Thursday, March 25, 2010

Not a good day ;(

Today, I have some burning and itching creeping in. It upsets me and I worry I will always be like this. And of course the more I worry the worse I feel. I am thinking the trigger today might have been too tight pants ...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Warm Weather!

The weather was beautiful this weekend! My boyfriend and I spent the weekend at the park--it was a ton of fun. Unfortunately the warm weather is making me nervous. If I at all sweaty in the "area", it start to feel a little prickly or sweaty. With a skirt I can get some breeze, but with pants (i.e. gym clothes) I get nothing.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Stockings

Today was a mostly good day with some DIV uncomfortableness showing up later in the evening. I think part of the reasons it was a good day was because it was a skirt day. One of the big changes I had to make were thigh-high stockings. They are kind of fun and my boyfriend appreciates them :) I use Hanes® Silk Reflections® Lace-Top Thigh-High Panty Hose. I found that buying a size bigger than I need lets me pull them high enough that they mimick real stockings. The only drawback is due to my sensitive skin I sometimes end up with welts if I wear them too many days ina row.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

My History

My issues started shortly after sex with a new partner. I initially thought I had a terrible yeast infection. I was treated with diflucan and waited to get better. After about a month of visits and no improvement, I was tested for everything under the sun (diabetes, stds, yeast, etc.). All my tests came back negative. My practioner tried a variety of different treatments with no success. We tried lifestyle changes (cut out sugar, double rinising clothes, special toliet paper, white 100% cotton underwear, etc.). My partner was re-tested for stds--all negative. I kept getting worse and worse. The ongoing burning was so bad that I could barely sit a work. And quite frankly my mental health was beginning to seriously deteriorate.

My practioner referred me to a specialist. I was re-tested and subjected to a variety of new tests. We initially treated to get the inflammation down with steriods. We then tried clindamycin internally for two weeks. Initially that appeared to be a miracle cure--my pain went away, I got the DIV diagnosis.

Disappointingly, a month later we were back to square one as the burning, pain and discharge had returned. We then tried Vagifem and topical estrogen. That seemed to be working. I have now been taken off the Vagifem and am waiting to see what happens.

I wish I could wear pretty underwear!

I went shopping this afternoon and made the mistake of going into Victoria's Secret. They had a bunch of new underwear in all the pretty spring colors. Of course nothing in the store is 100% cotton and I am of course limited to only white. It is such a bummer--I feel like it is so hard to feel pretty, female or young with my boyfriend when all of my underwear are "granny panties".

I have been doing okay the last few days. I tend to be fine during the day, but with externa irritation starting in the evening. I put estrace on before I go to bed and then I am generally okay by the morning. I am so tired of this!

Welcome

I am starting this blog to help me work through issues involving my gyn health that have been percolating for about six months now. I also hope that it might provide some ideas or comfort for others experiencing the same issues, as I have found a total lack of information as I have been trying to work through this process.

My current (as it has changed a few times) diagnosis is desquamative inflammatory vaginitis, otherwise known as DIV. Basically it is atrophic vaginitis in women who are not menopausal. In my case the basical symptoms are yellow discharge and painful burning that comes and goes. I also seem to be having to urinary tract issues as well recently. Current treatment involves estrace cream and a steriod cream. My doctor just took my off of my Vagifem inserts about two weeks ago. I am really nervous about this since I was feeling good while using them and feel like my symptoms are creeping back without it. I am trying to give myself some more time before I start worrying too much.

I have found that to be one of my biggest challenges so far--to try not to let my worrying about this to become all consuming. Does anyone have advice on that?