Living with Chronic Nerve Pain

I am 26 years old and I have been living with Chronic Nerve pain in my Vulva for the past 7 1/2 years of my life.  About 3 years ago it started to become even more chronic. I remember when it first started I was about 18 1/2 and it was after the first time I had sex.  I remember having a scabies like itch that lasted for weeks and months. I remember it feeling like scabies and I was seriously scared and wondered if I has an STD.  I went to see my primary doctor back then but all he said was that it was probably a yeast infection and didnt think it was necessary to do a yeast culture to prove it.  He instead prescribed a messy anti fungal cream to use daily, and he told me to eat lots of yogurt. 

So of course I trusted him..... what was I supposed to think???  I did as he instructed even though I hated yogurt.  I used the cream with little releif.  As soon as it got wiped off the itch would return and sometimes pinching.  Years passed and the pinching still continued everyday, and the itch.  There would be periods in which I would  be very unconfortable and there would be period of time in which it would almost go away for good.  For years I thought I was suffereing with chronic yeast infections without any proof.  Stupid me.  For years my mother told me to tell my doc I needed a referral to see an actualy GYN in Boston.  I was young and scared and nervous and shy about it.  I didnt want some stranger looking at and touching my Vulva.  So for years I delt with the discomfort and pain....

About 4 years ago I met my boyfriend who is native of cape cod, and about 2 12 years ago I moved hear to start my life with him, and start my career as a hairstylist.  When I met him my pain wasnt nearly as bad as it is now.  It was more of a discomfort back then.  The past 2 1/2 years its escalated....

About 2 years ago almost I went to see a GYN hear on the Cape and he told me to a cream called Betamethazone Valerate which actually thins your skin out.  He said I had vulvar distrofy.  The cream helped the chronic itch I had go away everytime I would use it.  I used a very small amout sparingly.  It did the trick for the longest time and I thought it was the solution to the problem.  Recently about 2 months ago in October I started to have an intensifying burning in my Vulva with or without the cream.  That when I decided to stop with it since I didnt have any more itch.  The burning would get so bad IT WOULD FEEL LIKE I WAS PUTTING A BLOW DRIER TO ME VULVA.  I wasnt able to use the bathroom normally.  Everytime I wipe it reacts with FIRE.  Everytime I start for longer than 30min it reacts with FIRE.  The only time Im comfortable is when I sit with my legs open and wear no underpants or pants, only long skirts. 

I went to see my Primary in October (not the same one from long ago) and he finally diagnosed me with VULVODYNIA.  He never treated anyone for it so he told me to find someone and he would refer me.  So I found someone in Boston and went to see her.  She did 3 tests....1 was a PAP, 1 was a yeast culture, and the other was a SKIN BIOPSY.  1 week later the tests all came back NEGATIVE.  She had suspected YEAST like the MANY DOCTORS I had seen before.  Im so glad she was WRONG.  I felt like I wanted to strangle someone if I heard that diagnosis again.  So she prescribed me Gabapentine (pills for nerve pain/seizures) Ive been taking those for the past 2 weeks.

She told me that Physical Therapy helps some people with this problem...so I figured I would try it.  This past week was my first week.  Thursday was my second appt.  I was in so much pain after.  I went to work a few hrs later and I went home after only 2 hrs of work because the pain was level 10.  I couldnt take it and I was in HELL.  Friday I went for an emergency walk in appt to my primarys office.  I saw my doc and he prescribed me some other pills to take along with the Gabapentine.  I got a note because I was supposed to work this weekend.  So hear I am at home praying...hoping these pills will give me some releif......This is the Hell I have been going through.