How I treat my pain was Re: lots of questions

[Guest guest]

Carol,

I treat my pain with the vulvodynia with a combination of oral

and topical medications.

For the orals I keep an anti-inflammatory around most of the

time for breakthrough pain. I also use a narcotic painkiller

(which helps some of my other health issues that also cause

chronic pain although when I was first diagnosed with vulvodynia

and started having a ton of problems with very bad pain when I

would get the infections that would make my vulva hurt even more

that's when I had to start using narcotic painkillers on a

regular basis), and sometimes the muscle relaxer that I use for

my fibromyalgia (yep, vestibulodynia aka vulvar vestibulitis

syndrome and spasm of the pelvic floor muscles can be a part of

fibromyalgia for some women) also helps that area.

For the topical I use Lidocaine ointment for the external area

so that I can wear pants and panties, and then the Lidocaine gel

(the percentage strength on this one is different from the

ointment) for the internal pain around my cervix (part of this

has to do with my endometriosis, yes my endometriosis has caused

my vulvodynia to act up worse at times).

I also keep baby wipes around, I use the Huggies alcohol free,

fragrance free wipes that have aloe and Vitamin E in them (used

to use them more regularly when I started out with vulvodynia

but found at times I could go to using toilet paper for my area

but as long as it was double strength, I use the kind from

Charmin).

I have made sure that all my sheets are 100% cotton, same with

blankets, and my clothes such as my underwear (with my underwear

white only).

For laundry detergent I use Dreft, for my shampoo when washing

my hair I use and 's baby shampoo (some women

have a problem with the chemicals in the shampoos and

conditioners they use when it comes to their vulvar area.

I try to drink a lot of water too in order to help reduce the

concentration of my urine. The fully concentrated urine can

cause burning to the vulvar area.

I'm also going to be investigating another possible piece of the

puzzle: my bladder to see if I have IC (Interstitial Cystitis)

to see if that's part of what is causing my overall pain

threshold to be lower.

With chronic pain, when one stays in it long enough it messes up

the pain threshold and when this happens it causes the nerves to

misfire and when this happens because the person is hurting so

much it can sometimes cause the muscles to spasm.

As I have learned from another source, the nerves are an

important part of our body in making sure our muscles work.

This is one reason why when someone is paralyzed depending on

where paralyzed they may sometimes not feel their bladder so

they need more help. Same with bowel issues. Because the

nerves are the ones that are damaged, not the muscles being the

initial cause but because of the paralysis in a person the

muscles can atrophy depending on how severe the paralysis is as

well as the location of the paralysis.

I think your urogyn is right on target in to looking to see if

it is your bladder. The bladder when problems occur there can

be caused by nerve damage too. And this can happen with those

that have Interstitial Cystitis. I've met women who have IC and

have a lot of burning around the area you have it. One of the

classic symptoms to keep an eye on too is having symptoms that

feel like an infection even though there isn't.

I would recommend getting checked for Interstitial Cystitis

first to see if this could be part of the problem (I do think

this could be a possible problem for you).

As Arline said, you never know, by working with the urogyn they

may be able to help you figure out what is going on and start

ruling out possible bladder issues as the cause for this pain.

Sorry this is so long but I hope it helps and please know that

I'm here for you.

And also please know that I care very much about you.

Kristy

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

Need a vacation? Get great deals

to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.

http://travel.yahoo.com/