know what to do at this point except wait.

[amelillo13]

I think it's time for me to try an elimination diet. Today I made some chicken alfredo, which used heavy cream and lots of parmesan cheese. Well, about 2 and a half hours after I ate it, I had a ton of discharge. This is the second time I have noticed dairy intake leading to more discharge. The other weird thing is I was around a lot of chain smokers last week, and during that time, my discharge was also a lot worse than it usually was. I am not sure if it was related to the smoke, or maybe just having been sleep deprived and my immune system not at its best? I'm not usually around smokers though, so I don't know and usually I do get a decent amount of sleep.

Just some weird observations I've made of late.