I just want to check with you all - possible latex allergy?

[rikkitsune.livejournal.com]

Hi everybody,
I had a bit of a mishap involving latex gloves during sex with my partner on the weekend, and I wanted to run it past you and hear your thoughts on whether I might have a latex allergy.


My partner used to chew his nails right down to the quick, so his fingers were always smooth. He used to fist me, which I loved and I would have massive, intense orgasms.

He has grown his fingernails back in the past couple of months and now trims them with a nail clipper. We've noticed that fingering is now painful for me and can't even get remotely close to fisting. I've tried filing and buffing the edges off his nails, but it doesn't help.

On Saturday night, we decided to try again, but he would wear latex gloves. It had been almost 3 weeks since we'd had sex of any description, and sometimes my vagina gets a bit "out of practice."

The gloves were a bit grippy at first, but we added more lube and then it was fine. We paused after my first orgasm and I noticed a burning, stinging sensation all over my outer labia. I thought I was just a bit out of shape (so to speak), so I went to the bathroom, gave myself a wipe with a cold flannel and rubbed some coconut oil on my vulva, which stopped the stinging almost straight away.

So we started "round two", but within a minute I asked my partner to stop, because the burning was back, twice as bad. He had a look down there for me and couldn't see any redness, but I had a bit of a feel and my labia were swollen - not in the good arousal way, but the tight, puffy uneven way of an allergic reaction. So I went again with the cold flannel, some ice and then some sorbolene cream, which helped a lot. I also took an antihistamine and some painkillers.

The next morning, everything seemed to be all right again, just a slight bit of residual soreness. We were in agreement that it seemed to be a latex allergy, but I thought it was a bit strange, because I'd never had trouble with condoms. Although, we haven't used condoms for 4 years.


What does everyone think? Latex allergy? Not enough lube? I'm thinking of trying vinyl gloves next time to see what happens.

Comments

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

On rereading, I realized that you said fingering has been painful for a while now. But other kinds of penetration haven't been painful? Are you less turned on when you're being fingered than you are when there's PIV involved? This sounds less like a latex sensitivity and more like an infection...or the Ring.

[rikkitsune.livejournal.com]

Gentle fingering is fine. Rough fingering begins to "scrape" and hurt, and I'm 99% sure it's the fingernails. Dildos are fine and PIV is fine.

It may very well be that the ring is making my vagina a bit more sensitive. I wouldn't be surprised. But I am reluctant to try another kind of HBC... I had bad experiences with the pill, and I am totally not into getting implants or IUDs. Too scary for me.

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, ok. Well, if the new glove material doesn't fully protect you from the nails, a lesbian trick is to add a bit of cotton ball at the end of each finger, for more padding from the nails. Also, you might want to ensure the gloves are smooth rather than slightly textured.

And if you don't use latex gloves, you could use coconut oil as lube...

[rikkitsune.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip, especially the cotton ball trick. Definitely gonna try that, because the gloves DIDN'T protect from the nail edges, so he had to wear two gloves on his hand, lol.

[rikkitsune.livejournal.com]

Also, we've just started using coconut oil and... we're a bit disappointed. Maybe we're doing it wrong.

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

I was underwhelmed too. I find it's not as cushiony as other lubes, and only really adds to the general slipperiness of things. It definitely lasts longer than any water-based lube I've ever tried, though. In my experience, it's best for lubricating the labia and very opening.