Recent diagnosis help and advice!

Hi all!
I was diagnosed with provoked vulvadynia a few months ago after experiencing recurring exteme pain during sex. Was given numbing cream and dilators by my gynaecologist at the GP surgery but have found treatment difficult. Let alone having the time to practice, I'm finding it difficult to properly locate the area of pain and use the cream properly. Are there any other treatments I can look into? It's been really difficult and has put pressure on my relationship with my long term boyfriend. Does anyone have any experiences and if their symptoms have eased overtime?

Thanks a lot!

Hi iceangel8,

Have you been seen by a pelvic floor physical therapist to determine if you have something like pelvic floor dysfunction? A physical therapist could help identify the tight areas.

If you think your issue may be nerve related, you could try certain antidepressants or anticonvulsants (e.g. gabapentine, amitriptyline, etc.). Some of these can be made up into a compounded cream to help reduce the side effects.

I hope you find relief soon!

I've found the best time to practise with dilators is first thing in the morning before getting up. Pelvic floor muscles are more relaxed as one hasn't been walking/sitting/standing all day. Furthermore, you won't have been thinking about it all day as you'll have just woken up so if anxiety about using them is a factor then that can help. As emalita says, finding a specialist pelvic pain/women's health physiotherapist may be a good idea as she would be able to give you some guidance. There are a couple of books I've found really useful:

Amy Stein - Heal Pelvic Pain

Heather Jeffcoat - Sex Without Pain.

A couple I found less useful but worth a look if you can get them from a library maybe:

Claudia Amherd - Freeing Yourself From Pelvic Pain

Isa Herrera - Ending Female Pain

If you read my post here https://vulvodyniasupport.forumotion.net/t2291-four-months-of-significant-improvement you'll see that people do get better. Good luck with your treatment