Pain is easier to treat when its nature is known. But what if there is no reason for unpleasant sensations? Moreover, neither tests nor experienced doctors can detect them.
According to statistics, 8-15% of the female population of reproductive age suffers from pain in the vulva. This ailment has got its own name – vulvodynia. Interestingly, the diagnosis is made to the fair sex when no other is suitable for them, and the results of clinical studies do not indicate problems.
In 2013, doctors studied women who experienced vulvodynia symptoms at one point or another in their lives. The results showed that 48% sought treatment, but only 1,4% were diagnosed. Only 16,9% of the participants were free of pain, and it took them an average of 12,5 years.
A number of doctors and scientists believe that vulvodynia is a complex interaction of the nervous, hormonal and genitourinary systems. Although the disease is primarily associated with nervous problems, patients often have a number of other diagnoses, against the background of which unpleasant symptoms arise: irritable bowel syndrome, pain in the bladder, migraine, thyroid dysfunction, fibromyalgia, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue and various types of allergies … As you yourself understand, it is extremely difficult for a gynecologist to determine the nature of pain “there” with such an impressive set of everything.
“In September 2018, I started having strange bouts of pain – itching and burning. My first thought was that I have a thrush, when describing the symptoms of which doctors sometimes do not even examine you. I used both creams and took pills, but nothing helped. Six months later, my doctor told me bluntly that she didn’t know what was happening to me and could do nothing about it. I couldn’t believe that I was just left unanswered. I did my own research on the internet, and the word “vulvodynia” came across to me regularly. I came across a women’s association where people discuss unexplained gynecological problems. There were only three or four vulvodynia specialists in Paris, each with a five-month waiting list. After more than a year of uncertainty, the diagnosis was finally confirmed. This was a huge relief. The first step in treatment was applying pain-relieving creams to the vulva. It helped for a while, but over time the effect went away. The second step was to take a small dose of antidepressants to calm the nerves around the vulva. At first everything went well – I rediscovered life without everyday pain – then the consequences began to subside. I increased the dose until I just started to “cut out” from the pills. At the time of diagnosis, my crotch was in poor condition. In parallel with the treatment, I started seeing a physiotherapist and learned how to relax my muscles. It helped a lot. Today I live with my pain, but this is nothing compared to what it was before, ”said 27-year-old Eva from France.
Note that there are a huge number of such stories on the Internet, and most often girls talk about taking antidepressants, intimate gymnastics and anesthetic creams. Many women also honestly admit that they have other intimate diagnoses – probably, as doctors say, they influence the occurrence of unpleasant symptoms.
It is noteworthy that in Russian polyclinics, women will most likely simply not be diagnosed with vulvodynia. The thing is that Soviet-trained doctors are focused primarily on analyzes and visible symptoms of the course of the disease, and in gynecology, which is taught in medical universities, little attention is paid to psychosomatics and its involvement in real symptoms.