What do you use to protect vulva from urine?

I havnt tryed it yet,its on my list

Many of us apply it both inside the vagina and on the vulva area. We find it soothing. Make sure you wash your hands first. I use a wash designed for the "intimate" area to wash my hand with and dry with a towel that only I (not the rest of the family) use. I also wipe the finger that I am going to use with coconut oil first.

you might also like to try the vitamin E suppositories (for vaginal and rectal use), they are made form coconut and palm oils with added vit E. Many of us find those soothing too. I put one in every night.

Well i know the atrophy also thins the vulva skin which i am sure makes it more prone to irritation from acidic urine,especially when its concentrated like first thing in the morning.

I use wet tp. I was wondering more about some type of barrier,maybe something i hadnt heard or thought of.

Hi how did you deal with vulvadynia and get rid if it please. I have had this for 17 months.

 I was diagnosed with vulvodynia in summer 2013. I was free of it after 1.5 years. I was given amitriptyline. I gradually worked my way up (5mg increases every 2 weeks, otherwise I got side effects - have to cut the tablets in half) to 50mg. It did help - it made day to day living more bearable, but sex was still out of the question. What finally got me better was acupuncture - western acupuncture given by a qualified doctor - it compliments the amitriptyline in damping down the over active, hyper sensitive nerves. Manual densensitisation also helped to retrain the nerves to register touch as touch and not pain - stroke yourself on the area that is painful, with lots of oil based lube ( coconut oil is great), very gently and only once to start with. Very gradually increase the number of strokes and pressure. You have to do it once every day and only enough so that you do not significantly increase your pain. I did it until I was up to 200 fairly firm strokes, then I started to put my finger inside - from this point on you can start training with vaginal dilators e.g. Amelle, or you can just increase number of fingers. Pelvic floor exercises can also help - I did these too. There is a good book which takes you through the pelvic floor exercises and manual desensitisation steps called "Seven steps to pain free sex". I did all the above and, after 1.5 years was having wonderful pain free sex again, then got dry due to menopause!

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You may also want to try saginil gel - that really helped me, but did not get rid of the pain completely. It did reduce the pain - really soothing - and made day to day life more bearable. My GP recommended it (but could not provide it) as some of her patients had got complete pain relief from it. It is available only from the manufacturer in Italy called Epitech. You can get it from their online shop and pay using PayPal. They don't have it here in the uk but you can buy it online because it is not classed as a medicine (you don't need a prescription); it is classed as a food supplement because it contains natural plant extracts that act especially on overactive nerves in mucous membranes.

any questions you have about anything I have written above, please do ask - I am really keen to help others recover as I did.

Yes I have questions will write later your info is brilliant and very helpful. I

Hi I'm on nortryptoline two tablets so 20 mg a day. I use lidocaine as and when I need it. I came down to one tablet and all the symptoms came back. Sore raw burning no change basically and I found that taking difflucan for thrush gave me ten days of pain free. My logic is saying is there an underlying thrush problem?? So I'm back to two tablets again. You say you upped the amitriptolene how much to? You used massage I don't have the vaginismus ( difficulty with insertion) but am willing to try as I really need to see a way through this.

What started yours?

Did you experience difficulty with urine flow having to concentrate to wee during vulvadynia?

I take herbal for thrush for the gut and b12 every day I have reduced sugar don't drink much alcohol and drink two litres of water a day plus parsley tea.

This is a living nightmare every day something else. Any exchange of info is gratefully received.

I also had Vulvodynia and then went into a depression because t it was so painful. At that time in 1993 Vulvodynia was not known about. Anyway I was put on Nortryptiline ( Desipramine) for the depression at 100 mg/day and lo and behold the vulvodynia went away! I took that for 10 years an decided to go off--the pain came back.In order to control it again I had to go to 150 mgs which is a high dose. I had a complete neurological check up when I went into menopause and the Dr. said do not ever go off of that or the pain will come back and it also might not work at all if you go off. So here I am over 20 years later and free of vulvodynia pain. The atrophy discomfort is entirely different for me.

Im in the states,sometimes i use a and d ointment,or vaseline. Doctor thought i could try acquaphor ointment..i used to use desitan,but thats hard to wash off.

Yes oil based lube could be a barrier. Something with better staying power would be the pure silicone gel (Astroglide) that I have spoken about before. I have no problems with that and I an very very sensitive down there - even the most natural mild water based lubes sting me.

anything that is a good barrier would be hard to wash off

Yes and desitan was great but always left a white residue

White residue on your skin? Is that a problem? Surely, if it doesn't irritate you and actually does some benefit, does it matter if it leaves a white residue?

Well,if i want to clean it off,it takes some scrubbing and that can caus irritation

Oh, ok, scrubbing definitely not good. Even thinking about it makes me wince. Could it wipe of with oil rather than water?

I have no idea

Sorry, only just seen this reply Lee.  I think anything that mothers use on babies for nappy rash might be worth a try because generally the products are gentle and they do form a barrier.  It's probably better if they don't wash off, so that protective barrier remains?