Newly Diagnosed and trying to cope

Hi everybody...

I'm 24 years old, and for the past year I've been dealing with IC. Within the last 2 months, I've also been diagnosed with provoked vulvodynia. Not sure if the vulvodynia was a result of the IC, or if something else caused it... but I'm having a very hard time with the treatment options. They just seem very invasive....creams, suppositories, phys. therapy... and I'm trying to normalize them since they will now be part of my life. But it's very difficult for me.

Does anyone have any advice on how to cope?

Also, has anyone tried decreasing stress and eating low oxalate foods? Has that reduced symptoms at all?

Thanks....

Hi and welcome. I think we all just muddle along as best we can, I'm not sure nyone really copes as such. Definitely stick to the physio though as the pelvic floor is a big problem in V and IC. Claire (Aussie) will probably have some words of wisdom for you as she has both too and is doing very well at the moment so she's living proof things can be drastically improved, not quite Australian day time yet though! Have a good browse and see if anything helps you or interests you and although the forum's been a bit quiet recently there are other women with the same problem here to chat to.

Hi mars, sorry but not surprised to hear you're having a difficult time coping right now.

I've never tried a low oxolate diet, I tried a candida diet a while back and found that it didn't have that much effect on my symptoms, for me it's my hormonal cycle and stress levels that have the biggest influence. I would say that making my diet healthier over all (and maybe losing some weight as a result of that) has helped me somewhat.

As far as advice on how to cope, I'm not too sure, when I was first diagnosed I was quite depressed for a while (constantly on verge of tears e.g.) but as I got used to managing it day to day, figured out what I could wear and what I could eat, when in my hormonal cycle I can expect it to get worse, I started feeling a lot better and my mood's pretty much back to normal now.

These sections might be of use to you - Physiotherapy and Biofeedback, Celebrating the Positive.

Hope this is of some help x

Thank you I really appreciate both of your comments and kind words.