Vulvar Vestibulitis

Vulvodynia is the syndrome of unexplained vulvar pain and many women also have sexual dysfunction at the same time. The signs of vulvodynia are rawness, sting, irritation and or burning of the vaginal opening and surrounding tissues. It can be a source of psychological distress as well as even tampon insertion can be uncomfortable. Other women describe being unable to wear tight pants. There are apparently subtypes of vulvodynia, and one is vulvar vestibulitis. Women who have pain at attempted intercourse when there is no infection may be suffering from vulvar vestibulitis. This is a confusing disorder of local vulvar pain, a sensation of irritation probably causes the feeling of rawness, and a chronic condition of vulvar tissues that are so paper thin they are prone to tearing. Women may complain of stinging, burning, and a hypersensitivity to touch, but about 15% of women describe the pain as knifelike. There is no known cause but we think that chronic infections, particularly yeast, hypersensitivity, or the human papilloma virus infection as well as high levels of a substance called oxylates in the urine may be the cause. Pelvic floor problems or pelvic nerve disruption can be part of the inciting cause. No one has established a perfect treatment. What women need in treatment is something to ease the skin irritation, not cause further sensitization of the area and yet be effective for pain relief. Numbing gels such as lidocaine lotions and lotions of Emla cream have been tried with some relief for some patients and it is tolerated on the sensitive genital tissues fairly well when used sparingly. Other things like pepper extract (capsacin), cromolyn, yeast treatments interferon and surgery have been tried. No one therapy has been proven to be very successful and the numbing treatments are thought to handle pain more than the condition itself. If you have had a successful treatment, or if you are struggling with treatment, we'd like to hear your story.

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Passing Your Uterine Lining, Menstrual Period Norms

Decidual Cast Periods can be fairly easy, passing some tissue at a time, or off can come the whole lining in one piece called a decidual cast. Generally the lining of the uterus is only 6-8 mm thick at the time of the menstrual period, and it is shed gradually, a few cells at a time. The decidual cast is when the entire lining passes spontaneously. It's not uncommon, but it usually both uncomfortable, and alarming to some. But us women are designed to have some sort of periods Or Not? We have to pass tissue each month. Or Not? Are they good for us? Or Not? Do we want them? Or Not? Is this something that is individual? Or Not? It's a complex topic that I will be discussing a lot over my time in this blog. So lets start with basics: How much do we bleed and what are we loosing, and just what was this that the patient passed? And another basic: track your periods, and the Women's Health Practice site http://www.womenshealthpractice.com/media/pdf/menstrual_chart.pdf you...

You Have an IUD: But a Positive Pregnancy Test

Fortunately IUD pregnancy failures are rare. But if you have an IUD for contraception, and you get a positive pregnancy test, you probably ask yourself, what next? Well, make your gyno appointment promptly, this is a condition that is not typically an emergency, but it can be and it’s not handled over the phone or on a blog, or through self diagnosis! That being said, some researchers from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas decided to look back at over 4100 women who had IUDs and of those 42 cases who became pregnant in their institution, over about a year period of time, to help understand what these women could expect when they got to their gyno and what actually happened to their pregnancies. Accurate pregnancy diagnosis, pelvic examination, and pelvic ultrasound were the cornerstones of the evaluations. They had very specific ways they looked at their ultrasound to prove there was no pregnancy in the fallopian tube, or partially in the fallopian tube...

Post-Endometrial Ablation Syndrome

If you have had an endometrial ablation and have developed symptoms of pelvic pain you might have post endometrial ablation syndrome. What is post-endometrial ablation syndrome? It is a constellation of symptoms due to entrapped blood or tissue within a uterus that has previously undergone an endometrial ablation. We are able to diagnose this at Women's Health Practic e but occasionally other conditions are causing similar symptoms. Other complications of endometrial ablation include pregnancy, risks from pre-existing conditions such as a polyp or fibroid, an infection of the uterus, or a pregnancy. If you have had a tubal ligation then it is possible that the condition could be post-ablation tubal sterilization syndrome. The ablation procedure is designed to destroy all lining tissue, but in fact there is no way to confirm the completeness of the ablation. It is thought that either residual or regrowth of the tissue is producing the symptoms of post-endometrial ablation syndrom...

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