November 16, 2010

Out of Commission for Two Weeks

I can usually ascertain the cause of a bacterial imbalance in my lady bits, but not this time.  I have no idea what caused it.  I started having burning and discharge (gross) about two weeks ago.  My first impulse to self-medicate.  In the past that has been a problem because by the time I get to my specialist, there's no evidence of an infection and all that I have left is residual burning from my flared pudendal nerve.  On those occasions, I got a very stern scolding from my doctor. 

This time I decided to be a good girl and schedule an appointment and do nothing to teat my symptoms.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get an appointment until Thursday, a full week after the symptoms began.  Ugh!

It was a miserable week, but I thought it would be worthwhile when my doctor said, "yes, this time you really do have a yeast infection."  Not this time! 

After looking at my cells under the microscope my doctor's PA found that I did not have any signs of yeast!  So frustrating!  The good news is, even if I had self-medicated it wouldn't have helped.  The bad news is, I don't know what caused it and the treatment is messy. 

I hate using overnight vaginal creams because the whole next day that cream gets all over my squish!  Yuck!  Obviously, I have to wear underwear on those days, which causes more pain to my poor sloppy moose knuckle! 

Hopefully, this clears up soon.  It's making me feel gross. 

11 comments:

Sarah said...

I have been there a million times. I think I have a yeast infection and then the test comes back negative. So why is it burning so much?! It's so frustrating! And yes, those creams are the worst. You'll be going about your day and at random moments you'll just feel a goopy chunk slide right out into your underwear! I hope you feel better soon.

jenji said...

I had a similar experience.

I hadn't had a yeast infection in my entire life until this past January and I'm 40. I should think if you're prone to yeast, you're prone to yeast and I never was. This is also when I started having the mysterious symptoms associated with PN, however at the time I knew nothing of PN. And so my doctor insisted that I had a yeast infection, although he didn't look at anything under a microscope. I tried to tell him that I could hardly believe that I'd all of a sudden develop a yeast infection and that it wasn't somehow related to everything else going on down there, however he wouldn't hear of it. Well, the diflucan didn't do jack. It just sort of comes and goes about once a month, it seems more so just after my period. Since January I have had two cultures done whilst I've been weathering this yuck and both times I was told no bacteria and no yeast. In fact, they said I had healthy yeast going on. At my last gyno appointment this moronic doctor had the nerve to tell me I had "some yeast going on" however, I didn't have any symptoms at the time. Again, I insisted that it wasn't and that he culture it (his PA did the other two cultures) and he refused to do so. Yes, I'm done seeing this doctor.

And so it seems to me that the inflamed pudendal is somehow stimulating a vaginal response to sort of clean house wherein it looks and feels like a yeast infection, but under a scope it isn't. Maybe some sort of automatic immune response to a perceived attack. This is just something I see in common from all the V/PN blogs I've read over the past 9 months. There must be something to it. Looks, feels like an infection, but isn't. So frustrating. Again, i never had a yeast infection in my entire life until I started having this mysterious tailbone/perineum/rectal/vaginal pain. I'm luckily seeing a PN specialist who's also a urogynecolgist/pelvic specialist next month. I can't wait.

Now I just let my body clean as it will and weather the uncomfortable symptoms as best I can. No one can understand what we go through.

I hope you're feeling better and getting some relief soon.

hang in,
jenji

jenji said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lora said...

I'm so sorry. This sort of stuff bothers me the worst about all this. The "it's not yeast and it's not bacteria but we don't know what it is".

Why?

Why don't they know what it is? What the hell else can be up there?

An old shoe? A discarded tire? What?

Love to you.

Sarah said...

What I found out was that my vaginal tissues were atrophied from taking birth control pills - the atrophy caused it to feel like I had a yeast infection because it was burning all the time. But damn, it took about 8 doctors for me to finally get that answer! It shouldn't be that hard!

Quinn said...

Very interesting, the girl with pain "down there." I absolutely love your description of the misery of vaginal creams. I couldn't find the words, but you summed it up beautifully!

Jenji. I hope your new doctor gives you some answers. Please keep me posted.

Lora. I think it is an old shoe up there. I lost a one of my favorite slippers last winter. It's the only logical explanation. I love you!

Claire said...

Have any of you tried boric acid suppositories? They restore your vaginal pH, and work wonderfully for me. I'm super sensitive to any vaginal imbalance--even a normal growth of yeast causes itching for me. When I begin to experience the itching, I use the boric acid for a few nights and everything usually returns to normal. Just FYI, I never ever use anti-fungal creams because they are full of chemicals that burn my skin. I always opt for the oral diflucan.

ouch said...

hi, just came across this site and am so excited
I jusgt wanted to add that u can have a yeast infection in ur clitoris and no where else and a lot of drs don't realize that! I had terrible pain there until finally yhe 3rd dr I went to told me I had a yeast infection

ouch said...

Just a question, since I'm new to this,...where do I find info? Ex how do I konw if a dr knows what he/she talking about or what they tell me makes sense

Quinn said...

Hey Ouch! Welcome to the community!

The National Vulvodynia Association is a great resource. Go to www.nva.org . If you join you can get access to a list of doctors in different states who specialize in vulvodynia.

What state are you in? My own knowledge of doctors is limited, but I may be able to help you.

Thank you for the information about clitoral yeast infections. I didn't know about that.

Anonymous said...

Mold in your home or your work. Excessive use of bleach. Causes the nerve to be inflamed causing the burning stabbing cant sit or wear any tight clothing etc. No meds will work. You have to remove yourself from the environment, it may take 8 months but it will completely go away.