Reecee84 (Acworth, Georgia) on 01/03/2012

Once I realized that what was going on down there wasn't a yeast infection I started to do research, I had no discharge, just redness, swelling. For the most part I only felt pain and itching when I touched down there. Dynia means pain. Doctors don't know what it is and they don't know how to treat it, even prescribing antidepressants for it when that isn't going to help at all.

Ok now for what you came for: What I found through my research is that trauma to the muscles of my hoo hah caused my vulvodynia. This was caused by forcing the aha moment by locking up all my muscles during my uh alone time if you will. One thing that I have tried is a cranberry supplement, mine is the once a day one that can be bought at the Mart we all know of.

According to my research a UTI infection affects the same or similar muscles or something that Vulvodynia does, so I take a cranberry supplement every day because that helps so much with UTI's. I also take a calcium citrate supplement to help with oxalates, you can also get it from the Mart and the one I get includes Vitamin D and Magnesium for better absorption, it's a name brand.

I also have Bacterial Vaginosis so I take extra amounts of Folic Acid and an Acidopholus supplement every day and extra if I feel the itch start. This has been the only thing that has worked for my BV and it works very well. Funny how doctors don't think vitamins and immune boosters will fix the body's problems.

The coconut oil didn't work for me. But what has made the most significant difference and has for the most part cured my Vulvodynia has been the pelvic floor stretches that I do. If muscles are traumatized in some way they stay tensed and contracted, just like they would if you were in a car accident, so they must be relaxed and this is accomplished through stretching. The one that has worked best for me is a perineum massage where I take the thumb of my dominant hand and press it against the bottom of my hoo hah towards my rear hole as hard as I can without hurting myself but so I can feel the strings or muscles down there pull and stretch. I count slowly to 30 or 45 and release. I do this every time I go to the bathroom or at least 3 times a day when it hurts, which for me only seems to occur after sex now. After sex and the next day of doing this along with some other stretches and I can totally avoid any discomfort I also do a stretch where I lay on my back, the soles of my feet pressed together with my toes up against something solid so the heels of my feet are as close to my butt as possible. I then let my knees fall to the sides and hold this position for as long as is comfortable. This stretches the top or front muscles of my hoo hah. Another is piling pillows under my butt while letting my legs dangle off the bed as another person suggested. I try to do this for at least 15 minutes at a time to get a really good stretch. This stretches similar muscles as the previous exercise. This isn't as easy to get out of and makes my back hurt some so I don't do this unless I'm hurting. I have started putting ankle weights on to assist in extra pull. I don't recommend starting out doing this. Adding more pillows should be gradual as well. One thing that has also helped me is masturbation, believe it or not. My little friend doesn't penetrate me. One thing I do differently now is I make sure the soles of my feet are touching just like the exercise I mentioned above except I'm on a bed, and I don't force the aha moment. Doing this pulls the muscles in a different way and for me seems to relax them. One more exercise I do is called the pigeon pose, I feel it stretches the pelvic floor from different angles and helps some. My Vulvodynia has gotten so much better doing these stretches that I now only have to do it after sex and if I'm feeling any discomfort, which I really don't. It is such a relief cause I was going out of my mind. I hope this helps somebody. The info I found was sparse on this topic so I want to be as detailed as possible which is why this post is so long. One thing I recommend is people look up pelvic floor STRETCHES online to find more exercises. DO NOT do the exercises that make you clench your pelvic floor muscles this will only make the pain worse! It must be a stretch. You can slowly add those other exercises, also called kegel exercises once the pain is gone, but not till then. It may take some time but I found ones that work for me and didn't have to pay for lots of doctors that don't work and have no clue. I think having a regular stretching or yoga program will keep those muscles more supple in general, along with a regular exercise program.

One final thing: I have found that reducing the amount of sugar in my diet helps immensely with how often I get yeast infections and the general health of my lady parts. Also becoming gluten free has helped immensely as well.

If anyone has questions email me at cbscientist(at)gmail.com