Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Judith57]

Hello everyone, this is my first post but I have been browsing this forum for support with my menopause over the last two years and really hope someone can give me some advice (and hope!) as I am at my wits end.

My partner and I had sex for the first time in a while about six weeks ago and basically I haven't been the same since. The next day I had the beginnings of a UTI. I went to my GP on Monday and she tested my urine and confirmed that I did have a UTI and gave me a 3 day course of anti-biotics. By Friday I wasn't feeling any better so phoned the surgery and was given a 7 day course of a different anti-biotic. My whole vaginal area felt as though it was on fire and I had a constant urge to pee.

I went back to my GP a third time and she diagnosed thrush, although I don't think I had thrush as I had already treated myself for thrush. Around this time I also started waking up in the night to pee, this had never happened before.

About two weeks ago, I was unable to sleep all night due to the constant urge to pee, my bladder appeared to be empty but the urge never went away. I went to our local private hospital as I was worried that I had a blockage in my bladder and they arranged for me to see a urologist that afternoon. He confirmed that I didn't have an infection but carried out a flexible cystoscopy to rule out bladder cancer. That result was normal and I have also had a CT scan that has been normal.

The pain has continued to get worse and so I went back to the hospital last week and told them that my bowel must be pressing on my bladder as I constantly needed to pee. I have had a flexible sigmoidoscopy and a colonoscopy this week and both have been normal apart from some diverticulosis.

I haven't been able to go into work this week as it is so painful to sit down and I have also had to go and see my GP for some sleeping pills, I have lost half a stone in weight over the last ten days and am at my wits end. I spent most of last night with a glass of cold water between my thighs!

I was browsing this site yesterday and came across a post from a lady who has Purendal Neuralgia so I googled it and it was like a Eureka! moment. I feel as though my whole vulva has been sprayed with oven cleaner, my clitoris is on fire and I cannot sit down. The urge to pass urine never goes away.

I have found the name of a specialist in London who specialises in the condition and will try to get an appointment to see him ASAP.

Can anybody out there give me any hope at all as I feel that my life has been taken away and can't see any way forward.

[Mrs January]

Gosh

This sounds like an awful time for you, although I know nothing of this condition I send you my hugs to help you through it ...


Lotsa hugs

Mrs January xxxx

[Judith57]

Thank you Mrs January XXX

[honeybun]

If this was triggered by sex then could it be VA ? Are you on HRT or do you use a vaginal oestrogen ? Sorry for all the questions.

Have they ruled out a kidney infection ? One of our ladies had this and was really quite unwell for quite a while.

Hope you find an answer soon.


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

Yep - you have been 'diagnosed' with urine infections but was the sample sent to a Lab for testing?  that way the correct AB would have been prescribed and if this didn't cure the symptoms then the GP should have been looking for other causes. Only a Lab test can give a GP the correct diagnosis, a dip test can show that there is a problem with the urine however .........

This is how vaginal atrophy begins and if you do a 'search' you wll see SuzyQ's very good thread on the subject, plus my own wanderings (My Bladder etc.) which began about 12 months ago.  OH the razor blade feeling high up and the constant feeling of needing to pee  ........ my GP diagnosed me over the phone having had suspicions for several months by the continual symptoms I was showing with.

Go back to your Surgery and ask for Vagifem or other types of treatment.  I am surprised that a urologist didn't recognise the symptoms  you should NOT need to see a Specialist in London! however, if you have an appt. then go along and your GP should recognise the symptoms of VA but many do not.  It is more cost effective to prescribe ABs than other treatments 

After 4 weeks of pessaries my vagina was 'back to normal' 

[Judith57]

Thank you so much for your replies CLKD and honeybun. I went to the Marie Stopes Clinic about two years ago as I was feeling very weepy and anxious and thought it could be meno-related. I was prescribed some Ortho-Gynest pessaries - every night for 14 days and then two a week. To be honest, I had never really thought that my vagina was dry so I got lazy and stopped using them. I had about 6 left that I have been using for the past few nights in the hope that it is VA.

I have been following SuzyQ's posts - she is very funny and I feel more positive when I read that other people out there are suffering.

Do you need to have a dry vagina to have vaginal atropy or can it still be quite moist?

The burning and constant need to pee, also clitoral pain, are driving me nuts - I feel that I have a red hot poker stuck up inside me. I am due to go back to the urologist on Monday morning so will discuss VA with him.

Judith XXX

[CLKD]

Because the vagina begins to shrink with age I think that's where the problems start, although I have had to use KY Jelly for over 30 years.  Let us know how you get on and if you find the pessaries useful, discuss with your GP the options as I think these are due to be discontinued  ..........

[Judith57]

Thank you CLKD, I will let you know how I get on on Monday. I had to go to the dentist this morning and he was talking about replacing my crowns to give me a better smile and all I could think about was my burning fanny - it was on fire the whole time!

Judith xx

[LizeeeH]

OMG poor you that's sounds awful
I have to say all this menopause stuff has completely put me off sex and I feel so sorry for hubby

[Judith57]

It is awful, just went to Waitrose to do my shopping but felt sick with the pain, have loaded up on paracetamol, lemon barley water and cymalon in the hope that I may get some relief from the burning!

Does anyone know if sex can cause damage to the pudendal nerve? At the moment I can't see any way out of this cycle of pain.

Sorry to sound so miserable but I just can't get any relief from the pain at the moment,

Judith x

[CLKD]

Until you see your GP about this being possible vaginal atrophy I expect you will have varying degrees of discomfort.  Have you taken any pain-relief?  I would take 2 Nurofen now followed by another single dose in about an hour.  Then as directed on the pack.

As for crowns: do they require replacing or is this a money maker?  I had implants which cost a lot but are a replacement for lost teeth.  Don't make any decisions until you have a diagnosis about these unpleasant symptoms!

 

[CLKD]

Also: the pudendal nerve is above the sciatic nerve so yes, in theory, it can be damaged by sex but it would have to have been very violent sex.  Neuralgia is usually only associated with the facial nerve which causes intense, sudden pain in the cheek.

[Judith57]

Hi CLKD, I have taken some paracetamol and some nurofen but they don't touch the pain. I am very worried now because the sex was quite 'boisterous' because I was a bit dry I think. Wish I could turn the clock back six weeks....

xxx

[Maryjane]

Hi I am the lady with PN, you need to buy a book from amazon " chronic pelvic pain and dysfunction" by Dr Ruth lovegrove jones , she is one of the top physios there are for this condition, I sore her last week and will see her again on Monday.

I have seen the specialists in a London , excellent people, it is a multidisciplinary approach and Ruth knows the consultant I am under, he wrote a page in her book.

The physio is hard core, it's internal and external, with instruments of torture that I will be trained to use next week.

I knew what I had very early on, and researched and found the top people in this field as my local hospital was sending me down the wrong path, physio is key. I had some very dark times back in the winter, but feel very relieved to have found Ruth. I have had eight weeks of accunpucture, and that if anything relaxes me. DO NOT GET CONSTIPATED.

Physio is not cheap, your local womens health physio can't deal with this, it is very specialised.

[Maryjane]

For cooling of the outside put two tins of baked beans in the freezer so you can rotate them, wrap frozen tin in a towel you will find what thickness you want it, then put in a soft pillowcase, put between your legs it stays frozen for 14 hours, I learnt to sleep all night like that and it REALLY helps. I also slept on a heat pad, on the hottest setting under my bum cheeks and that helps the bum pain.

Basic pain killers do nothing, it will only be the specialist nerve ending type pills that work, I only took one and never again, didn't suit me at all. So I don't take anything, it is slowly getting better, i am hopping that by Christmas I will be getting there.