Blunt and overly honest post about my vagina!

[daydreamingthroughmotherhood]

Hi all, desperate 29 year old first time Mum here… baby is 7 months old now and my vagina is in tatters!!
It all started during pregnancy, I had constant thrush!! Which then turned into a rash, a bikini line rash, my vagina felt like it was covered in tiny tiny cuts!!
I ended up having an emergency c-section, which thank god because I don’t think my vagina would of survived a natural birth..
7 months later and my vagina is still not right. I have been back and to to the doctors, all I get from them is ‘don’t use soap down there (which I don’t) and here’s some thrush cream’.
Currently, my vagina is so painful. It’s burning, itchy, discharge, feels like cuts all over, INCREDIBLY DRY. There’s no smell to it whatsoever, or to the discharge.

Can anyone give me some advice please on what I need to do/who I need to see please.
I’ve done so much googling, I feel like I could be low in estrogen? Due to how dry my vagina is…
I’m 29, could it be perimenopause?

fyi, I don’t use any soaps down there, no feminine products, I haven’t even sodding shaved for months because the skin is that fragile and sore, I’ve just been trimming - grim.

Please can anyone give me some advice, without sounding dramatic, it is ruining my life. My partner is dying to have sex but I just can’t. It would be agony for me. I can’t wear certain clothes because it is agony, even sitting down on my couch is agony.
I’ve lost quite a bit of weight since having my baby, I’m now 13 stone. I used to be 17 stone!!!
So I don’t feel I’m too overweight anymore.

Honestly, I just want this vaginal pain/irritation/dryness to stop, I need it to. My mental health is suffering because of all the things I don’t feel I can do anymore.
Feel free to ask me anything, I have no filter at this point. I’m that desperate to feel healthy down there again!

Ah OP it sounds awful.

GPs aren't really any good at this stuff but the GUM clinic is. It's their area and they're very fast in diagnosing and treating, all in the same place.

Find your local one and make an appointment. They can help you.

Are you breastfeeding? On any hormonal birth control? It certainly seems like a hormonal imbalance could be at play, or at least contributing. Are the treatments you’ve had for thrush all been topical or have you taken oral tablets as well?

You could try probiotics. Try to restore the balance:

https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/pro-ven-womens-lactobacillus-with-cranberry-capsules-60008367

www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/h-b-tribiotic-womens-health-6-60-6100005305

Use aqueous cream to wash with tepid water, don’t let soap anywhere near. Mine’s dropped to bits like this before and it’s taken a long time to rebalance itself. I use aloe vera gel on toilet paper when I wipe too which is quite soothing for me. A proper diagnosis of what’s going on would be best though, have you had swabs etc?

Can you insist on a gynae referral from your GP. The thrush cream is clearly not cutting it.

It sounds ridiculous but if it's burning and sore, could you try using a syringe to put really cold natural live yoghurt up there? Or soak a tampon in the yoghurt. That does sooth it at least though may not get rid of symptoms. I've also made an ice lolly of live yoghurt and put it up there when I had issues!

Could you have an intolerance to some foods like yeasty foods?

I don't think it would be peri at your age, that usually more 40s.

Have a google of Sjögren’s syndrome. If you suspect it might be this you should ask for a referral to a rheumatologist. I have it - and many other autoimmune issues. Vaginal oestrogen helps (even at your age, even if you aren’t menopausal) and you may also have thrush if you don’t have the typical discharge as with Sjogrens the dryness means you don’t always produce the white discharge. So you may need a longer term anti fungal treatment like Fluconazole daily for a few months. (I am on Fluconazole 50mg daily long term).

It might be a flora imbalance and not thrush.
You need to see a gyne.

Thrush cream and pessaries never worked for me, I need Fluconazole tablets - they work so well.

Go to the gum clinic and they will sort you out. If you are breastfeeding yes you could be low in oestrogen. But honestly just go see an expert - they will do proper exam and tests and give you what you need, be that steroids, oestrogen, stronger or different antifungals, emollients. They will be able to make things better. A probiotic won’t hurt in the meantime. Lactobacilli crispatus is best for vaginal health specifically. Stay well hydrated too.

Agree please get referred to the right medical team. Gynae , GUM or dermatology of you think more vulval skin issue. (Lichen sclerosis). Be persistent until it's sorted.

https://www.bad.org.uk/pils/lichen-sclerosus-in-females/

Hi all, i’m not currently on any birth control and baby has been on formula since day 1.

I’ve had thrush creams, steroid creams, antibacterial creams and antibiotics.

They said it could be a staph infection - so I did the antibiotics. Nothing changed.
Thrush wise, I’ve had the creams, pessaries and oral tablets and still nothing changed.

I will contact my GP tomorrow for another appointment and request to see a Gynaecologist.

Thank you all for your comments, it is so mentally draining, I feel I am not being the Mum I want to be because I’m constantly uncomfortable.

Look up Lichen Sclerosis

the papercuts mention is textbook

Don't soak in the bath (I doubt you do with babies!). Have cool showers instead.
I used coconut oil and tea tree on my thrushy vag and that helped.
Cotton knickers.
But ultimately, sounds hormonal.

Also, antibiotics cause thrush.

No real advice OP but just wanted to say I could have written this myself! Things have not been right since my first baby in 2022, very similar symptoms to yours, I'm now pregnant with my 3rd and after the most recent doctor's visit have been given thrush pessaries to use every week from now til the end, which seem to keep things at bay but as soon as I stop using them I fear it will all just come back!

I had a similar thing recently, lasted a few months. I thought because of my age it was menopausal issues and I maybe needed a topical estrogen. Didnt even consider thrush as it was sore and dry with paper cut feeling. I was itchy but mainly at night with a burning itch. I didnt have any discharge but the GP swabbed and came back with heavy thrush but it was all high up.
I was prescribed 1 fluconazole tablet which did nothing and the GP said to wait 3 weeks to give it chance to work. It didn't. In the end I just bought fluconazole from amazon and took it according to NICE guidance treatment for persistent thrush - 1 tablet every 3 days (3 total). This helped but didnt quite cure, so i repeated the same dosage and all fine since.

I had exactly this OP. It started with thrush but the tiny cuts and itching and soreness hung around long after the thrush had gone.

Do you find that little bits of skin are rubbing off your inner labia, almost like those bits of eraser you get when you rub out pencil?

After a lot of rubbish diagnoses from GPs I got referred to a vulvar dermatologist who diagnosed it as vulvar eczema. I was relieved it wasn’t lichen sclerosis as they look quite similar but lichen sclerosis basically just gets worse whilst eczema can be managed and go away in time.

Treatment for the eczema was as follows: use aqueous cream to wash the area, nothing else. Be gentle when washing and drying. Use steroid cream (mine was Locoid) when needed to ease the itch/soreness. The less sex the better while healing. Cotton undies, I already did this anyway. Gradually it went away. I still get the odd patch that flares up occasionally but nothing like it was.

Agree with pp that you need a proper diagnosis- get a referral to a vulvar dermatologist if possible.

OP - you need to see a gynaecologist. I had something similar and it has taken me a very very long time to get a diagnosis. Drs kept repeatedly saying it was thrush when it wasn't - very frustrating. Have now received a diagnosis from a gynaecologist and am relieved to be getting treatment!

I think it’s very likely to be vaginal atrophy if you are still or have recently stopped breastfeeding your baby. Same thing often happens in peri menopause and menopause. The good news is that a tube of very low dose oestrogen cream or pessaries will put you right until your own hormones return to normal.
vaginal atrophy is now generally known as Genito-urinary syndrome of menopause btw. It can also affect your urethra, bladder and vulva, cause thrush and the microcuts you describe. It’s a miserable condition.
good luck OP.

I would go to a GUM clinic and get STD tested. When were you last tested?

OP definitely get a second opinion, as PPs have suggested.
I do recommend Optibac though - it’s a bit of a pricey probiotic but I honestly can’t rave about it enough. I’ve been prone to all sorts of infections back to back and it’s been the only thing keeping them at bay

OP l agree with @ margegunderson, it sounds very much like a hormonal imbalance following pregnancy. Please ask your GP for Estriol cream and /or vagjfem pessaries to help restore your deleted estrogen. Vaginal atrophy is commonly recognised by the symptoms you describe, in particular the dry vagina and the little paper cuts on your vulva. I really hope this helps!

I had this after my second and it took 3 GPS to take me seriously. A nice gp finally prescribed me an oestrogen and steroid cream as it was all related to hormone changes and it went away. Don't let them fob you off!

I had recurring thrush when I went to a sexual health clinic it turns out I also had a bacterial infection. I suspect you may have more than just thrush. I think get to sexual health or gynaecologist asap