Vulvar... eczema? Irritation?

[conquis.livejournal.com]

Okay, so, I have a skin issue all over my body, mainly my torso/face, and I break out in hive-like bumps and get red scaly patches of skin on the backs of my arms. I'm seeing a dermatologist right now but they've pretty much said it's eczema. Getting more testing done. Skin is soo sensitive. Yadada.

Another area I have issues with redness/itching is my vulva/back end. I have been tested for yeasties, bv, infections, etc and everything always comes up normal from my gyn. I've been on steroid creams and rotate a whole bunch of meds (steroid cream, estrogen cream, testosterone cream) to keep it under control. My gyn was treating this but when i started seeing my new derm I asked him to take a look at my vulva, thinking maybe my other skin conditions might have a connection?

So... my derm mentioned something about vulvar eczema? He hasn't diagnosed me, but he did mention it. I go back next week for a follow up/discussion of allergy testing. Has anyone dealt with vulvar eczema? The area gets red and puffy almost, itchy, and occassionaly I break out in little bumps but they clear up almost overnight if I put a steroid cream on them.

I stay away from everything that has a fragrance (because, trust me, if I DO use anything down there, even for sensitive skin, it's 2187187301873x worse). I wash my labia with just water, use cetaphil for my behind, use fragrance/dye free detergent,, no scented tampons/pads, etc.

One thing I found irritated vulvar eczema was pads/panty liners. I ALWAYS wear panty liners. :/ Has anyone had an issue with this?

Thanks. Sorry if this doesn't flow very well. It's 2 AM here and I am very sleepy.

Cardio And Spotting

[eperson.livejournal.com]

First off, I am a 35 year old, divorced mother of three. Last year, I started getting back into running (after a nearly 20 year sabbatical) and I really did not push myself very hard. I didn't want to burn myself out or make it something to dread, rather than to look forward to. It was basically just alternating between jogging and fast paced walking for approximately  a mile (with the intent to increase endurance). The first time I ran was less than a week after my period stopped and typically, for a few days after my period I get a heavy but clear watery discharge (sorry if that's TMI). A few hours after my first run, though, it was streaked with a light colored blood. I initially just figured it had something to do with my unusually short and light period so I didn't get all worked up about it. Day 2 was the same, only it was a bit heavier, but day 3 and day 4 was like a half day period (this time with very mild cramping) so I made an appointment with the gyno. 

She said she had never heard of that before but she also recommended that I don't give up running, over this, because of the health benefits of the exercise. I tried to continue but there is, as always, a catch. I cannot/will not have sex with my boyfriend when I am bleeding because I contracted Hep C from a blood transfusion, 21 years ago (pardon my need to explain but having a virus like that always makes people assume the worst about me). There is very little risk of passing it to him, as long as we keep our condom-less sex low risk.  
I didn't want to give up sex and didn't know how much longer this would go on, so I stopped.

Fast forward a year. A woman at my (now live-in) boyfriend's job was selling a treadmill and it was a really good deal, so I bought it. For the past two weeks, I have been alternating between ten minute jogs one day and 20 minute inclined walk, the next day. The bleeding is back, though it only occurs mid day and stops at night. As a result we are using condoms for extra protection, though we both despise them. I am supposed to have my period today, I should have gotten it on Friday. Most the other symptoms are there; puffy uterus, my boobs are busting out the side of my bra,  vaginal wall tenderness; everything but the headache and the period. It isn't amennorrhea because A) I don't nearly run enough and B) I'm still spotting, just not getting even a moderate flow. 

I am making an appointment with the gyno, again but I've found a couple of other discussions on other forums where women are complaining about the same issue. Each one of them says the same thing, "They address it with the gyno but the gyno hasn't heard of it before." Anyone else experience anything like this? Is there any chance that someone was lucky enough to find a doctor that has heard of this? 

Down-stairs mix-up: potential ulcers

[obscurexgrey.livejournal.com]

My girlfriend has some pretty startling things going on in her nether-regions.

Two nights ago, she was complaining of faint blood that appeared on her toilet tissue. The next afternoon, she was soaking in the bathtub and informed me that she thought she felt a bunch of lumps in her vaginal opening. I went to look, honestly not really thinking there would be much, and the first thing I saw from a distance, when I parted her labia was what looked like a cut. I wasn't very surprised, because she has rather long nails, but she told me to feel further inside, and then I was surprised.

Not necessarily in her vagina, but very close to her opening, on her left side of her labia minora, and closer to her clitoris, on the right, were a number of what looked like sores. We went upstairs and I took a closer look, and they looked like scabs, when they are dampened for a period of time. The outer area was a red color, with a very white covering in the center.

Now, today, they are much darker, closer to a maroonish-black color, with the same whiteness- but they seem to be merging, on the lower part, closer to her opening. So, there is a big cluster of about five of those sores, just fusing together, apparently, with the whiteness starting to vanish, totally. She is complaining of soreness, stinging, and oozing, which doesn't surprise me.

We are attempting to arrange a referral to an urgent care facility, immediately, but the doctor doesn't seem to be responding. Worst-case, we're going to the ER.

Rambling aside, I found one picture of a vulvar-type ulcer, which seemed to fit closest with placement and shape, coloring aside. We aren't quite sure what to think of this as, even though we shouldn't really be self-diagnosing.

First thing that comes to mind is herpes or some sort of STD, which makes me feel guilty, for being her only sexual partner. However, I've been screened for a few things and came out clear, but a few isn't all, so, I'm worrying that I've given her something, unknowingly, which would mean that I've been toting it around for around five years.

In short:
Has anyone had any experiences with ulcers in this region?

Pregnant?

[http://users.livejournal.com/--fourinchesx/]

History:
I'm on Gildess/Microgestrin, as a side note. About three weeks ago, I thought I had a YI, so I decided to go to the doctor. She did a swab for any other infections, but said it looked like a YI and prescribed the YI pill-thing. That was a Friday. That next Monday I got a call about my swab results and they said I had BV, which is whatever, and that they prescribed me Flagyl. I filled the prescription and went about my business. No sex for a week, due to the antibiotic, and everything was feeling better after the seven days.

Fast forward:
I had sex after being off the antibiotics, but only waited two days, which as I now know isn't long enough to wait after taking antibiotics on your BC. The end of my pack fell on June 6th (of the 28 day pack), which was this past Monday, and I was supposed to start my period on the 8th/9th. It didn't come. I waited until Saturday, just to be sure it wasn't going to spring up on me a little late, and it never came. I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. I guess my questions are:

1. Was it too early to take a pregnancy test and expect accurate results?
2. Could the antibiotic have affected my cycle?
3. How long are you really supposed to wait to have sex after being on antibiotics with BC?

I'm just freaking out, I'm hoping. :(

vaginal chub rub?

[stubbynails09.livejournal.com]

sock puppet sorry
Anyways I have big thighs I always have and they rub together. But lately the part where my thighs meet my vagina have been rubbing against SOMETHING like crazy and it burns...really bad. Maybe that part is rubbing against my vaginal lips (ugh sorry for the lack of terminology) or my clothes but it hurts like a b*tch! And it sucks because I have to walk around A LOT for my job. It hurt the most when I went to a conference last month and had to walk all over. It was really bad it looks like I have scab/burn marks from where I guess the skin went raw? It's super tender to touch and when it starts to heal it gets really dry. Anyways what can I do to prevent this &/or relieve the pain (other than lose weigh which I'm not sure will help the problem or not) I try using baby rash ointment but it just soaked into my skin after a while and didn't help.
The pain is really bad too. When I went to the conference I was in tears towards the end because it was so bad and I usually can handle pain.
*sidenote I did recently start getting brazillian waxes but when the rubbing occurred it was when I hadn't went in a long time and this time it's happening right after a visit. The place I go to is very clean though they don't double dip or do any other waxing no nos.
Please help me!
Thanks in advance!

of breasts, exercise, and sleep disturbances

[shyshutterbug.livejournal.com]

Hey, kids. Need some suggestions. And yeah, maybe to vent a little bit.

I have always been rather well-endowed on top (38DD). The twins and I are most decidedly not friends. They showed up to the party WAY too early and started causing trouble almost immediately upon arrival.

My breasts are extremely pendulous. I have practically zero natural support; while they are large, they're not very voluminous, which means all the weight in them has collected at the nipples - which point straight toward my feet. Exercise, especially anything of the "jump up and down" variety (in other words, good stuff, like cardio) makes them bounce like crazy, and there is apparently not a sports bra in existence of sufficient industrial strength to keep them down. On top of which, the underside of my breasts gets extremely irritated from perspiration from exercising, sometimes to the point of forming boils. Large spots all over them are nearly numb, or at least have dramatically reduced sensation. They're very heavy, so my c-spine is all jacked up. Breast self-exams are practically impossible; I can cover only the top half of the breast - I can't hold the bottom up with one hand to examine it with the other.

*sigh* Okay. There's the vent. Here's the rest.

I have recently lost 35-40 pounds, depending on how well I've behaved on any given day. I have roughly 40-50 more pounds to lose before I reach a point of full satisfaction with my efforts. While the weight loss has been a good thing overall, it has caused the breast sagging/lack of support to worsen dramatically.

I primarily sleep on my side, and occasionally roll onto my back (usually by accident). Sleeping on my back either: (a) splits my breasts down the middle and makes me feel like I'm being drawn and quartered; or (b) migrates the breasts up toward my throat, which makes me short of breath. Sleeping on my side makes my arm numb/tingly upon waking in whatever arm the breasts rest on, but it's better than the alternative.

For obvious reasons, I sleep in a sports bra. However, the volume in the breast is apparently not sufficient to be contained by a sports bra; it's like trying to keep a partially filled water balloon from rolling over on itself. This morning I was laying on my left side, and Lefty migrated out of her covering through the armpit hole of the bra, and I woke up with my breast in my armpit, resulting in a very unattractive (not to mention crazy painful) red mark streaking around the area where the breast was being pulled from the chest wall.

I would like to be able to:

(a) exercise, while keeping all bouncy bits on my body firmly in place;

(b) have a good night's sleep for the first time since I was eight - one uninterrupted by rolling over and having to manually adjust my breasts' positions; and

(c) stop the chronic irritation/infection on the underside of my breasts.

If anybody has any suggestions on any of the above topics, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly.

HBC and travel

[violetstar124.livejournal.com]

Hi all,

I've been on Yaz for a couple months now with no problem. My doctor recommended I switch due to potential increased blood clot risk, but I've done a lot of research and would like to stay on Yaz for the time being. I'm going to Asia in August and have heard that diarrhea is very common for travelers...so I'm worried about the pills effectiveness with all the potential stomach upset. Any suggestions/experiences on what to do? I've considered NuvaRing in the past and think it may be a good solution for this, but I'm hesitant to start a new BC in case I hate it and will be leaving in less than 2 months.

Also, I'm planning on starting that pill pack around a reasonable-ish time in both Asia and the US but any insight into taking pills when

Thanks for any help!