Sore sore vagina

[Sadsadsore]

So I am a 42 year old woman and around 2 years ago this awful problem began .

My labia and vagina feel sore burning and raw , there doesn't appear to be much to see on looking .

Swabs have sometimes show thrush , thrush is treated with many different thrush pessaries and oral tablets , long course given they seemed to make it worse !!

repeat swabs then show no thrush BUT the burning still persists hurts to walk and wear certain clothes ..... No bv or STDs show on the swabs .

My period brings some relief to the outer labia if I use tampons , but then it still burns inside and feels dry , and can be hard to insert even small tampons after a day or two of period begining .

Then the whole burning vagina labia and crampy feeling starts again after period ends ,

what I assume to be around ovulation feels worse ,

I have tried treating with thrush pessary but this seems to aggravate the burning more and starts the cramping off.

This persists till period and then lessens then begins again a few days after period ends .

I have endometriosis, a polyp and a fybroid too ( all found from medical investigations )

I've had a biopsy on brown skin patches on labia show melisis not anything sinister. I assume that of it was eczema or lichens this would have been picked up when they did the vulva biopsy?

I am totally miserable with this now I have no idea what to do doctors seem to have given up .

It sounds like perimenopausal atrophy to me. It would be worth a trial of topical oestrogen to see if that helps.
I suppose you have done all the usual washing powder/soap /scented pantiliner checks?

The trouble is, if it goes on too long, you end up with chronic nerve pain and that needs something like amitriptyline to treat it. Have you seen a specialist?

Get some oestrogen cream or pessaries to insert into the vaginal canal. That really was huge difference to me. For me, the skin felt like wet tissue paper that could tear and cause burning pain at any time. It was really uncomfortable and I pretty much became celibate due to the constant tearing and how delicate the skin was. 3 weeks on the cream and is back to normal. I use it every other day and it's really improved things.

Thank you for your replies I really appreciate your help

@Sadsadsore @devonianBiatch can I ask what cream did you use ?

@endofthelinefinally yes I went to see a gyne who said vulvodynia , I tried the anytriptomine and it's didn't work :(

Can you get atrophy before meno ?

Thank you I appreciate you answering X

You can certainly get VA before the menopause. If the female GP, who was older than me, believed you could i wouldn't have suffered for a year.
In the end i asked a male GP to prescribe topical Oestrogen as a trial, he agreed and i haven't looked back.

Ask to try either Ovestin or Vagifem

Amitriptyline on its own won't work for atrophy caused by lack of oestrogen. But it can be helpful if you get chronic pain once the oestrogen deficiency is treated.
Once you are on oestrogen replacement it has to be permanent. I have seen so many women on here who are only given short courses because their GP doesn't know about perimenopause. Every time they stop all the symptoms come back. If the oestrogen cream helps you should discuss HRT with your doctor.

I thought Atrophy too!
I was 47 when diagnosed, multiple urine infections, thrush like symptoms!
I was in agony, saw a female GP who took one look at me - well my vagina & said how long have you been putting up with this!
Prescribed Vagifem & it changed my life!

Do you have a coil?

I agree with everyone else. It's very common to think you have thrush which doesn't respond to treatment, then if you're lucky the penny drops and you realise it's VA. You absolutely must get this treated, it won't get any better on its own, but topical oestrogen and/or HRT will change your life.

Thank you for replying I will go and get some !

I did have the coil but had that taken out a while ago that's what started the thrush off !!

How long did the cream/vagifem take to start to work ?

Was it sore at first still when you used the tablets / cream

Thank you for your help .

I was told it was thrush by the Female GP, i knew it wasn't as had that in the past.

I started with Ovestin cream, you use it internally but can also smear some on outside. It did sting for the first few days but after a week i was noticing improvements. I did later change to Vagifem which i preferred but also get Ovestin prescribed to apply on the outside.

I had this and it was thrush. I took a probiotic called Bioglan, and it cleared right up in a few days. I've also taken the same probiotics before when I had thrush caused by antibiotic use. It seems to be linked to my cycle and seems worst before and after my period. Worth trying those pills if you have nothing to lose. You have to make sure you don't take them with a hot drink.

I know it might be something else in your case but worth a try perhaps before assuming it's VA. I've had the burning feeling even when there were no other thrush symptoms, everything just feels very 'delicate' and sore down there and the probiotics completely sorted that.

Also check for diabetes just in case.

You can use both vagifem (little pessary, like a small tablet you insert with an applicator) and Ovestin cream which can be used on vulva.
or you can just use Ovestin both internally with applicator and externally on vulva vulva.

hope that’s clear. I think I’m saying make sure you get Ovestin
for your vulva plus something for your vagina if that makes sense? I think vagifem and Ovestin use slightly different estrogen so I like having a double effort.
mot may burn a bit at first but gets better as skin gets stronger

Apparently it’s helps to use something internally in your vagina as it corrects the pH. Then this helps the vulva.
I like the Ovestin cream because it helps treat all areas.
I did/do get thrush as well as the skin got more easily damaged and I was at my wits end not knowing whether to use estrogen, canestan or a moisturiser. It’s much better now I use the estrogen regularly although still get occasional thrush but I’m on it all now.

Can I just add a tiny bit of caution to the oestrogen suggestions.

Endometriosis is an oestrogen driven disease and adding in oestrogen even synthetic versions can cause endo flare ups.

So I would 100% take on all the advice you've had and it could be the VA route you need to head down, it does seem hormonally linked, the calming during your period does point to hormones linked as well not tampon related.

All I would say is make sure the GP is fully aware of the endometriosis link and understands to go steady on the oestrogen gels and suggestions, then you can monitor the impact.

And I hope this settles it sounds awful, if you do continue to get ignored by the GP just call and say your penis and balls are itching and burning and sore, it's been months and it's agony and you are struggling to walk and see how quickly you get an appointment.

@nonstoprenovation yes I bet I would be seen within the hour !!

Thank you for all your suggestions I will try the pessaries and cream and see how I get on .

@HannahDefoesTrenchcoat yes ! This this is.me at the moment everything I try stings more so I dont know if I'm reacting to stuff or if it's just because it's inflamed already , and whether it's thrush or VA

, I will give it a few weeks to see if it settles I've had a doctor Google about it all and as you all say it does sound like this atrophy thing , I will tell them what I think I need !

All the thrush meds I've had I just can't see how it would still be there for all this time , I've even had nystyn pessaries special order at the chemist at one point to get rid of what was thought to be thrush ... And the times it's said thrush on swabs treated , then repeated swabs show gone , yet the pain still stays the same .......

Every thrush treatment seems to make the pain worse . There is no itching or thick white typical discharge either, just this completely awful burning chaffy acid like feeling and pressure towards the back !
Skin feels delicate and flares more at certain times of the month .

Periods have been sort of on time but I've noticed shorter so 4 days then sometimes longer 10days .

This getting older stuff isn't fun and why did no one older mention this to us ??

Female doctors seem to be worse than make doctors for helping with woman's stuff :(

Thank you so much for your suggestions .

@devonianBiatch just had time to go back though and read all the replies properly ,

Your post re the feeling and skin like wet tissue paper describes perfectly how it looks and feels , I really hope this cream is the answer , I've got an appointment on the phone for Thursday fingers crossed .

Thank you X

Did you ever feel better @Sadsadsore ? I'd be interested to know as I'm experiencing a similar thing. Xxx