[lafemelle]

Don't forget to assist your female system to eat healthy and workout! Yoga is great for the female body. Good Luck.

Definitely, I eat VERY healthy and work out about 6 days a week. Nothing better for your body than that!

[CVSTINKS]

I'm going to do it to. Why not! Thanks missbutterfly.

[lafemelle]

Hrm. Finished my month-long clindamycin treatment three days ago and my discharge and irritation are present as usual. My discharge is even DARKER yellow now, it seems. Not sure if it's a result of the clindamycin or my head messing with me. Either way, I feel certain now that my body must have some sort of imbalance. I'm giving up on prescription medications.

[amelillo13]

How did your doctor's appointment go, Lafemelle? Were you able to discuss CV and other treatment options?

I was supposed to have an appointment on the 20th, but had to cancel because of my monthly 'friend.' I really hate that the office consistently schedules me for an appointment when I'm on my cycle and then I have to reschedule and of course the doctor is so busy and can't be seen for months. Now I won't be able to see him until the end of MARCH. Ugh.

[lafemelle]

Amelillo, I also had to cancel mine on the 20th for the same reason! I was able to reschedule for the 28th, so we'll see what she has to say later this week.

I want to share something interesting, while I'm here: I don't know if any of you (in the US, at least) have heard of the show "True Life." It's on MTV but it's a documentary show about all kinds of different things. They recently did an episode called "I Can't Have Sex," and it documents three women in their 20s who can't have sex for various reasons (all of them related to vaginal pain). One of them has vulvar vestibulitis, one of them has vaginismus, and one of them has a problem with their pelvic floor muscles. Though it's primarily about their struggle to have sex, they are constantly battling vaginal pain and seeing doctor after doctor to help. It's sad when we've reached the point that we're documenting this on television (three different conditions, in fact) and there are STILL so many of us who are stuck.

[amelillo13]

I actually saw that program a couple of weeks ago! I stayed up until about 3am to watch it all. I was hoping it would deal with infections, but it wasn't the case. Still really interesting none the less and of course my heart goes out to any woman that has to deal with any sort of vaginal issue because it is a nightmare. I appreciated the fact that these women were brave enough to come forth with their stories on public television; not sure I could do it. It is sad that so many of us are still "stuck" but hopefully these different conditions will continue to get more attention like this, be taken more seriously, and get figured out.


So, after having my lowest day since acquiring this infection, I too have finally come to the understanding that for whatever reason, this unfortunately may be something that is never going to go away. As far as the discharge goes, that's fine, I can learn to deal with it. If this is BV, I'm at least fortunate in that I don't have the usual strong fishy odor. However, I want my sex life back. Even inserting applicators for antibiotics still hurts a ton, and I just feel so internally irritated, not to mention the nerve damage that has resulted on some of the outer parts. If there was a way to just get rid of the pain and be able to be intimate again, I think I could deal with this a whole lot better. I know some of the pain is from not doing anything for a long period of time, but I know a larger portion of it is just from whatever is going on. From what I've read, a lot of people are able to still have sex with BV, so idk, wonder why I cant and if maybe there is something else contributing to it? I think this is where my focus will shift when I see doctors, instead of getting rid of the discharge and infection in general...if they are at all separate matters.

[Sarah001]

Some of the ladies I talk to on a vulvodynia forum mentioned that program but I haven't seen it myself, they said it simplified the problem and all the women on there got quick answers to their problems which obviously isn't how it really is.

Sorry to hear nobody's any further on, I'm not either. The estriol cream stopped being helpful after a couple of weeks and I had to conclude it wasn't going to work. I still use a bit at night just to try and keep the skin healthy but it hasn't really helped. I'm about to start more drugs which I don't really want to take but need them for the pain, it's not ideal but a decrease in pain would be a start.

[amelillo13]

I've probably already asked you ladies this question, but when I searched for it on this website, several threads, including this one, came up, but it didn't show the specific post and I didn't really want to sort through 43/44 pages...so:

Do any of you notice when you are exposed to things like second hand smoke, that your discharge or anything is worse?

Maybe Itsasecret can give some insight into this, but anytime I am around smoke (I spent this weekend at casinos) my discharge is considerably worse. Is it just because smoke exposure is lowering my immune system or is there some other explanation and/or it's just coincidental?

[lafemelle]

Amelillo, I've never noticed that personally. However, it is incredibly worse when I drink alcohol--even just one small glass of wine. And, as I believe we've discussed before, when I'm really stressed it gets a lot worse. I do think that's really interesting that you've noticed that about the second-hand smoke.

I didn't end up going to my appointment on the 28th because I had to miss some work last week for an internship I've started. I don't know if I'm even going to bother rescheduling it. I know I'm just going to hear what I've heard a million times already, and I honestly believe my chances of yet another doctor visit being beneficial are slim to none at this point. =/

[ItsASecret]

Maybe Itsasecret can give some insight into this, but anytime I am around smoke (I spent this weekend at casinos) my discharge is considerably worse. Is it just because smoke exposure is lowering my immune system or is there some other explanation and/or it's just coincidental?

My best guess would be because smoke of any kind causes an inflammatory response of the cells due to the agitation. Increased immune response leads to increased immune cell release which can lead to the classic infection type symptoms. However that is purely speculation, I do not know of anything specifically related to smoke and vaginal discharge. So maybe it was coincidence. Sometimes we are also able to train our body to respond in certain ways, so each time you smell the smoke you think "oh no I'm going to get a discharge" and boom it happens. Do that type of cognitive shaping over and over and over and it is possible to convince your body it is sick for no real reason....making it a coincidence essentially.

However, it is incredibly worse when I drink alcohol--even just one small glass of wine.

The yeast, sugars, and the actual alcohol component can mess things up. Also tannins in wine can be a problem for some people in regards to inflammatory response.