DR. PAGANO & SURGERY

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Hi everyone,

Just for information as I saw the name Dr. Pagano from Australia mentioned, here's a post someone sent regarding him... I've NO knowledge just passing it on for what it's worth.

Dee

HI everybody,: : My name is and I also live in australia. I have been a VV : sufferer for the last 12-13 years. I am 31 in March. I was actually : a member of this site about 3-4 years ago I think. I was looking at : another Yahoo site and saw that I had this site listed as another : of 'my sites'. : : I want to tell you that I am very well these days compared to how I : was 4 years ago... It all started for me when I first got : married... I wont go into it now, because I need to get to the : important bit. Please be careful before you consider having any type : of surgery. Laser, acid or anything else.

The vulva is a very very sensitive area of the body, and there are so many nerve

: endings there that there is just so much that can go wrong with even the slightese : trauma, and because it is also connected so strongly to our emotions, : there is a lot that can go wrong just by having negative emotions : about it.

: When I read this post about DR PAGANO, I cringed!! I had : a very very bad experience with Ross Pagano. I'm sure he has helped : hundreds of sufferers. I don't think he is a bad Dr at all, but it : was a big mistake for me personally to go to him. After about 8 : years of suffering from the effects of laser surgery (I had laser : surgery to the vestibule to get rid of the Human Papilloma Virus - : and something went wrong and I ended up with red marks there with : terrible 24 hour a day pain instead of just painful sex).

I was sent to Dr Pagano, (came from Surfers Paradise to Melbourne to see him), : and he told me that he would cut the skin, basically cut the affected : area out and then sew it back together.

: He said that it had been successful many times before and had removed pain from many people.

: He said he would not guarentee that it would make me better, but that : he would guarentee that it would not make it worse. So I went for : it. I'm pretty sure that it was the negative feelings I had towards : that area that caused my body to react badly to the surgery. And : negative feelings to that area are very very hard to avoid when you : are suffering Vulvodynia!!

Anyway I had the surgery and it was the : worst experience I had ever had. I had never before imagined a human : being could experience so much pain. He said I'd be back at work in : two weeks. Well two weeks went by and I was still in a mess. I was : off work for about 2 months. (I returned to work, but I was having : about 8,9,10 sick days off a month.)

But the worst thing about it is that I have never recovered from it. I used to think before the surgery that I used to experience 10/10 pain levels. But no, I had : not!! I never thought I could have worse pain than that on a minute : to minute basis until I had this surgery. My pain levels : skyrocketed, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. I could not work, : I could not do my housework, I could hardly shower or move at all. I : could not prepare food for myself because it was just too painful to : move at all.

I ended up begging my Dr (about a year later) to send : me to a pain clinic. And I'm so glad I did. They started me on : Methadone, and my levels went down, but there were a few changes I : had to make to my life over the next three years that finally got me : to the point where my pain levels are now averaging 2-3/10. On my : worst days I will have about 7/10. But mostly they are 2-3/10 or : sometimes even less.: : My heart really goes out to everybody on this site. I know all the : pain that you are going through. It is not just physical pain, but : it devestates every area of your life. Physically, emotionally, : socially, financially, sexually. My saving grace was that pain : clinic. I came to realise after trying everything under the sun for : 12 years that there was no magic cure, and with each traumatising : treatment I endured, the pain would increase. I came to a point : where I said, I can't get rid of the CAUSE of the pain, but I can do : something about the pain itself.: : If you have any questions, please ask. I did not mean to say that Dr : Pagano is a bad Dr. Not at all. I found him to be very nice and : very sincere and very knowledgeable. But he did not realise that the : surgery would ruin my life!! Maybe he had never heard of a surgery : of that nature actually making someone worse. But it happened.

I have a theory about vulval pain, and that is is that it is connected : to our emotions, and that any trauma that you do to the vulva is : going to be multiplied a hundred fold. Whether it be a cream that : stings, or a surgery, or attempting sex and it hurts. Its hard to : explain, but in my theroy pain creates pain memories. Your nerves : have memories of their own. They will hold on to that pain even : though the cause of that pain is long gone!! I hope you get what I : mean as it's very hard to explain. It's like phantom limb pain. : : I wish you all the best and please ask if you want to know : something. I have tried everything I think. So I have a lot of : experience to speak from. UNFORTUNATELY!!: : God bless you all,: Love,: .