Has changing diet actually significantly helped anyone?

A food diary is a really good idea, I need to get down to it !

The contradictions annoy me the most. Like, I eat a lot of broccoli because it is high in iron and my iron levels are really low probably due to being a veggie. But apparently broccoli is bad for the bladder and vagina ?! Orange juice and cranberry juice have health benefits but are acidic..you can't win! I've started my food diary at least

As long as they aren't hurting you directly you should be ok. Maybe talk to a nutritionist who can help put you in a better direction

We shouldn't forget, the official stance in the medical literature on the oxalate diet is that it does not significantly help for women with vulvodynia as a whole. It does work really well for a few individuals, just the way being gluten-free really works for some individuals, and being low yeast works for others. But that's the unfortunate part, VV has a million different causes producing the same symptoms, and so diet will only be the culprit, and thus only be a therapeutic factor, for some sufferers. I have found zero dietary influence in my own symptoms, which has in some ways been awesome (yay, eating what I want!!), and some ways less awesome (boo, no magical cure...). Food diaries are awesome for uncovering the chance that anyone's particular symptoms are related to diet, but I will say that I think the oxalate hypothesis has been pretty thoroughly debunked as a common cause of VV, and it's a pretty challenging diet to adhere to. If you notice no change in symptoms after a cycle or two, it's probably not worth the hassle.

Do keep in mind that weight, rather than diet, can play a role in a couple of ways. Excessive fat is becoming well-known in the literature as a cause of chronic inflammation, and it is also an active secretor of estrogen. One can have the pro-inflammatory variety of fat without even being overweight by BMI standards, so it's absolutely not a matter of being what we term aesthetically overweight. Losing some pounds may help reduce your body's level of inflammatory signaling molecules in the blood, which can then go on to decrease both inflammation and pain with VV. Estrogen is also thought by a few VV experts to play a role in the disease symptoms, though in a really crazy and indirect way that no one has 100% figured out yet. So, losing some fat can be worthwhile, even in the absence of a challenging diet that limits what foods you can eat. Again, no one factor will cure everyone with VV, but we all just have to keep trying until we find something.

Hi Alessandria
Your responses to forum questions are amazingly detailed and so well informed. It has got me wondering if you may be a Doctor or a professional in some way related to medicine ?
Just curious.....

Thank you for your responses I love reading them they are so helpful.

I was on the anti-Candida diet for years (still am, really). It's difficult to adjust to and I have occasionally succumbed to CAKE and MOAR CAKE! And I never really understood why I couldn't have Marmite, bread and mushrooms - entirely different sorts of yeast\fungus! It did seem to help for quite some time. But it also took time to start helping. Months and months. It's a long haul thing. However, I've recently had a terrible flare up (in spite of the diet) which has ultimately led to my diagnosis (after 20 years) of 'neuropathic pain' - which I'm taking to mean 'vulvodynia'. To cut a long story short - I agree that diet can be a therapeutic measure, but it clearly isn't a solution. That said, a low sugar diet has other huge benefits, so I'll probably keep it up.

Samuryai - yum, cake! I agree that a low sugar diet is definitely a good idea. There is so much scientific proof and evidence for it too. Most days I eat very healthily but if I want a few biccies or choccies I have them. Or haggen dazs pralines and cream icecream mmm... My food diary hasn't really helped me at all. Also I don't get how if I was fine eating things before then why would I suddenly develop symptoms? I guess things like coeliac can come on randomly and you can develop intolerances and allergies that you didn't have before etc. My mum is a nurse and she doesn't think my diet would have anything to do with the vaginal burning, but that's only my particular vulvodynia. I reckon for other types of vulvodynia especially those connected to cystitis, what you eat and drink could have some bearing on down below. My GP and one gyno I saw didn't think food would affect it either. But everyone has different opinions