Three months I've had this

[AJ09]

I've just wrote out a post that took absolutely forever just for it to disappear so am annoyed.

This is going to be long due to the amount of stuff that has happened.

In April I started to feel incredibly itchy down below and thought I had a case of thrush. I used some canesten I had at home and didn't work. I rang GP who prescribed me the 2% cream and oral tablet over the phone.
I took it that day and uses cream for two weeks with no change.

I ended up booking an appointment with the nurse at my GP as I was covered in tiny bumps and sores from scratching. She looked and said 'folliculitis' prescribed me flucloxacillin and advised me to find a different way to get rid of pubic hair other than shaving.

This did clear up for two weeks then it started to come back but this time my vulva wasn't affected. It was my inner thighs and bottom of bum cheeks. All where you would sweat and rub.

I changed from soap in the shower to using emollient cream which helped a lot with itching. I made sure I showered everyday so sweat didn't have chance to sit and cause spots.

However, nothing worked and I went back to see her. Once again was prescribed flucloxacillin. This time the spots took their time to go but once they did another would pop up elsewhere.

I left it for a few weeks trying to see if anything I was doing was working, I used an intimate hair removal cream that was naff, used talc
To keep dry, wear baggy cotton shorts around house and lie down on sofa with legs apart to feel some relief.

Nothing helped much. I went back and pleaded that nothing was working, she prescribed me an antibiotic gel to use for three weeks. I've been using it two weeks and if anything it's made it worse.

I now have a large lump under my skin on the crease on my leg that is too painful to touch and I'm finding it so hard to walk without feeling pain. I also have a big spot with a. Head on it on inner thigh that rubs terrible.

So since April I've had/tried x amount of flucloxacillin, antibiotic gel, talc, sudocrem, ladies boxers to stop rubbing, use emollient cream, wear baggy shorts at any time I can, stopped shaving and now have a bush (dislike this very much) I've bought magnesium sulphate paste but too scared to use incase there's an explosion of pus.

All that's happened is spots are taking ages to go and another will pop up close by.

I'm at wits end and feeling very down with what's happening. I can rarely have sex due to the closeness of inflamed spots. I feel it's affecting my marriage as sex is a big deal for us.

I can barely walk anywhere so chose to stay home with legs apart on sofa, I have to walk around for 12 hours on my job so I cover the inflamed spots with plasters until I'm home but then uncover them so they can heal quickly.
I just don't know what to do and don't want to visit the nurse just to be prescribed flucloxacillin again.
I haven't taken antibiotics for years so I am worried how this amount I've had lately is affecting my liver.

I don't know if my immune system is not working properly and this will be something I can never get rid of. I would cry if that was the case.

I recently had a blood test and all that came back as low range was b12 and folate levels.

Please can anyone tell me if this has happened to them and if they tried anything differently to what I have? Three months this has been making me feel incredibly sad and low I can't see what else I can try.

I'm early 30's if it's relevant.

Thanks

Could it be hidrenitis suppurativa?

I've just looked at that in google and if I have that it's definitely not a severe case and I don't looks that bad.

There was one picture with a spot and head in it that does look similarly to mine.

I've saw the treatment for it is antibiotics which I'm so uncomfortable with. I don't want my body to start resisting it

Thank you so much for replying. I may have to go see the nurse again

Sounds horrible for you. Do you have a serial health clinic you can go to? They're not only for STDs. I went with noonie problems and they were really helpful (and more specialist than a general nurse)

Sorry - sexual health clinic

I think you need to be seen by someone more qualified than the nurse. Ask to be referred to a dermatologist at your local hospital. Good luck, it sounds awful for you.

Definitely go to a sexual health clinic. That's where my friend got her HS diagnosis. Google is frightening but she is managing hers well.

I have HS
Have you tried hibiscrub, or dettol soap?

I think my closest sexual health clinic is inside my local hospital. Tbh I'm open to trying anything as I'm completely fed up now.

I will see what days and times it's open next week and try to fit it around work.

I haven't tied hibiscrub or dettol soap. Just emollient cream for my affected areas

Thank you so much

Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not use Hibiscrub or Dettol soap or you’ll have thrush and BV to add to your list of woes!

Get in touch with sexual health, we can help 🙂

Is it crotch rot? Or fungal? Any possibility of diabetes? Lichen sclerosis?

Sounds miserable.

I would use the mag sulphate paste - it won’t be a dramatic explosion! Just pop some gauze over the spot to catch any excretions.

Have you tried a steroid cream on your vulva to help with the inflammation? I have to use Betnovate on occasion and it really helps.

I was tested for diabetes in my recent blood test and I'm not.
It doesn't look at all like crotch rot. (That's such an unpleasant name lol)

I did use hydrocortisone cream for a few days but am wary to use it too much on genitals due to thinning skin.

I think based on the comments I'll be visiting my local sexual health clinic

It could be thrush.

External cream won’t solve the problem because it doesn’t reach far enough inside. It’s only good for relieving external soreness while other treatments do their job.

Flucloxacillin is bloody useless imo. It has never worked for me and in my experience does not resolve thrush.

What you want is a good old fashioned pessary. The big pill that comes with an applicator stick, and you put it as far up your vagina as possible at bedtime, then remain lying down overnight. It dissolves and comes out over several days. Messy but it does the job.

If the pessary doesn’t work then it might not be thrush. But if you haven’t tried a pessary I recommend it. I have personal experience of thrush that did not respond to flucloxacillin being fixed by a pessary.

And do yourself a favour. Put NOTHING on it except plain water, at least for a while. No soap, no emollient, no talc, no shaving cream, no hair removal cream. Nothing. Let the hair grow even if it looks awful, don’t faff with it at all. Give it a chance to recover!

It really won’t thin your skin with short term use.

I had the same concerns and my GP said you’d have to use a lot of it on a consistent basis to have any potential impact.

It's just remembered after reading the latest post when I was first prescribed the thrush treatment which didn't work when I went to see the nurse she did a swab down below which did come back 'normal no action needed'

My actual vulva right now has no spots it's all around surrounding areas and itching has subsided considerably since using emollient cream.

Do you use sanitary pads?

No always tampons

I’ve had samples and swabs which have come back normal, even though there’s clearly something wrong. That just means the swab hasn’t picked up anything, it wasn’t a good sample or whatever. Honestly you might as well try a pessary, it’s worth trying anything at this stage and if it doesn’t fix the problem you won’t be any worse off.

Or could be a bartholins cyst which is the most fucking painful thing I have dealt with. A/Bs cleared it right up

I had the same issue down below a few years ago. The GP diagnosed a boil which was successfully treated with antibiotics.

Sorry to be so vulgar and post this but this was the best way to let you know where I have the lump.

I've just cleaned it and it was the most painful thing ever. It's like a long lump on either parts of the skin with a bit of skin in between that hurts when it's stretched.

I was looking at bartholyns cyst and if that is the only area they appear then I haven't got that

Update - I tried to post a pic and I can't post tit so I can't show you

Here

So the black circle is where my lump is. Between the skin on my leg and the start of my lip it's hell

Tineaccruris. I’m s a type of fungal infection. The constant scratching may have caused a blocked sebaceous gland leading to swelling/ sebaceous cyst.
It doesn’t really respond to Cameron, try athletes foot cream Lamisil. I suffered with it on and off during peri and menopause. I am now on hormone blockers ( breast cancer) and haven’t had a problem since becoming hormone free.
I also used to get it under my boobs but after breast surgery I no longer wear wired bras. Again it cleared up almost immediately.
Other possible causes are that you have developed a condition bract allergy to your washing detergent or possibly developed a latex allergy. Some underwear still has latex elastic in it. Try plain cotton slightly oversized underwear to see if it helps. If you wear liners change brands in case you are sensitive to the adhesive.

Sorry for the errors my phone is a little over zealous when it comes to auto correct.
It should read Tinea Cruris. It’s a type of fungal infection.