[Chitleme]

What I have: I am a 26 year old female with intense itching at the bottom of the inside flaps of the labia. And a really awesome boyfriend who is doing his best to be understanding of his frustrated girlfriend.

What I don’t have:
no discharge
no smells
no itch inside the vagina

How did this start:
When I was in my teens I would have something similar, occasionally, where I would itch for no more than a day sometime during my period but it would always go away within a day.
But my story really starts in Nov 2013 when I got a clean pap and went on NuvaRing. All good. Then in the beginning of Mar 2014 I take the ring out for the prescribed week to have my ‘period’ only this time there is intense itching. I assume it is a yeast infection even though i’ve never had one before. I make an appt with my obgyn and I go off of the ring. Two weeks later and my obgyn takes another pap (clean), runs std testing (clean) and pregnancy test (not prego). She comments that my vagina and symptoms look like that of a woman going through menopause or a woman breastfeeding. I find that comment strange and tell her so. She believes that I need to get my cycle to restart after having been on the ring so I should check back in with her once i’ve had 1 regular period. She also recommends I get a vaginal moisturizer and change the lubricant that I use. I do all of these things but I lose health coverage and am not able to get back to her until August 2014. By then my symptoms are every morning and almost every night I have very uncomfortable itching. I have normal periods. It is better than before only in that i no longer itch while simply walking. Instead it takes something like wiping gently after going pee that sets off the itch (I now can do no more than pat myself dry). I go back into my obyn and we decided to put me back on Nuvaring (because i really do love it) and she prescribes me a generic for Diflucan in the hopes that maybe the pap missed something. Diflucan does NOTHING for the itch good or bad. So two weeks ago I remove my ring to have my ‘period’ and the itch GETS EVEN MORE INTENSE! As soon as my ‘period’ started I could barely walk without needing to scratch so bad! Now that the a new ring is in and my ‘period’ has stopped things are a definitely more tender and swollen down there but the itch is a little better but definitely still there. Sex with my wonderful boyfriend has been taken off the table and I’d really like to get back to that so: What is going on?!


What I have done:
3 pap smears, all clean and I’ve even taken a round of Fluconazole (generic for Difucan)
Tested for stds all clean
Pregnancy test, no pregnant
Changed all my underwear, soaps, towels and every aspect of my life that touches my labia, so no allergy
Vaginal moisturizer (my first obgyn thought it might be a lack of moisture down there. no such luck)
Vagisil for the itching (this only provides temporary relief and does not help if the itching is really bad)
Changed my diet (i have tried all the yogurts and garlic and juices, no changes)


What I need:
Relief
ANY insight would be appreciated

[raindancer]

Perhaps you have eczema. You should see a dermatologist. It could solve your problem.

[DreamP346]

Well, only a doctor can really help, but here are some suggestions.

Let your vulva breath. No underwear. No tight clothing around the crotch area. Air is really great.

What type of underwear do you have? Preferably no underwear, but if you must, cotton. Don't use bleach to wash them.

Are you washing with soaps? You should only be using water down there. Body wash, lotions and talc-on powers are really bad for your vagina.

Hope you get some relief.

[Claret]

It could be an allergic reaction but I'd ask for a biopsy to determine whether or not you have lichen sclerosus. This is a disease that mainly affects post menopausal women but can affect young children as well. It is not limited to women as it can affect men. It is an auto-immune disease (or so they think at this point). It is not an STD. Characteristics are extreme urge to scratch leading to skin breakdown, bleeding, bruising etc. This sets up an itch/scratch cycle and the damage to the skin can eventually be quite damaging with scar tissue building up in the area.

One thing you can do is to take a mirror and see if you have any cuts or bruising or whitish plaques on your vulva. This whitish colouration can also extend to the anal area forming a figure 8.

In the meantime, you can use a steroid cream, betamethasone or clobetasol to ease the itching.