Herbs - Sucsess, I can not believe this.

Hello everyone,

As some of you know I was trialing the natural route with a naturopath and wasn't really getting anywhere. I saw her about 6 weeks ago and she said to me. After asking me a heap more questions that she would try some herbs in addition to the supplements. She said she would expect I would start to feel better in 4 weeks. Then I would get the motivation to keep going! I was very very pessamistic about the whole thing as I had been seeing her for 3 months with no change.....

Then after about 3 weeks I started noticing I did not get up to go to the toilet in the night (I usually go 3-4 times) and my frequency was dropping during the day. The clitoral pain that I was having about once every 3 days that would bring me to tears, has disappeared, even with touch. I still get bladder pain and my frequency and urgency is still there, just not as bad. My vulva pain has been the most dramatic change. Burning for about 20 seconds during penetration and then PLEASURE!. I am starting to sit more comfortably and have been able to wear denim shorts and sit in them with minimal discomfort. I still have a constant sensation in my vulva, but that sensation is not pain! I am still in shock. It has been 18 days. And each day I feel more improvement.

Claire

what herbs are you taking?

Hi!

What seems to be working;
Herbs:
Cordyalisis (sp?)
Skullcap
Passionflower
These are all mixed together as a liquid in a bottle- slight duretic effect - I think this may be what has done it for the vulva pain!!

Supps:
B6 - nerve function
Magnesium Citrate - muscle funciton
Zinc
Evening primrose oil - periods still irregular, may have helped skin sensitivty down there.
Cystoprotek (coast the bladder - IC MED - Not for vulva pain) - Have run out - unsure of it's benefit but have orderd more.
hydrozyme - to help all of the above work more effectively

Shea butter as a barrier cream - thick and often.
Meditation!!!

ALL DAILY.

That's great news, passionflower and scullcap are muscle relaxants and the first one I think is probably cordyalis? If so it's used to treat nerve pain. I'm not sure if i could take these on the medication but I'm going to find out! Funnily enough I tried shea butter too thinking it would be great but it irritated me. It's brilliant that you're doing so well though!

Can you buy these things yourself? Or do you have to have a specialist give them to you. Because this sounds amazing and I have to try it right away, bu I have no idea who I would go to.

Go and see a herbalist or natropath to get these. I am not 100% which part of my treatment plan is doing the most work, or if it is a cobo of all so too scared to stop anything! I was lucky enough to find and natropath that TREATS IC, PFD, VV PN PNE , IBS and all of this crap with physio AND natropathy. It really was trial and error and I was begining to loose faith in her. I am certainly not saying this is a cure, and may not work for everyone but I was able to have 3 glasses of wine yesterday. This would usualy send my bladder into a huge flare and I wouldn't be able to get out of bed for the pain, even with prelief. I had the wine with prelief (acts on the food not your stomach) I took about 5 with each glass as I have in the past and prayed for the best! Freq is up but no bladder pain! ( I obviously would not do this often, special occasion).

Sarah, The skullcap and passionflower I am told downregulates the nervous system. My burning hands and feet have stopped too. and yes the cordyalis is a nerve one too. I may add I am doing NO trigger point work at all just yoga and meditation and my PF muscles are relaxing all on their own ( I found out months ago internal work was just flaring me.) I feel fantasic. I hope this info helps someone.

I only wish I had gone down the herbal route before the meds because I can not believe the difference, and it is all natural!!!!. For anyone that is interested I take the 3 herbs 7.5ml 2x per day. Its foul, and I don't care :D:D:D

Sorry, I have a few annoying questions.

-- Is there anything else in the liquid? Is it just water, mixed with the herbs? And what temperature should the water be when you make it? Is it made like tea, with boiling water?
-- Do you drink each seperately, or mix them altogether in one drink?
-- For the corydalis, is it powdered? Because I found it buy online but you have to specify which form you want.

i dont know if there was anything else in the liquid. Or if any of it was a powder. she had three different bottles one for each and measured each out into one bottle. I dont know how much of each. Please dont buy this stuff online the wrong dosage can be potent. Please consult a natropath only.

I don't know how to see a naturopath, there isn't one in my area, and I can't afford to travel.

Sorry you are in this situation but I strongly suggest you at least consult a medical professional about this. Who are you currently seeing for treatment? I understand all of us are desperate for relief but Herbs in the wrong amounts, just like medications can be dangerous. What area do you live in?

I posted my list of herbs for others to take to their specialist or natropath. You also can not be sure of the quality of herbs bought online.

Do we even have natropaths in the UK? We have a herbalist not far away who claims she's a physio too but she isn't because I checked her letters after her name, I saw her for a while for my SI problems and she was useless. I don't think we have natropaths here though do we?

I'm seeing a gynecologist at the hospital, and a physiotherapist at a seperate hospital. I have never heard of a naturopath in the UK. There used to be a Chinese medicine place in my local shopping centre and they sold herbs, but it had never occured to me that herbs could help my problem, and now it's closed down. This sucks, because this solution sounds amazing, even though I know it may not work for everyone. I emailed a herbalist online and asked him about quantities, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'll ask my gyn in December when I have my next appointment but I doubt she'll know anything about herbs. She did mention acupuncture once though.

Funnily enough there used to be a chinese herb place in a shopping centre in my area too which has also closed, Dr Herb I think it was called. I didn't think we had naturopaths here, bloody UK. Be careful if you do go down the chinese herb route online, I once ordered some from China and they turned up as these huge blobs of foul tasting herbs wrapped in individual packets, I was supposed to have something like 6 of them a day but they were too vile for me to even force one down, and this from the person who likes the taste of wheatgrass!

www.britishhomeopathic.org/

Homeopaths prescribe herbs. Please see someone in person who can assess physical symtoms looking at your eyes, toungue, nails. They may also do a body composition alalysis to see if your muscle mass is being compromised - If it is this will indicate deficiancy in some minerals for example Zinc or Magnesium. When these are low your muscles cant work properly. This can lead to trigger points also.

Half these online people are scammers anyway. Believe me, I tried it!

Still feeling great ladies.

Sending healing thoughts to you all. Believe me herbs were the last thing I thought would help. Funny that the meds that target nerves didn't help me but the herbs did. I suppose she sorted out all my deficiancies first though. You have to think, how can your body repair itself if its not in the best of shape to start with - it cant.

That's odd, I've seen a homeopath before and she didn't prescribe herbs however we do have herbalists here in the UK. I've decided to try a couple of those herbs one at a time in capsule form just to see what they do and how they react to the meds I'm on, believe me a great reaction would see me lowering the meds but I'm supposed to take Ami for Fibro related sleep problems so won't be able to completely get rid of that one. I'm starting on passionflower as soon as I can get some and I'm going to try them all individually first to see what they do before mixing any. I don't think my pelvic floor has reached the point where herbs will help much to be honest, my resting tone is still at least 14 which clearly isn't sorted out but passionflower is supposed to help with muscle spasms so we'll see what it does! Now let's hope it doesn't make me collapse in a heap of bones as my muscles have to hold me together due to a lack of ligament support....! I'll report back when I've tried it.

Good luck!

I honestly think it is a combo of EVERYTHING I am taking that is making me do so well. I have zero pain toay ZERO!

Sarah, I hope you get some benefit. I know with the herbs it allows me to sleep better also. And I don't get up in the night to pee. I am just happy all the time and very, very relaxed Just a side note, went to my Physio here yesterday and my trigger points are all but gone and my resting tone is way better than 3 months ago before I started the herbs. And I am doing no pelvic floor work at all.....Werid huh!

Aussie>>

question- how did your V start?
did you have vulvodynia or vulvar vest or both?

Im asking because mine started after a yeast infection sept 2010
and Ive been dealing with this since. I am diagnosed with Vulv vest. But it seems I have some pain on my inner lip area- on the outside edge, which classifies as vulvodynia.

I don't know weather or not the yeast caused this or the treatments for it (diflucan, 3 day vaginal yeast cream, boric acid suppositories)
I am now cosidered to no longer have any yeast over growth, but still clueless how to resolve this.

Melissa

Sounds like the herb combination has stopped any unconscious pelvic floor tightening, that's great. Are you in any pain now or have you finally cracked it?

whats your herb potion have in it? tell us. I cant find it. cindy

I found it, i wasnt on the first page. cindy

@ Melissa and Sarah

I have both vv and vulvodynia. Don't get me wrong I still have it, just on a much much less scale. I have my period right now and between the herbs and using a menstral cup instead of pads and tampons I have a pain level in vulva of about 0.5/10 my period pain is nothing either, I used to faint and vomit from the pain (this will be the evening primrose oil I think) My V started with yeast infection after honeymoon and too much sex. I am unsure when the v symptoms started and the yeast ended and I am no sure if it was yeast or the creams. I am thinking the creams.

Hope this helps.

That's great, a very low pain rating. I take a really strong evening primrose but it doesn't do much for me if I'm honest, you must be very susceptible to supplements and herbs I think which is even better. My passionflower has arrived and I'm starting it tonight, I plan on using the others as well but I want to know which one is doing what if they work so I'm introducing them one by one, just me being a bit of a geek I think!

Question about your periods -- is it definitely the evening primrose that's stopping your sickness? I take the pill to stop getting sick. Every month I would get a fever so high I felt like I was on fire, and the pain was excruciating and I'd throw up for hours. I hate taking the pill, but I didn't think anything else would stop me getting sick.

Also Sarah, where did you get the passionflower?

I am not entirely sure it is the EPO that is helping my periods because I am taking so many supps but it the only one specifically for PMS related symptoms that I am taking. I used to be on the pill too. Off it I have got less breast pain and water retention and it seems, more comfortable periods than I ever remember - both being on and off the pill. It could also be the fact that all my deficiencies are now balanced out so my body is starting to work properly. I hope to start having regular periods as I have never had them. I hope I can start to control PCOS natrually also!!

Sarah, I would take each for a month before adding more in. I have no idea how it will work for you though as I have no idea what my actuall dosage is! Sorry.