Pudendal Nerve Issues vs. Vulvodynia

[VCNJ84]

Sorry if this has been ask before...

What is the difference between having Vulvodynia and actually being diagnosed with pudendal nerve issues but it not being labeled as Vulvodynia??

I know a lot about V...but I never heard of all these Pudendal nerve things until I came to this site. It seems many of the symptoms can be similar.

Thanks!

[Briza]

The two conditions seem to be compeletly separate; however, you are right...both conditions CAN have MANY symptoms in common. And that is where one of the MANY difficulties in diagnosing either comes in to play!!

I do believe that Vulvodynia and Vulvar Vestibulitus (which fall under the umbrella term Vaginismus) are probably much more common and more likely to be considered sister conditions of IC than PN problems...just based on my own personal research and posts I have read on this board. However, I would not disclude the definite possibility of having both IC and PN, as well as V and/or VV!!!

But it does seem that PN problems have some definite symptoms and definite possible causes that do seem to be quite a bit different than Vulvodynia and Vulvar Vestibulitis...if you read up on PN you should probably find that there do seem to be some things that are distinctly different. NOT that that makes diagnosing or getting treatment for PN problems any easier....in fact, it seems that dx and treatment for PN problems is even more difficult than for Vulvodynia and Vulvar Vestibulitis...hard to imagine, but from what I have read seems to be true! That is saying a LOT b/c I had one h$ll of a time getting dx and treatment for my vulvodynia!! Much more so than for my IC!

Hopefully Kara29 or one of the others here who is receiving or has received treatment for PN will chime in, because I am by far not the expert on that! But like you, I know much about the V and VV issues, as those are what I suffer from. I also learned about PN from this board and wondered if I suffered from that, too, but my symptoms just don't match up just right, so I am quite certain I do not have PN problems and have never brought that up with my dr, especially now that my V and VV are well controlled.

[VCNJ84]

Thank you for your response.

After reading around a few other sites, I can see the differences a little more clearly.

Also although both have a lot of pain that may seem the same, the profile for why someone would have PNE does seem a lot different from why someone would have V or VV.