Sex & Romance
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Does anyone have vestibular vestibulitis or dyspareunia
This is embarrasing to ask but does anyone have vestibular vestibulitis, or dyspareunia (Painful intercourse) I have went to a specialist and found out that this is VERY common but lots of women never seek medical treatment. I am now on a compounded cream to help with the pain. Next, my doctor will try injections, then he will try botox, and eventually surgery.
Does anyone have this and how are you treating it? I was just wondering how effective your treatments are for you? TIA
Re: Does anyone have vestibular vestibulitis or dyspareunia
I do. I didn't want to go down the surgery route, particularly since my dr. said it had about an 80% chance of working (20% chance of not working makes me shy away from surgery). I recently went off BCP which helped A LOT. I also talked to a naturopath and am working on changing my diet away from processed sugary stuff to healthy natural stuff. Mine was caused by (they think) recurrent infections (both BV and yeast), so I'm taking steps to reduce the chances of those infections coming back before trying injections and surgery. The naturopath is of the opinion that by reducing chemicals in my body, I can reduce the infections. I'm not sure if I totally agree yet, but I'd much rather try that then surgery. Not to mention, the fact that going off the BCPs helped so much is making me believe.
I did go the compounded cream path, which didn't help very much.
I should add that this is just me. From the research I've done, causes vary widely from woman to woman, and I would recommend getting a second opinion. I wouldn't leave your doctor entirely if you like him, but I would get a second opinion, just to see if you can get a sense for the cause, which can help guide your treatment.
Let me know if you have any questions! I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I do know how frustrating it is to deal with.
Yep I do. Try to find a specialest for these problems if you can. I found a nurse practitioner in my area who has been working with people with this problem for 20+ years and she is really helpful. I am using a compounded cream because hormonal birth control has apparently made my tissues hypoestregenic.
I am working with a physical therapist for pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. I also did a month of diflucan every week as I may have had a recurrent low-grade yeast infection with frequent flare-ups. Dont know how well that worked out because I just had another one, ha!
As with the other poster, let us know if you have any questions. Its really helpful to know that you arent the only one with these issues. Good luck. Feel free to PM too if you dont want to keep making forum posts.
My wife has this problem. After reading your post, I went on a website that mentioned a possible link between VV and fibromyalgia. She is ALWAYS sick, tired, and sore. In fact, for a time, I thought she was allergic to my seminal fluid. We rarely have any extended foreplay. She does not like me placing my fingers in her vagina or rubbing her labia. Penetration is seldom pleasurable for her. She would insist that I achieve orgasism as quickly as possible and pull out as soon as I had an orgasism. (Unfortunately, it also resembles the quintessential Slam-Bamm-Thank-You-Maam sex). After we had sex, she typically does not want me to touch her genitalia for days afterwards. I?ve tried lubricants. What else can we do to relive the discomfort? Any over the counter recomentations?
I've been dealing with this issue since 2005. I've seen 14 or 15 different doctors, been on dozens of topical and oral medications, had botox, and done 8 months of physical therapy. I truly thought I was never going to get better, but the thing that finally worked for me was high dosage estrogen patches. My husband and I are now finally able to have pain-free sex again.
Personally, I was very, very hesitant to do the surgery. I heard horror stories of women whose condition was significantly worsened by the surgery, as well as women for whom the surgery was simply painful and useless. After more than four years of dealing with my symptoms, I had only just begun to consider maybe doing the surgery when I (and the wonderful doctor I ultimately ended up with) finally found something that worked for me.
Bottom line: you are not alone, and there is hope. If you're not having any luck with your current doctor, current medication, etc, don't hesitate to try something else!
PS - To the male poster whose wife is struggling with this issue, please please please don't give up on her! I am so grateful that my husband (then boyfriend) stuck by me through all the doctors, treatments, and bouts of pain-induced celibacy. I think this issue can be just as difficult for the partners of women who are suffering, albeit in a different way. If possible, try to find other ways to remain physically intimate. My husband likes to joke that men whose partners have these issues get more blow jobs than any other guys
Also, there's a great book on physical intimacy without traditional intercourse that was really helpful for us-- it's called "Let Me Count the Ways" by Marty Klein and Riki Robbins. GL!!
I don't know what exactly I have, but after reading all of the different posts, I think I have something along these lines. I have tried to self-diagnose myself by just reading different things as I am military and unfortunately, our doctors don't know anything but general health problems. My problem seems to be too complicated.
It started in 08 after I changed my BCP. I wanted to try Yaz because a couple of my co-workers had tried it and they said that they didn't get moody a couple weeks before their period( as I usually did). So I decided to give it a try and then a month later I decided I didn't need the pill anymore because I couldn't always remember to take it and I wasn't having sex all the time, so there was no need to protect myself from anything.
Well my husband and I had sex and there was just no feeling there. I didn't want to touch him and every time he would thrust it didn't feel right. Well after a month or so, he moved in with me and we continued to try and have sex but it just seemed like the pain was getting worse.
I have had this problem for two years now and we haven't had sex since we conceived our daughter back in June, and even that was painful. I don't know what to do or where to turn to because as I said before military doctors don't really do anything for you. The best I can think is to get permission to see a specialist, but I don't even know if that will help me.
Oh, I have had plenty of blood tests to check and make sure all of my hormones are normal and even one to check my thyroid, and everything has come back normal.
My husband and I haven't really been able to connect since this all started and I fear that it will eventually cause a rift in our relationship and that is something that I don't want. He has been very understanding throughout the whole thing, but its time to get my life back and stop being so down about it and feeling like I have no confidence.
Any suggestions?
I have this as well. I've tried all the creams, and they didn't work. I did also try a numbing cream during sex and that helped a bit but still wasn't pain free.
I'm actually having the surgery at the end of this month. For me the 20% failure rate is worth it to try. I'm just totally fed up. I'll post an update once I've had it.
My best friend has vulvodynia with chronic pain after getting bacterial vaginosis and reccurrent yeast infections, which I think is similar in terms of pain. She's had a lot of trouble getting people to take the condition seriously but she says that diet has helped - she eats less processed foods and actually has started eating gluten free, which has helped lessen the chronic pain.
She also was finally was able to get a 2nd opinion and was recently reccomended to try physical therapy - she goes 3 times a week to the physical therapist and then does stretching exercises, hot patches, etc. every day. I know this is really frustrating (I've dealt with own issues with painful intercourse as well, with a microperforate hymen and then vaginismus), and I'd reccomend doing the least invasive things first before going to surgery, etc.
Best of luck with everything!