help! My fanjo is driving me mad.

[bonzo77]

It's so fucking itchy. On and off for a year FFS.

It's my vulva, between the bigger lips and the smaller ones, and inside the inner ones, and to a much lesser extent sometimes the entrance to my vag. I've been to the GP. I've been tested for thrush, thyroid disease and diabetes, BV, all the STIs. I've used all the thrush treatments (cream, pessaries, tablets), steroid creams. Anti histamines (tis so bad it keeps me awake sometimes). Vagisil. Washing with just water. washing with aqueous cream. not washing. air drying. hair dryer drying. towel drying. talc. not drying. cotton knickers. no knickers (not happening in winter). different kinds of san pro. no san pro (lovely). visually it looks pretty normal (see 2 below). makes no difference. Not related to my menstrual cycle.

3 other related isshooos..

1. I have very flappy flaps. always have done. they are getting more flappy. they never really bother me, apart from sometimes chaffing.
2. I get an ulcer on the edge of my vag, towards my bum. its from tight tissue which they don't know the cause of. I once had an op to remove the tight tissue, which helped for years. but it's back. its not herpes.
3. having difficulty TTC # 3. I.m 36 and had 2 CSs. Periods slightly irregular but pretty certain I'm ovulating.

Going to GP tomorrow and pushing for another gynae referral, or maybe a vulval a skin specialist if such a thing exists on the NHS.

It was a clinical diagnosis by an expert in vulval dermatological conditions. I was seeing gu medicine and gp for 6 months, every swab i had was negative. Referred to dermatology, who initially thought it was bechets or lichen planus and prescribed dermovate once daily which didn't work. I then saw specialist who was confident it was ls by the appearance. She wasn't prepared to biopsy because I was too sore, so suggested I upped dermovate to twice a day. Within a week I saw an improvement, and 4 weeks later it was gone completely. I suppose without the biopsy it's not a definitive diagnosis, but the treatment worked and the bastard itch has gone so I'm happy!

This is the thing. You both seem to have had something to show for your irritation, the dermatologist could look and say that it looked like something. The only thing to see with me is sometimes some redness caused by my scratching. And my mahoosive flaps. Honestly, they hang down by an inch or so. I went out today without knickers as it was warm enough for skirt and no tights. I can feel them on my thighs! I really prefer the "support" of knickers.

My ds reacted to surcare - ecover is the only washing powder which he doesn't react to...

Ooh forgot to say earlier. Get your iron levels tested. Low iron can cause itching too! Mine was slightly low and I now take iron tablets. It is slightly better. I don't get the itching anywhere else either! It's a bloody pain!
I have steroid cream which marginly helps

I'm going to ask for this thread to be moved to general health. You've all given such helpful advice, I'd like to refer back to it in the future, and it might help others. If it stats in chat it'll disappear soon.

You could have vaginal eczema, i had it for 6 months before it went away, you really need to see a vulva specialist.

thanks tali. i've been referred to dermatology, hopefully that will do the trick. Apparently they do have vulval specialists. I would have thought that with eczema there would be something to see though. And it would be feeling better with the steroid cream.

I was referred to a dermo before the vulval clinic.

It took a while for them to work out it was eczema, 4 different creams and 3 sets of antibiotics before it obvious.

All because of a urine infection too. Some days, it was so bad, it would bleed and I just wanted to cry. Strangely, my period was my only reprieve.

I cant remember what the last cream I was, but it worked like a dream, I think it started with an L, and you should get some emollients, to wash with, they do work well. Aqueous cream and Oilatum cream are the ones I had.

I have the same problem - I self medicate with 1% hydrocortisone cream. It helps - but I am worried it will harm me in the long term. Does anyone know if that's the case?

tali i sometimes use diprobase or cetraben, or the kids oilatum junior bath oil to wash with, though actually find I'm more comfortable if I use only water. Dermovate cream once a day if really uncomfortable, and vagisil as well if its intolerable.

I had dermovate cream, it did nothing but hurt, it was the last cream i used that worked. buggered if i cant remember what its called.

Found it, it was Locoid cream that I used to get rid of it, it worked like a charm.

thank you. the dermovate does not hurt. I had clobaderm before, which is even stronger. I just checked another website, and the locoid cream is an equivalent potency to the dermovate (but less potent than the clobaderm), I guess maybe it was the other ingredients that differ and caused the irritation / lack of. I think I'm going to try using it twice a day for a while and see if that helps. did you ever get to the stage where you could stop using it? Mine is actually worse when I have my period for some reason.

I dont need to use creams anymore and i havent for about 7 months, sometimes I get a little flare up, but not enough to warrant the use of creams again.

You just need to find the right cream for you, hopefully after seeing the dermo, things might ease up, i know after my first visit, things definitely got better for me.

My friend had something called vulvodynia, but I think hers was stinging rather than itching. She got treatment through gynaecology

piscivorous i have had a previous brush with vulvodynia, which turned out very much not to be that. However, I've not ruled it out at all, especially as there is nothing to see down there. I think the treatment often involves antidepressants, which I am keen to avoid as we are TTC. Interestingly this all started during the same time that I was on ADs for PND. I weaned myself off them last August, no change in the itching really. Also, sex is fine mostly (apart from that little ulcer, which itself is not always a problem anyway) which tends not to be the case with vulvodynia.

Hi all,

We'll shortly be moving this thread to our General Health topic, so it doesn't self-destruct in 90 days.

I am suffering loads with my fanjo at the moment, and I am going private as I am sick of being messed around by my local hospital. I have LS that I have had for twenty plus years, and it does not always look white it can just be sore and itchy.

You need a really good specialist as there can be more than one thing going on down there, I know of someone who had LS was not responding to steroid cream, went to a specialist she had LS plus something else and needed a totally different treatment.

My LS is being made worse by the steroid cream, preliminary tests of a specialist form of urine test is showing up various nasties in my urine, the normal local hospital tests are always clear.

I am seeing one of the top uro/gynaes in the country, and she has passed me over too a dermatologist as it is not her area, each area even down there really does need a specialist. I have become a fanjo specialist in the last few months, and I am sick of my fanjo I also have puendal neuralga, which is another whole thread. The onset of perimeno has a a lot to answer to, Mother Nature is certainly trying my patience!!!!!!!!!!

I also use yes oil based, very good, I also use the water based one for inside I take with me for internals.