Vulvodynia/Allodynia

[colourmetwice]

How do you get the doc to diagnose you with that?

By this I mean, how can you or they differentiate between radiating bladder pain and a whole other set of pain?

I am almost certain I have it, but the docs are so consumed by my bladdre, they really won't pay much attention to the fact that my vaginal lips feel like they are going to just fall off everytime I sit.

[kadi]

Re: your Louise Hay quote.
I must have been one angry, ****** off baby because my bladder problems began at around age 3 months & I needed 2 surgeries before age 5. I'm more likely to believe that my bladder problems/IC cause me to be angry & ****** off, rather than the other way around... (Especially like this week, when I had to plead with the pharmacy for someone to help me & order heparin.) Just a thought.

About your question: Isn't vulvodynia often diagnosed by gynecologists? I seem to remember a rather unpleasant test involving poking various vulvar locations with a q-tip. Topical lidocaine can be very helpful for vulvodynia.

I hope you find some answers soon & I hope things work out for you with your job, I read your other post & I'm sorry you were treated so badly....

[Briza]

I saw a lot of gyns, a couple NPs and PAs, and I think one GP. All passed me on to someone else since they saw nothing visibly wrong in my nether regions; the last gyn I saw said just stop thinking about it, since there were no visible symptoms then it must be in my head, go see a shrink.

I finally happened upon my current gyn who is now my IC dr (tho I was formally dxd w/ IC by a uro). This gyn is the best and most understanding dr I've had in this entire IC/Vulvodynia journey. By the time I found him I had already diagnosed myself w/ Vulvodynia and Vulvar Vestibulitis and suspected I had IC.
So my Vulvodynia and Vulvar Vestibulitis diagnosis kinda went like this with my current gyn: hey Dr X, these are my symtpoms and based on my own research for the past year I believe and am quite certain that the invisible problems I have are Vulvodynia and Vulvar Vestibulitis. He just looked at me. I then went on to say I have researched this thoroughly and would like to try this, and this, and this for treatment to see if any of it improves my symptoms. Just about everything I suggested that he prescribe for me has worked, and he even came up with a couple of his own things that might help, and they did.
It took some years, but I am now in remission.

[Briza]

How do you get the doc to diagnose you with that?

By this I mean, how can you or they differentiate between radiating bladder pain and a whole other set of pain?

I am almost certain I have it, but the docs are so consumed by my bladdre, they really won't pay much attention to the fact that my vaginal lips feel like they are going to just fall off everytime I sit.

http://www.ic-network.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4883
take a look at this the thread in this link...perhaps it might help you determine where your pain is coming from...quite a few have posted there to describe their pain(s) and other symptoms and where (part of body, conditon) they are coming from

[Briza]

Had never heard the term Allodynia before so just looked it up. Here's a link if anyone is interested in taking a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allodynia