Unfusing

Your success with borax is so reassuring Hanny. I am currently

using a dilator with some slow but obvious success.

However, it does not help to expose the clitoriss which is hooded.

I am fortunate that despite this I still have sensitivity with pressure.

I intend trying borax when I have finished with the dilator.

Wero, I still use a dilator as well.  That in combo with borax and baking soda.  It's a good combination.  The dilator gently stretches and keeps open and the borax and baking soda helping with unfusing.

?It remains regular maintenance however, just to mention that you're never 'done'.  I'm now using the dilator less frequently - perhaps twice a week.  But it is still important to keep doing it or all will narrow again. 

?The clitoris area was the hardest and remains the hardest to keep from being covered over.  That's where I had to start using the borax more than the baking soda.  Baking soda is a bit gentler, therefore I keep switching from one to the other.  I still use coconut oil as well especially at the top part - clitoris area. 

Where do I find the article on Borax and baking soda?

Thank you Hanny, I realise you are correct when you say we are

never "done" I am probably being a bit naive in thinking I will just

unfuse and be back to normal.

I searched for Borax on line last night but I may have a bit

of trouble obtaining it here in the UK. Do you think I would

benefit from starting with just Sodium Bicarbonate?

From my experience - baking soda/sodium bicarbonate works as well, is gentler but it takes perhaps a bit longer to undo the fusing. 

?It was the top part that was stubborn and that's when I started to use borax. Perhaps by that time you can order the borax on line. 

Is the 20 Mule Team Borax you purchase in the detergent aisle 

the same as the Borox you mentioned? The ingredients listed on the box says Sodium tetraborate.

Yes it is .. that's what I use! Thought I would reply since I am on here..God bless

That's the one deborah.

Thank you Hanny.

 

Borax is banned here in the UK, you will have to get it on line from a site with many sellers. Do NOT buy Boric acid or Borax Substitute (which you can buy here in the UK). They are different chemicals altogether.

Good luck. I have had good results with it too.

Thank you for this information BoS. I do seem to have difficulty finding it. I have come accross the substitute but was unsure anyway. I intend starting with Bicarb so am in no hurry. So glad you have found the Borax beneficial. It gives such hope. Take care.

If you can't find it, I can send it to you.

 

Do you mean a Web address where I can order it Deborah or the actual substance?

I could send the product to you. I would need your address.

I could send the actual product to you. Do you live outside the US?

Is it possible to use Borax or Baking Soda and the steroids. I'm 76, was diagnosed with LS a year ago. My GP gave me hydrocortisone 1% and told me to use it twice a day. That's all. So, for a year that's all I've been using. I wash at night with Vagisil (non-soap), rinse with warm water, and apply my cortisone. Every time I try to use an emollient in between the cortisone, everything seems to shrink even more. I've tried Castor Oil and Coconut Oil, but revert back to the cortisone. My inner labia are half fused and my opening is getting smaller from top to bottom. I want to try the Borax or Baking Soda, but still want to keep the cortison. I also want to get a vaginal dilator. Is that possible. Have to wait 8 months to get into the Vulva Clinic.

Thank you Deborah. I am actually in the UK. I have started using Bicarb as of

yesterday and am going to give this a chance initially. It would be good to link up

with you again if I am not successful. Thank you so much for your

Offer.

Hi Micheline

I rang up the company to buy the dilators a couple of years ago, and was told that they were available on prescription. My GP wasn't aware of this but looked it up and then prescribed them for me. Otherwise they're about £40 to buy. They're called Amielle Comfort. I've lost the box so can't tell you the make. Worth having, and using sooner rather than later to stop things going too far. You do have to keep using them as I found out. Having got to the largest size I relaxed and forgot about them. Now having to re-introduce...sigh.

Also I'm using Borax and haven't used steroids for a while. A few weeks ago I had a burst of steroid use because I thought things were a bit pale. I used Borax and steroid on alternate days with no problem. Obviously I'm a non-scientific sample of one, but thought I'd share.

Good Luck

My experience is that the shrinkage stays.  That's why I keep dilating twice a week.  I think that shrinking is a continuous battle.  Borax and baking soda help against fusing.  I  use the steroid now only when LS becomes active.

Every person is different.  Do  what works for you. 

Hi Bridge of Sighs

Just came back from my appointment, and did manage to get a referral to a dermatologist. It might take months. In Canada you have to be referred and sometimes takes forever. You have time to die a thousand times. Thank god for this website. I'm going to the store and get some baking soda. I'll start with that. I'll try on alternate days like you suggested. Wish me luck.

Thank you so much. I'll report back.

Hi Hanny,

As long as I don't close up completely. That's what I'm afraid of. I'm seeing my GP (who doesn't seem to know too much about it) for a prescription for a dilator. Hope she gives it to me. When it started last March 2016, I had itching only on my outer labia and only at night when I washed. The soothing from scratching seemed to come from deep underneath. Weirdest feeling. I had no pain, no burning, just the itch. Then around March 12, this year, the itch went away. Now I have no pain, burning, and no itch. The the fusing and shrinkage started. So when you say "when LS becomes active", how would I know when it does? How do you know when it does?

Thanks so much for your answers.

Increase with the fusing is a sure sign LS is active.  I suggest  use mirror fo

for inspecting down below or take photo's for reference. 

Oh yes, I do take a mirror to have a look. As a matter of fact, I take a look so many times, I'm getting tired. I'm scared to look, but I can't help it. When I see it's worse, I tend to push them with my finger to unfuse them, but I'm getting tired then also. I'm freaked out is what it is. I don't understand. I think it has a mind of its own. This morning before I left at 9:00 for my appointment, I put a thin film of hydrocortisone 1% and I've come home at 4:00 this afternoon. I was scared to look being out so long without a moisturizer, just the steroid, but when I did, it looked ok and was a bit unfused, not completely mind you, but a bit. So, go figure. I don't understand it. If you girls are using moisturizers, what are you using? Thanks Hanny.

 

I want to clarify my reply to you hanny. I read my reply to you and no when I push with my finger, it's to try and unfuse them. Missed that little word "try" there. Don't know if it helps, but worth a try anyway. I've stayed partially unfused for a year now, but sometimes it fuses more than other times. That's when I freak out.

I have a great feeling this has to do with hormone of both thyroid and estrogen. Timing tells you so much. My doctor moved away and this new GP lowered my thyroid dose. At the same time, I was very dry, so she gave me Vagifemme to insert, but then scared me to bits about breast cancer and sent me to take a mammogram. That scared me so much I stopped with the VagiFemme. It was right after that that I got the LS. A drop in my thyroid and a drop in the Estrogen and bingo. I guess you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

Hope everyone gets better from this beast.

Hi Bridge of Sighs,

May I ask you what your routine is? I came back from buying baking soda. I think I'd like to try soaking in the tub with 1/2 cup of the bs on the alternate days. For how long? Is 30 mins too long? And do you do that once a day in the a.m. or at night? It's just to get an idea. The rest of the time, do you use a moisturizer?

Micheline  ,  I live in Canada too.   Have a thyroid problem as well. 

?I ordered my dilator at Amazon.  You don't need a prescription for that.  Waiting  for eight months is  too long.

Computer problems. 

​coconut oil for moisturi

Hi hanny,

Thank you for your reply. So good of you. Whereabouts in Canada? I think what makes it hard too I find are the ones among us who don't have a partner and who had a radical hesterectomy. No hormones at all. My sister who still has her ovaries doesn't have any problem with dryness. Lucky her!

Also the ones who have a partner get friction. I think you need some friction down there. Makes blood flow down there more? That may be why I unfuse a little after I come back from an appointment or errand. So, now if I don't go out, I make sure I go for a 15-30 mins walk. 

Thank you so much for the Amazon information. I'll search for that a.s.a.p. Funny, everything but the Internet and this website are useless. I went to Shoppers Drugmart yesterday to ask about the dilator, and spoke to the pharmacist. She said I probably needed a prescription, and also that they don't carry it but they probably could order it, maybe!!! I think they live in a bubble!

Well, I'm on a cancellation call, but how can you depend on that. And why so long? Is there an epidemic? I think the least they could do is give you a quick appointment just to make sure you have no cancer and provide you with a dilator. And when you do get to see a specialist, they should have a plaster model of the vulva and show you exactly where to apply the medication.

Thank you hanna.  

Hi Micheline, sorry for the wait, we have one computer in our open-plan living kitchen area and teenagers who monopolize the computer, so I can't get on here when they are around in holidays and weekends.

I saw GP and read 'UK' where I live. They had to order them at the pharmacy but that only took a couple of days. My GP here prescribed them for me and it took less then a week. The specialist I saw won't prescribe anything, told me what I needed and that I should go to my GP for it. I suppose they don't want it coming off their budgets, sigh...

Lots of people have good results with baking soda baths, but they didn't suit me. I just tried again recently but I find them irritating and need to keep going for a wee, especially at night. I've tried baths, sprays etc. Gutted because it sounds so useful. However, wierdly the borax doesn't do that to me, though I only use it topically.

On one day I put a sturated solution of borax on some cotton wool and cover the area. I do this several times a day. On the alternate day I take it homeopathically and don't put any on my skin. Both days I use avocado oil with a few drops of essential oil in the bottle as a moisureiser. Sometimes it's chamomile matricaria and sometimes Frankinsence and Palma Rosa mix.

We are all different, and you will take something from everyone on here and work out a routine to suit you. Good luck.

Forgot to add that when I did use a bit of steroid, I did it on the non-borax day and didn't take the homeopathic borax that day.

 

Hi Hanny,

I got the dilator from Amazon but not sure it's the right one to use. I paid around $24 for it. It says not to use on any diseased skin. So, I'm very nervous about it. I think I saw a medical one, but it's more expensive. Would I need to get that one?

Thanks Hanny.

Thank you for your message Bridge of Sighs. I've done the baking soda using 1/3 cup as suggested by Hanna and it was ok, but didn't notice any difference. The lower part of my labia minora still has a dark color so I went back to my GP and she prescribed the Clobetanol once at night for the next 6 weeks. I'll have to wait and see if they go away. I'm still using coconut oil during the day.

I bought a vaginal dilator but it seems to be more of a sex toy. It has different sizes so it can be used as a dilator. I read that you should use water-based lubricant for inside the vagina and an oil-based for the outside. Would you happen to know anything about that? Would I have to buy a special dilator for this specific medical use?

I paid around hundred dollars for my set.  It stated it was for medical use.  Hard to say, without seeing the actual thing, whether your dilator would be as good for the intended use.   

I use coconut oil for lubricant.

Hi Hanny,

I've been researching all day. So nice of you to respond. You're the one I should have addressed my question to because of your experience in that aspect. No, I looked at my product again and it pretty well has a warning that it's not to be used for medical purposes. I jumped the gun so to speak, because I became so frightened at the shrinkage and how much smaller I am. I'm also researching what lubricant to use. It says in many sites to use water-based lubricant without parabens and glycerine with a ph of 4.5 to match the vagina. Apparently a higher ph is not good. Also, an oil-based lubricant has more chance of harboring bacteria. Anyway, I'm very discouraged at this point. I'm seeing my GP again in about 2 weeks, but she'll probably say I don't need it. I think I'd like to go ahead and buy the one you bought for over a hundred dollars, either that or wait to see my GP and see what she says.  

To my knowledge - Coconut oil is anti fungus and anti bacterial. 

The water based lubricants had something 'sticky' so did no longer wish to use those.

?Furthermore - my earliest 'dilators' were candles with a condome over top.  (suggestion by my gyno)

Hi Hanny,

Yes, you're absolutely right Hanny. Before I saw your email, I did some research on the net and that's what one website said, so thanks for confirming it for me. Wow, that is fantastic and outstanding of you sharing this information with us. That is so encouraging for me Hanny. I'm less afraid now that I will close up completely.

I went ahead and started with the dilator I have. There is no doubt and I could feel that my vagina has shortened and narrowed quite a bit. It is so weird, but I'm so relieved that I caught it in time I think, and if I keep doing this every day, I'll be ok that way.

One tip I would like to pass on. I got a reply email from someone who heads a website and has worked with doctors. Here is what she said to me about fusing, but specifically about the clitoris. She recommended massaging it for 10 mins every day with a lubricant or anything greasy, and she said that it worked for her. I'm following her recommendation and I think that that's another way of attracting more blood flow to that area, which is good. I try to walk also for 30 mins to add friction. I trying to go on the health path. I even cooked my eggs this morning in coconut oil.

Thanks Hanny.