Chronic come and go itchiness - vulvodynia? Will Cymbalta help?

Hello,

Like many of you my story is long, complicated and frustrating so I'll try to condense it to make this more efficient.

As of now I have suffered from chronic vulvar and vaginal itching for 11 months as well as the occasional discharge (suspiciously like yeast). Originally I was diagnosed at a free clinic with BV and a yeast infection. Without knowing  the ph scale for both of these diseases is on opposite ends I took flucanazole and a week's worth of antibiotics. I felt some relief from the itching and discharge that I believe was a yeast infection however it never fully went away. Now I have seen nearly a dozen doctors without relief. The tests for yeast have been coming back negative for the past couple of months but I feel no change. Below are more details treatments I've tried and their results but overall I have tried every variation of traditional azole treatment as well as antibiotics as well as changes in diet to cut out all forms of sugar.

Now my new doctor believes I have vulvodynia as tests for BV or yeast come back negative. I have significant tenderness particular around the vestibules but my main symptom is on again off again itchiness and possibly correlated discharge. She suggests Cymbalta because my nervous system has been rewired to associate touch with pain or itch. What is your experience with this? I'm nervous for the symptoms of such a serious medication - I'm in college and have never had to deal with anything this complicated. Will this help with itching? Are there are tried and true remedies?  

I really have no idea if it's a result of stress, newly developed food allergies or what. It's had an enormous toll on my emotional well being and so stress has been a near constant part of my life for the past year. Dealing with college, this and letting it destroy my relationship has eaten away at me for so long that I don't know how much longer I can deal with it without finding a cure.

April 28th 2013
Symptoms: Clumpy white discharge and severe itching
Diagnosis: BV & Yeast Infection
Treatment: 1 week of antibiotics 2x a day & fluconazole
Result: Significant decrease in discharge and itching but still present – has remained at this level ever since.

2nd Week of May
Symptoms: Off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge
Diagnosis: BV
Treatment: 1 week of antibiotics x2 daily
Result: No change

3rd Week of May - \
Symptoms: Off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge
Diagnosis: Yeast infection
Treatment: Fluconazole
Result: No change

June
Symptoms: Off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge
Diagnosis: Yeast Infection
Treatment: Fluconazole every three days for a week and topical treatment
Result: No change

July
Symptoms: Off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge
Diagnosis: Yeast infection – specifically candida albicans
Treatment: Marigold suppositories for 1 week x2 daily & Vitanica Yeast Arrest suppositories 2 weeks x2 daily.
Results: Some relief but eventually returning to off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge

August:
Symptoms: Off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge
Diagnosis: Yeast Infection
Treatment: Fluconazole x1 per week for 6 months.
Results: No change

September – Present
Symptoms: Off and on again itching, slight clumpy white discharge
Diagnosis: Hormone levels – normal, ultrasound – normal, Multiple tests for STIs & STDs – negative, Multiple tests for yeast – negative, Multiple tests for BV – positive
Treatment: Steroid cream daily then x2 week. Antibiotics for 1 week, x2 day. (Slight allergic reaction)
Results: Decrease in discharge, remaining itchiness

Additional treatment:
Dieting from August to December: Only meats, nuts, eggs and vegetables to avoid any forms of sugar
Results: Inconclusive

Colonic - March '14
Results: Inconclusive - better for a few days after but returned to symptoms

Additional supplements: Probiotics
Results: Inconclusive – does this help or harm the BV diagnosis?

Symptoms generally worsen at night or in the morning, after drinking, and when there is more discharge.
- After sex there are symptoms of severe itching and some swelling for several days.
Symptoms are generally relieved when loose clothing is worn.

I came here to post about a similar issue. I believe I am having some recurring yeast issues and I doubted for a while that it was yeast because my doc did a test and said it was negative, but one day I broke down and bought an otc yeast kit and got significant relief from it. so I am at the point where I would not necessarily believe the test; from what I've learned here, yeast can persist under the skin and so a culture wouldn't necessarily come up positive even if there's yeast present (although someone please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong).

I would actually suggest giving the antidepressant a try. you could have neuropathic pain resulting from the initial infection--the infection could be gone but your nerves are still firing as if it's there, so you need to rewire them, as your doc said. I don't know much about cymbalta but if you're nervous about trying something like this, you could ask your doc to try something like nortriptyline instead, as you can start at a very low dose (10 mg, whereas a normal dose for depression is around 100 mg) and move up as needed to see how you tolerate it. I decided to try this recently because knowing it was such a low dose made me feel more comfortable, and I have noticed some improvement for it and very few side effects.

of course, if the yeast is still there, this won't be a full cure. that's a tricky issue and I'm still not quite sure what to do about it myself. I've tried garlic supplements, probiotics, eat yogurt every day, and none of that has really knocked it out, but I might keep trying different supplements and try to be more careful about my diet, which it seems like you have also already tried...