[chalupamom]

i am getting over a few issues with my vulva. it has been going on for just over two months... the last thing was a yeast infection that i hope is finally gone. i took a diflucan two weeks ago and still had very minor discharge yesterday. i woke up this morning and had gotten my period. the redness is gone, but my vulva is feeling strange. there is still slight burning, but the skin feels tight. when i walk, i notice it, like it's tugging. anyone else ever have this? does it just need time to heal? i am really REALLy fed up with these issues.

[Sarah001]

I'm not sure if it's still healing, it could be if you've had other infections recently too. Or it could be vulvodynia (pain in vulva with various causes) which I have and can relate to the tugging when walking. It's hard to say without knowing for sure if all infections have gone. I guess you just have to give it a bit more time and see what happens.

[chalupamom]

thanks for replying! i have been thinking that i may have triggered vulvodynia. i just feel a burning senstation, it's not all the time. there really isn't any pain anymore, never any itching. is there anything you do to help with the symptoms? my doctor has not diagnosed me with it yet, i think you have to have it for at least three months to get a diagnosis, and i have only had it for two months, along with a yeast infection . i have been looking up ways to treat it and was wondering what you have found that helps. thanks!

[Sarah001]

The standard treatments are tri-cyclic antidepressants to help with burning, anti-convulsant medications if those aren't enough on their own, sometimes lidocaine ointment is used to numb the area but be careful if you're given that as it can burn and make things worse. Some women get help from oestrogen (I didn't) and avoiding all perfumes and chemicals on the area can reduce symptoms. The one treatment alot of women seem to find helps them is PT to reduce the resting tone of the pelvic floor and be taught how to keep it relaxed. Women with vulvodynia have been found to have hypertonic pelvic floor muscles that also fluctuate up and down so don't remain at a constant relaxed level and this is thought to keep the problem going by making the brain think there is some injury in the area so it keeps throwing inflammation at it and the nerves remain super sensitive. I take Amitriptyline and I'm about to have Gabapentin added to that as the Ami hasn't done enough on its own, I also see a Women's Health Physiotherapist as my resting tone was an astonishng 20 to start with (it should be about 2) and I've managed to get it down to 12-14 at the moment which is an improvement but still way too high so my symptoms haven't eased yet. I also have hypermobile SI joints so my therapist thinks that has set the pelvic floor off then a UTI happened and the area couldn't heal so I'm still trying to relax the pelvic floor without setting the pelvic joints off.

First course of action is to rule out infections so you'd need a swab doing to check for yeast and BV etc then it's off to a vulvar dermatologist who can establish if you have a skin condition and if those things come back negative vulvodynia is what they tell you you have.

[chalupamom]

thanks so much for the info! i know i am jumping ahead because i haven't been officially diagnosed, but what else could explain this burning? i WAS raw and irritated, but that has all seemed to go away. now i just have burning. ARG!!!! i haven't even attempted to have sex, it has been over a month now. i have my period now so i have to wait until that's over to see the doc. again. i am thinking that what sparked mine was all the i was putting on it: the hydrocortisone, vagisil, diaper creams, etc.... even lidocaine. i haven't put anything down there in a while, but i would LOVE some relief. it's weird, but i don't have pain on contact, or sitting, or urinating. just burning. i don't have a history of bacterial infections or yeast infections, in fact the first one i ever had was after this all started!!! i guess we'll see what the doc. says! just stressing big time!