Diagnosed with LS last week, feeling scared

I use one to barrier it from the urine as it can irritate it and I use one 10 minutes before I then use a soft cloth and rinse it of with the non fragrant balm that I use in the bath but the main thing is to get a biddai for your toilet so when your at home you can rinse the urine out ,I have 6 creams and steroid cream I we rat cotton under ware a fragrant rant free pads and no soft rinse on my underware and try and wear skirts as leggings make it a lot worse x((((hugs))))and take care 

Having suffered from LS my entire 62 years, through several marriages where there was plenty of good sex, I can only reassure you by saying LS has flare-ups and long calm periods. You're lucky to have been diagnosed before atrophy set it, assuming you still have an exposed clitoris. Mine was grown over at your age, then with the end of a bad marriage and resumption of sex, it uncovered again. But when it flared badly during perimenopause sex made me get one yeast infection after another. I have a theory that this delicate, fragile, inflammatory skin easily hosts deep roots of candida. The slightest friction stirs it up like dendelions in a garden. (A kind pharmacist explained that to me, even though neither of us knew LS was my primary problem).

You'll see some talk of using lidocaine to make sex possible. Or just grinning and bearing it. I'm now with the first man in my life who didn't fall for my faking a lack of pain. Pretty big turn-off for him. The danger is that all this friction (and bodily fluids) during a flare-up will caue permanent scarring and atrophy.

So, let's hop that now you've got a good gynae and the right prescription, you'll get through this flare and have a long period of comfort and pleasure.

Right now my favourite moisturizer is Coconut Oil which I mix with Celadrin Cream.  Although Celadrin is really for muscle and joint aches, I find this combination really helpful the most helpful.  Before this have tried Argan Oil and Aloe, etc.  But this is the best right now.  Diet wise I have tried the changes people suggest and found no difference.  I do find I can no longer drink as much wine - and I only ever did have a couple of glasses before dinner on weekend evenings.  I do not have a sweet tooth but really sweet things seem to be a bit of a problem.  Good quality dark chocolate seems to do fine for me.

Same depressing comments from my gynecologist - she said "Do you never look down here?"  Well, it is hard to see what is wrong when your problem area is covered with white zinc ointment which my GP had told me to use.  I was in tears before he suggested a gynecologist and then it almost seemed to me she was saying it was my fault somehow.  She also told me to use Estrogen Cream as LS can stem partially for low hormone levels.  Some say it has helped them but others not, but as I have had breast cancer I knew enough not to do that.  But I am now a wiser person and living with this is much easier. 

I would suggest that you sift through the information on this forum very carefully as in that we are all looking for a quick and complete cure, we are keen to try anything anyone comes up with. 

Take heart and the best of luck.

thank you all so much for your replies and support! I am using an emollient cream before bath and showers, then a moisturiser and steroid cream on top of that. I also suffer with thrush and just getting over a bad attack, I have been taking 250mg fluconazole once a week for last 6 weeks!!! ( as prescribed by gynae ) just got to get on top of this awful swelling around my vulva which gynae said to keep an eye on, I drink loads of water and no alcohol, or acid foods. Hoping I will feel better soon! Does the whiteness of litchen ever fade or go completely??? 

 Thanks again

Hayley 

I just wanted to caution you that you must be careful not to use Clobetasol (often referred to as Dermovate in the UK) too frequentlly, as it can thin the skin.  For me, that was a problem because while I don't have the worst case of LS in the world, it's still fairly aggressive.  Using it every night wasn't working; I'm not sure if I was irritated by the Clobetasol itself, if my skin thinned too much, or what - for whatever reason, I still got flare-ups.  My dermatologist (please don't just see a gynecologist; also see a dermotologist who will be more familiar with LS and what it does) then prescribed Protopic as a steroid alternative to use on the days I don't use Clobetasol.  After much experimentation and yet another, smaller, flare-up, I now use Clobetasol two days in a row, followed by Protopic two days in a row.  So far it's working and my sex life is much better as well.  I cannot seem to go a day without using SOMETHING, so Protopic has helped me a great deal.  I also think it is slightly different from Clobetasol in how it affects the skin; I'm not sure how.  I'm from the US, and I notice that people on this "Patient" forum (who appear to be mostly from the UK) don't seem to talk as much about Protopic - I'm not sure why; I've seen it discussed on a few other UK-sourced websites, but never in terms of LS. However, I sometimes wonder if it's because dermatologists in the UK aren't used as frequently? Not sure, but I don't think you're going to hear about Protopic unless you visit a dermatologist.  Gynaecologists will point you to the old standby Clobetasol (Dermovate) and nothing more; I don't think that alone works for most LS sufferers.  If you do try Protopic, be aware that some people react to Protopic negatively; I was not one of them but I will tell you that it burned a tad bit for the first few days I used it, for around 5-10 minutes.  After that my skin adapted and I've had no issues since.  As long as I do alternate applications of either Clobetasol (Dermovate) or Protopic each night, I've been much better lately.  

Good luck!

Denise