Doctor Oz did a show on Vulvodynia. Apparently Vulvodynia can even cause tremendous pain regularly throughout the day and keep you from being able to sit or wear pants even. Dr Oz said 6 million American women have chronic pain in Vulvodynia. The pain can be constant or on and off again. People have described Vulvodynia as feeling like a constant knife-like pain or like acid being poured on your skin, which can cause women to feel isolated and hopeless. 16% of women experience Vulvodynia at some point in their life, and 90% have constant pain. Vulvodynia is a medical mystery, but not a disease or infection. Jennifer Ashton joined Dr Oz to discuss Vulvodynia, along with the National Vulvodynia Society.
Vulvodynia Q-Tip Test
To test for Vulvodynia, an obgyn will take a Q-Tip and gently go around the entire area to see how much it hurts and the locations of pain. The sad thing is that a lot of doctors are not on the lookout for Vulvodynia and if they do not see anything visually, they will dismiss the pain and say its all in your head. This is unacceptable! Vulvodynia is a real physical problem and not any sort of psychological problem.
Causes of Vulvodynia:
1. Genetics – If your mom, sister or family member has hypersensitivity or inflammatory issues, you could be susceptible.
Carol Campagna says
Re: vulvodynia treatments listed above: #3 should read: Some people have found that LOW oxalate diets have helped.