General Discussion
If you would like support or haven’t worked up the courage to call and make an appointment, you can be anonymously involved in posting on this page. Have a question? Feel free to post or, alternatively, you can contact us directly to ask any questions.
2 Comments
Submit a Comment
Like us
Join the growing community of support for Vulvodynia patients by liking our Facebook page.
Mailing List
We hold regular, free information sessions in most capital cities in Australia. Join our mailing list and you will be notified of an upcoming workshop in your area.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter
Hi all! This is my story.
I was diagnosed with vulvodynia at age 16, although symptoms first started showing up when I was 15. I struggled for a while, building the confidence to confide in my mum and eventually seeing a doctor. Tried several different treatments, which failed, and was then appointed to a specialist. She was absolutely lovely – very understanding – and prescribed Gabapentin (Brand I use is Nurontin) which is an anti-convulsant, to be used in conjunction with Amitriptyline (I use Endep) which is sort of an anti-depressant. I’m on 2 x 400mg Gabapentin a day, and 1 x 50mg Endep at night. I am happy to say that this has worked very well for me and I got almost 100% relief from this treatment. There have been some ups and downs during treatment; at one stage the medicine stopped being effective (I was originally on 3 x 100mg Gabapentin and 1 x 10mg Endep) and hence was given a stronger dose. I am now weening off the tablets to hopefully only need the Endep at night time. So basically, my post here is to say that for women (and girls) struggling with this problem, if you haven’t already tried these medications, I strongly suggest you ask your doctor to try it out. It has changed my life completely, as I’m sure all of you can understand the mental/emotional struggles you go through while dealing with this – it can be very difficult sometimes. So please, take my advice and give it a go
Hi Mel,
Thank you for your post. Gabapentin and Endep can assist some patients, others have very adverse reactions to the medication and in some it has no impact at all on the mechanisms that cause the pain and this is where each patient needs an individualised trial of treatments.
Please keep in touch and let us know how you progress once you’ve come of the meds.
Dr Marek Jantos (PhD)