vaginal pain, but only in one spot?
Posted , 3 users are following.
huh, totally forgot i already had an account here discussing pretty much the same issue. long time no see, panicked ramblings at 2 AM worrying whether or not i have full blown cancer.
long story short; i have an extensive history with vaginal issues (recurrent UTI's that i'm FINALLY growing out of at the ripe old age of 21, plus vaginal pain related to general hereditary sensitivity increased by oral birth control as well as a back injury that severely fudged up a good portion of my body from top to bottom), but for the past year or so a new one has been bugging me; sharp pain in one place. it's at the very entrance of my vagina, to the upper left (my left), and directly against the hard muscle or whatever makes up the surrounding of the vaginal opening. it only feels painful during sex, and only in certain positions. i went to the gyno when it first started, in i want to say maybe november of 2018, and she suggested i switch birth control because hey, my first birth control gave me symptoms of sharp, stabbing pain for years on end that only went away after trying a different kind, and what do you know; the problem vanished for a wonderful few months. fast forward to roughly november of 2019, and it's slowly coming back.
from all my medical history and personal research, i know this is most definitely scar tissue brought on by injury during sex that was only exacerbated by vaginal dryness as well as vaginismus. now that my body has been on the new birth control for some time, it's falling back into its old habits and the scar tissue is painfully noticeable again. i've read internal scar tissue can't really be seen or felt, hence why all my exams have come up normal and neither i nor my partner during routine self-examination can see anything abnormal.
it was only tonight that i found search results leading to the possibility of this being vaginal cancer. sure, a cancer that only an estimated of 0.003 percent of women will be diagnosed with in 2020 and even less have occurred last year, 50 percent or more of those being women over 70, with assured factors such as genetic predisposition and obesity, etc. etc., but... my anxiety says otherwise.
i'm going to demand some extensive testing from my gyno this week so i don't have to be paranoid. scans, scans, scans. i'd just like someone else to hopefully knock some sense into me before i get an appointment so i don't have to be worried sick for days. thanks for reading,
sincerely, someone with severe anxiety and falling prey to the ol' webmd 'if you have slight pain in this niche spot you have turbo cancer'.
1 like, 6 replies
Amanda86048 xalatoh
Edited
Sorry that you've been having such frustrating health issues. It can't hurt to get thoroughly checked but scar tissue in and of itself can cause a lot of pain and problems. I've been dealing with interstitial cystitis since July 2017 and scar tissue played a big part of my pain. My scar tissue is inside my groin (clumsy childhood injury) and led to restricted muscles in my leg and a misalignment in my hips which shifted the muscles and organs in my pelvis and created problems. A consult with a urogynecologist and pelvic physical therapy helped so much. It might be worth looking into if all of your testing is clear. Good luck!
xalatoh Amanda86048
Posted
hey i have misaligned hips too! which causes me to walk with a limp that i personally feel makes me look like i'm some sort of incognito peg-legged pirate. arrrrg.
but i actually have seen a physical therapist, and i frequently work out which has helped tremendously with everything that the nerve damage in my back bogs me down with. getting a good desk chair (dx racer) has made a big difference too. the therapist and numerous specialists i've visited throughout the years alike have said this injury DEFINITELY has greatly attributed to my vaginal issues, which through a combination of better preventative measures, change in medication, self care, diet, and simply age, i've almost completely eliminated. i used to have this same burning pain all throughout my vagina, all the time, regardless of any trigger. so i'm glad that phase is over now, and the lack of pain still catches me off guard sometimes, leading me to believe that a portion of this new pain is psychological.
but since it's localized to one specific spot, and hasn't migrated or gotten worse, i don't think it's related to my nerve injury (whereas symptoms like my lower back/abdominal/hip/leg/foot pain are) nor anything more sinister, and doing more research on scar tissue has put my mind at ease since last night.
xalatoh Amanda86048
Posted
figure i'd follow up to this after going to the doctor; it's definitely due to my injury in addition to the high likelihood of scar tissue, which muscle spasms from psychological reflexes worsen, since vaginal pain has been a chronic issue for me. there was no apparent abrasions or lesions or what have you so i'll be getting blood work done too just to be sure. apparently dyspareunia is very common in people with back injuries, even more so when your hips have been misaligned. unfortunately there's not much that can be done aside from physical therapy, which i'll pick up a few books on since there's no pelvic physical therapist that takes my insurance within a reasonable driving distance, but good news is it's not anything more serious! and since my back pain was greatly helped by exercise i'm hoping this will be too.
Amanda86048 xalatoh
Posted
Thanks for updating us. I hope everything goes well!
xalatoh Amanda86048
Edited
and one last update; a mere three weeks of VERY simple kegel exercises later, and the pain has already been significantly reduced! i really can't believe it. it's amazing what the basic strengthening of muscles can do. i've also become more conscious of just how much i was tensing during sex, which definitely attributed.
Amanda86048 xalatoh
Posted
That's great news🙂