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Surgery heals 22 years of vulvodynia pain

marypainfree May 18, 2010 at 12:40 pm

Hi my name is Mary and I suffered with vulvodynia for 22 years before finding Dr. Goldstein.

Before seeing Dr. Irwin Goldstein, I had seen just about doctor in California known to treat Vulvodynia. I tried numerous compounded Estrogen creams, Anti-histamines creams, countless anti-depressants, Physical therapy, biofeedback, accupunture, Elmiron, special diets and a terrible Laser Surgery at Stanford that left me worse for four years.

I basically went through life only able to bare sex for 10 minutes. Any longer than that and my skin was burning as if someone had rubbed it with sandpaper. I was able to get married and have two children via C section. I could not give birth vaginally because my vulvar skin was composed of scar tissue from the laser surgery and would not stretch. After the birth of my second child I could not have sex at all.

Luckily, I found Dr. Irwin Goldstein. When I came to him, at 5 feet 6 inches I only weighed 104 pounds. I had lost my appetite with all the drugs I was on to control my pain. Dr. Goldstein took my hormone levels and found that my Sex Hormone Binding Globulin was way too high from being on birth control pills for years on end. All the Vulvodynia doctors I had seen before Dr. Goldstein put me on birth controls 365 days a year so that I would not have periods and exacerbate the vulvodynia. Nothing could have been worse for these doctors to have done to me.

Dr. Goldstein taught me that being on the pill 24/7 caused my vulvodynia to be worse!!! It caused my SHBG to sky-rocket. When your SHBG is high it causes your own body’s testosterone to bind in your blood and to be unavailable to your vaginal tissues. Vaginal tissues need testosterone to be nourished and healthy. Immediately, I got off the pill and put in an IUD. Dr. Goldstein then gave me testosterone in the form of a pellet inserted into my buttock tissue. After a number of weeks, my vulvar tissue was far less raw and less painful. However, my pain was not gone. I then opted to have a vulvectomy surgery by Dr. Goldstein and a miracle happened. ALL MY VULVAR PAIN IS GONE!!!!! DR. Goldstein removed my painful vulvar skin via surgery and pulled skin from inside my vagina to cover the removed area. He then sewed the two areas together..After about an 8 week recovery period, I now have a new vagina that is totally pain free!!! I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. If anyone has any questions, please write to this thread…Sincerely, Mary

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aggie1923
June 12, 2010 at 10:15 am

Hi Mary! My name is Laura and I have provoked vestibulodynia. I am coming to see Dr. Goldstein next month and am planning on having a vestibulectomy preformed. Your story gives me such hope! I never was able to wear tampons secondary to the pain and I have been married for almost two years now and have not been able to have intercourse with my husband. I had a vestibulectomy performed 1 year ago in San Antonio. The doctor was not a vuvlar pain specialist and only did a partial vestibulectomy. I got no relief from the surgery and have tried countless creams, antidepressants, physical therapy, and pills (including Elmiron) as well with no success. After talking to Dr. Goldstein, it sounds like the surgeon in San Antonio should have done a full vestibulectomy with vaginal advancement. Was your surgery very painful? How was traveling after surgery? Did you need to see a pelvic floor physical therapist afterwords? Did you use dilators after surgery? Did your insurance company work with you to get the surgery covered? Thanks for all your help!

warners
June 13, 2010 at 6:25 am

I saw the same dr too but when I asked him why he was prescribing a certain med he did not give me an answer. He then showed me e-mails from other patients and I told him I did not have the problem that they had. He wanted to prescibe one of the the PDE5 drugs–I think cialis or levitra. I had tried viagra and was off of it for a couple years. Frankly I was there just for an annual checkup and had been doing great and not on meds at all. He never would answer my question as to why he wanted me to try a med when I had zero complaints. Just make sure you get all your questions answered. Still doing well and have transferred to a new dr. I was concerned that I could never get an answer to my question. Plus I had a friend who saw him and she was in her thirties. He recommened testosterone for her but she asked him what are the side effects of it if I get pregnant? He said just stop the testosterone. She said she felt she did not get a straight answer. I found that hard to belieive until I had my expereince.

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