BV, Yeast, UTI, or other?

[md1733]

I am really in need of some advice and suggestions. I have posted on here a few times over the past months and I am still not any closer to an answer. Every month I suffer from vaginal burning. I do not itch nor do I have excess discharge. I have tested negative for all STDs multiple times. Swabs and cultures for yeast and BV come back negative. I recently saw a gynecologist and she was able to detect white blood cells but nothing more. She put me on clindamycin suppositories (2x the normal dose) for two weeks thinking that it might be BV.

My questions are:

1. If this is BV, how long before the clindamycin will begin reducing my symptoms?

2. Could this be a yeast or UTI problem that isn't showing on typical screens?

3. Does HPV cause any of these symptoms?

I mentioned this possibly being hormone related, but haven't been able to get a doctor to do a hormone panel on me!

I'm really frustrated, so any and all advice is really appreciated. I just recently started trying to date again, and have no idea how to discuss this with potential dates...

[md1733]

Thanks for all of your input Grace. I'll see if my gynecologist can recommend a urogynecologist in the area. I bought some more A&D Cream tonight and I am going to apply that before using the clindamycin tonight....

[gracefromHHP]

Yeah sometimes it sucks to be a female :(   Have you ever seen an urogynecologist?  Might be a better fit for you than your regular doctor/gyn.  They are trained to look at the entire urogenital area in us gals - sometimes they are better at putting the "whole" picture together.

Sometimes using a barrier cream on our genitals is helpful too. It helps the skin under the cream to heal while it protects it from further irritation from discharge, urine, friction from clothing and the oh so lovely what goes in must come out vaginal medications issue.  I use zinc oxide a lot or actually lately I've been using an all natural baby butt cream.  You might want to play around and see what works best for you.  

http://www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/vulva/vulvodyn.htm  is a website I like because it talks about what all can go on for us gals to make us uncomfortable.  It can be quite complicated sometimes unfortunately :(  

I hope you get answers and relief soon!

grace

[md1733]

One other thing to mention -

I just recently had a urinalysis done prior to gallbladder surgery. My urinalysis showed a high WBC but the urine culture turned up negative. This makes me believe that this could also be a UTI or urethritis...

[md1733]

Yes, she sent off some swabs for culture again. My appointment was last Wednesday, so I am guessing that if I don't hear from her tomorrow, those are also negative. (I read somewhere that maybe that doctor should extend the culture for a longer time to see if any organisms appear, so I am going to ask about that.) She did a cotton swab test for vulvar vestibulitis but I didn't have any excessive pain. She also tested my pH and didn't tell me that anything was abnormal. I am on Day 5 of my clindamycin treatment. At times I think I am beginning to feel better, but I have felt the burning off and on again today. The doctors are stumped and I am so frustrated! It never feels good to be told that you are a "challenging case"...

[gracefromHHP]

Depending on your age - a hormone panel isn't really going to help either. It's changes in the genital skin that are an issue due to hormone issues - not anything that would really show up on a blood test. ( hope that makes sense ).  We can have thining vaginal skin for many reasons - it's something a visual exam would show , not a blood test.

Did the doctor also send off a culture since there were a lot of white blood cells and evidently no clue cells?  

grace