FINALLY found a successful treatment!!! Wanted to share my story of hope. Don't give up.

When I was going through my first horrific months of vulvodynia I spent quite a bit of time on this website. It was helpful for me to read other people’s stories that I could relate to. I promised myself that if I ever found a treatment plan that worked, I would come back and share my story here. I’m happy to report that I eventually did find a solution, and my vulvodynia pain is now completely gone.

Let’s start at the beginning: the onset of my generalized vulvodynia. Following a period of intense stress in my personal life, I was traveling abroad with my boyfriend in France. The uncomfortable sensation came on within the course of 24 hours. I felt a slight itchiness and intense discomfort around my labia majora and mons pubis. (Basically, everywhere the hair grows.) The discomfort was the worst when I was walking — it felt like I was wearing a maxi pad made of sandpaper. My skin felt incredibly raw, and it was irritated by any sort of movement of my legs. It was almost unbearable to walk.

Five months and three doctors later, I was still in the exact same state. My doctors and I had excluded the possibilities of yeast infection and std’s through testing. I had tried shaving, not shaving, wearing seamless underwear, wearing no underwear, baby powder, valtrex, lidocaine, fluconazole, topical estrogen, topical steroids, oral steroids, nerve blockers, anticonvulsants… I felt like I had run through every option on the internet. I was desperate — thinking of quitting the job I loved as an art director at a popular blog, worried that my boyfriend might leave me if I couldn’t get well soon, imagining my future alone and maybe even in a wheelchair.

I was then diagnosed with geographic tongue, which in my mind further confirmed that the pubic pain I was experiencing was definitely caused by the mysterious condition known as vulvodynia.

By this point I was suffering from extreme anxiety and desperation on a day-in-day-out basis due to my condition. I felt helpless, and completely isolated by this weird, embarrassing condition that no one had ever heard of. But even in my darkest hour, I promised myself I would keep experimenting and searching for a cure. That said, the emotional cycle of experimenting with treatment options was exhausting. Those of you who are dealing with it know: the surge of hope followed by the crush of disappointment, each one worse than the last.

I’m very glad that I didn’t stop experimenting though, because I eventually found something that worked for me: a combination of periodic hair removal and a low-grade antidepressant called Lexipro. When I went in for my first Brazilian wax I was pretty terrified. “This will either kill me or cure me,” I thought. The process was painful and seemed to take forever. But when I walked out of that salon… the sandpaper feeling was gone.

I still had a heightened sensitivity in my pubic region - I felt hyper aware of the seams in my underwear, the string of a tampon, the seam of my jeans. It was almost like someone had just “turned the volume up” on the nerves in that region. But the sandpaper feeling was gone, and it didn’t return until the hair started growing back weeks later.

I’m not sure if the Lexipro directly changed the way my brain received pain signals from my pubic area, or if it just made me stop having anxiety about it. In either case, within a month or two of Brazilian waxing combined with a once-daily dose of Lexipro, I was back to my old self again. Even the geographic tongue eventually faded away.

Now I walk, run, ride bikes, swim, wear leggings and skinny jeans without a thought… just like I did before. I do have to maintain the waxing, because the sensitivity seems to still be there a bit. But it’s a small price to pay for feeling good again.

I am SO THANKFUL to God that I found a solution for my vulvodynia, and I think the entire experience made me a more empathetic, grateful person in general. It was a nightmare, and one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through both emotionally and physically. My heart goes out to those of you who are still looking for your “cure”. I send you only the purest vibrations of LOVE and support. Keep searching, and keep hoping. Change can happen!

I am so happy for you!!! I am envious of your ability to wear pants I haven't been able to even wear underwear in MONTHS! I hope your pain stays away, and you can forget that you have a vulva from time to time

I'm so pleased for you! and thank you for coming back to share with our members, it gives many hope.

Sebby
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