I don't know if you will still receive this reply, it being a question you posted a year ago, but I wanted to help out someone with the same problem that I am currently having if I can. Your symptoms sound terribly similar to my own. I have a subset of a disorder called vulvodynia that affects the vestibule of the vagina; so what I have has been called vestibulodynia. I have small tears right outside of my hymenal ring that make intercourse very painful. There is not a lot of research on it at this time, but I assure you it is very real. I have found there to be two possible causes for my own illness. The first is a genetic defect in something called mast cells which play a role in healing of the body, some people have a mutation of a gene that controls these cells and for some reason once they are formed, say from a yeast infection or dermatitis, they continually cause the area of infection to become inflamed even after the source of the infection, etc. has passed. The other, which seems more likely in my case, is a hormonal defect caused by hormonal birth control. If you are or have ever been on the pill, this is something you may want to look into. Some of us are affected by artificial hormones in a way that makes the hormones that our bodies make naturally decrease. So even though with the pill we are receiving artificial estrogen and what not, our body has less of its own estrogen and testosterone which affects the skin in the area where we are experiencing pain (ie., the vestibule). I was told that if you ever experienced a decrease in your libido when you first started taking birth control (which I did) then you may be at risk for vulvodynia. Also it is important to note that just stopping the pill will not fix this problem altogether (although for me it has helped so far). The hormone levels need to be fixed back to their original state. It seems that this is usually done with an estradiol cream compounded with testosterone or with the cream and a testosterone supplement. Please also realize that there may be many many other reasons for your pain as vulvodynia remains extremely complex and not well studied. I would highly advise seeing a specialist that has worked with cases of this disorder before. I have been experiencing my symptoms for two years now and still do not have an official diagnosis. I have seen 4 different gynecologists and have only just been referred to a specialist. The first two doctors told me nothing was wrong. The 3rd agreed with me, after a lot of research on my own to self-diagnose, that it might be vulvodynia, but told me to just wait it out... the fourth has finally been working with me to solve the issue. I just want you to know that it is not in your head and if you find a doctor willing to work with you it can get better.
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I don't know if you will still receive this reply, it being a question you posted a year ago, but I wanted to help out someone with the same problem that I am currently having if I can. Your symptoms sound terribly similar to my own. I have a subset of a disorder called vulvodynia that affects the vestibule of the vagina; so what I have has been called vestibulodynia. I have small tears right outside of my hymenal ring that make intercourse very painful. There is not a lot of research on it at this time, but I assure you it is very real. I have found there to be two possible causes for my own illness. The first is a genetic defect in something called mast cells which play a role in healing of the body, some people have a mutation of a gene that controls these cells and for some reason once they are formed, say from a yeast infection or dermatitis, they continually cause the area of infection to become inflamed even after the source of the infection, etc. has passed. The other, which seems more likely in my case, is a hormonal defect caused by hormonal birth control. If you are or have ever been on the pill, this is something you may want to look into. Some of us are affected by artificial hormones in a way that makes the hormones that our bodies make naturally decrease. So even though with the pill we are receiving artificial estrogen and what not, our body has less of its own estrogen and testosterone which affects the skin in the area where we are experiencing pain (ie., the vestibule). I was told that if you ever experienced a decrease in your libido when you first started taking birth control (which I did) then you may be at risk for vulvodynia. Also it is important to note that just stopping the pill will not fix this problem altogether (although for me it has helped so far). The hormone levels need to be fixed back to their original state. It seems that this is usually done with an estradiol cream compounded with testosterone or with the cream and a testosterone supplement. Please also realize that there may be many many other reasons for your pain as vulvodynia remains extremely complex and not well studied. I would highly advise seeing a specialist that has worked with cases of this disorder before. I have been experiencing my symptoms for two years now and still do not have an official diagnosis. I have seen 4 different gynecologists and have only just been referred to a specialist. The first two doctors told me nothing was wrong. The 3rd agreed with me, after a lot of research on my own to self-diagnose, that it might be vulvodynia, but told me to just wait it out... the fourth has finally been working with me to solve the issue. I just want you to know that it is not in your head and if you find a doctor willing to work with you it can get better.
December 27, 2014 - 5:07pmThis Comment
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