my story hi from cindy

Hi there. I'm cindy. My story began one year ago when i was given a sulfa antibiotic for an infection from a bug bite. I ended up in the ER severely allergic to sulfa. Next was rashes, and hives of all kinds. Next the sulfa created a reaction in my v area. I felt this horrific burning. By day 9 of the antibiotic and had developed my first bad yeast infection at age 50. Never had one before. Since then, this horrible burning has never gone away. I have seen a slew of doctors, and even a big bucks gyno. To date no doctor will culture or test me for a yeast.
So here i am one year later, on diflucan, and still i do not know if this is a yeast or not. Yeast is what started my nightmare. At times, i swear its yeast, other times i think its IC bladder issues. What a nightmare this is. My sympoms are burning v tissues, and it seems like my own urine burns. Yet when i look, see nothing. Been tested for UTI, tested for Bacteria, normal. Tested for herpes. Negative. tested my v ph at least 20 times.4.5. normal. Feels like acid is being poured on me. I am researching the sulfa connection and more. New to the group, and belong to many other groups. anyway HELLO there ladies! glad to meet you all! cindy

Hi there Cindy. Welcome to the forum. We all have similar pain, yet slightly different stories. Some people have had this problem from being very young, others of us didn't start till later. Antibiotics are a major cause of yeast infections and a lot of women have a history of yeast infections. I started with mild pain and occasional UTIs (or symptoms of UTIs), when I was in my late 40s. Of course, I was given antibiotics and did end up with a yeast infection once, but I don't think this was the cause for me. I'm convinced that menopause and scar tissue contributed to my v pain, but it is difficult to be certain. We all have different ways of coping and are able to offer advice, provide a virtual shoulder to cry on, or just have a laugh (very important). I hope you are able to gain something from the forum.

thank you for answering! I do need a shoulder to cry on! i plan on sticking around and meeting everyone. cindy

Hi Cindy and welcome to the forum

Have you been to a Vuval Clinic? The best way to approach this is to bascially look into everything! Think about looking into Pelvic Floor issues, Physical Therapy, Dermotology etc

Take a look the articals on www.vulvodynia.com about biofeedback as it explains about how the Pelvic Floor could be involved in maintaining pain after injury or infection

http://www.vulvodynia.com/bio_vvpn.htm

Take Care and wishing you all the luck with your treatment journey

Hi Cindy, welcome to this wonderful group of ladies. We all support each other. My V started the same way yours did. I thought i had a UTI so i was put on antibiotics. w/in days i had a yeast infection or symptoms of a yeast infection. i was put on Diflucan daily for months, then creams, gels..(made the pain far worse). I also had a biopsy and was finally diagnosed w/ V. All of my yeast tests were negative. It's very difficult to find out the cause of this disorder because it could be so many things. So..we focus on the treatments. There are a number of treatments used for V. I have found the most help at a pain clinic that my doctor referred me to. I found that Gyn. docs have no idea how to treat pain. I do acupuncture, P.T. and I'm on a number of different meds. Keep us updated on your progress. Unfortunately, you are not alone. One out of every 6 women have V or are diagnosed w/in their lifetime. there are 14 million in America...(probably more, but undiagnosed). There are treatments that help, so don't give up.

jules

What a nice group, and such a nice welcome too! thanks. I'll look around and read the articles. I'm new and not used to the site. We'll figure it out! wont we? nothing smarter then a bunch of us women and our computers! thanks for the nice welcome here! cindy

Hi and welcome. I too started with suspected UTI symptoms and then suspected yeast symptoms. I think if you've tried long term Diflucan it's not likely to be an ongoing yeast problem but it could be your pelvic floor so that's always worth getting checked out. I'm currently on Ami 50mg (doesn't help) and Lyrica 300mg (helps a bit sometimes but not all the time and not enough) and I'm trying to get my very, very tight pelvic floor to relax (it doesn't want to).

Hi there and welcome!
Vulvodynia is diagnosed through deduction - if it isn't an infection or dermatology issue, then it's vulvodynia. Well, of course, a lot of us have a lot of co-issues, like yeast, endometriosis, IC, etc etc. too. I'd definitely recommend getting a book like "When sex hurts" which talks about all the different conditions and can help you find which one you have or "The Vulvodynia survival guide". You might want to also go on the anti-yeast diet (candida diet) which can really help along with Diflucan to clear out the yeast.
We're all here to support each other so come on whenever you need advice or support!
xx

You guys are great. The first thing I noticed was the good links. I was amazed to actually read women saying they suspected yeast was the start of it all! that was so refressing just to read that! I gotta get used to the site, then you'll never get me to shut up! I'm so glad i joined! yipeeeeeee!cindy

Hi Cindy,

Just reading through posts, and would like to say Hello. The Ladies on here are fantastic and have a great attitude, so much information when you read through the posts.

Take care xxx

You'll get used to our site, I'm the admin and sometimes I get confused lol!