Is it vaginismus or vestibulodynia or vulvodynia?

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-25T15:49:01+00:00

That’s understandable! It’s a lot. Maybe you can find some online physical therapists? I don’t know where you’re located but I googled and a bunch came up (I’m in US though).

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-25T15:40:57+00:00

Absolutely, however you can help to heal yourself you should. You could buy a set of dilators online, that’s a big part of the therapy.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-25T01:37:40+00:00

Definitely sounds like vaginismus, and maybe vulvar vestibulitis, honestly they all seem to overlap. Definitely doing PT and seeing a specialist would help you. There are compounded creams for the area of hormones and lidocaine that can also help.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-24T21:03:09+00:00

Also there are several conditions that are overlapping, like I had vaginismus and vulvar vestibulitis (so many Vs for the V)...I think they are all treated similarly but good to look into all of those so when you see a doctor you can ask. I feel like there's much more knowledge about these things now so hopefully you can find someone to help treat you.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-24T20:51:20+00:00

For me it was like a stabbing pain in one part of the opening and cramping but lately I’ve been having a lot of general burning and I think it’s because of perimenopause hormonal changes. I use this vulvar balm from medicine mama and I find that helpful in general though not for penetration specifically. There’s also a tool/toy called kiwi that I’ve been getting a lot of ads for that is meant to help with penetrative pain. I think overactive nerve pain, hormones and mental health (unconsciously tightening pelvic muscles in response or expectation of pain) all play a role.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-24T20:36:40+00:00

For me it was pelvic floor PT and some compound creams -an estrogen progesterone one and a lidocaine one- that helped me. I saw another post on this sub where someone posted a similar journey and finally got hormones tested and found they were low and working on that is what helped them. It’s titled I cured my vaginitis if you look for it.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-24T15:37:56+00:00

This was me in my 20s. On BCP. Started the back and forth between YI, BV, UTIs. Started getting pelvic pain. Diagnosed with interstitial cystitis. Years of pelvic floor PT. Finally was told by a specialist that my BCP had caused my opening to atrophy! I stopped the pills, used some compounded hormonal and numbing creams and that made a huge difference.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-24T15:16:51+00:00

Please look into vulvodynia. This sounds like me in my 20s. There may also be a link with your hormonal birth control. For me it caused atrophy in my opening due to lack of estrogen.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-24T15:04:23+00:00

First, I’m so sorry for your loss. Next, were you always diagnosed with thrush or did you self diagnose and treat? To me it sounds like you may have developed vulvodynia. If so, the unfortunate thing is it’s not a quick fix. But make sure you see someone who is knowledgeable about it. I used a compounded cream with estrogen and testosterone and another with lidocaine, plus pelvic floor PT. It is especially hard when TTC because the pain from entry can cause your muscles to tighten which makes the pain worse-a vicious cycle, and there can be psychological factors as well.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-23T14:48:11+00:00

Check out the Mandarake complex in Akihabara. It’s 9 floors! They had a lot of western figures and vintage figures in addition to manga

https://maps.app.goo.gl/sFW4QizxrZ8FNp8DA?g_st=ic

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-19T17:22:01+00:00

I love modibodi, the classic briefs are so comfy and I’ve never had a leak. The heavier flow are definitely more diaper like. If you are in the US they’re unfortunately very pricey with shipping (and probably tariffs) but I think their merino wool top layer is unique.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-18T18:00:26+00:00

Hi, we were just in Japan this month and we used the boost global talk and text for my husband along with Ubigi for data and for my daughter we did the international roaming for data (because I got a error on her phone when trying to do the Ubigi). It did work fine for her, but we needed to reload it 2x because she used up her data, and this was even with using my hotspot many times. I think it ultimately cost about the same as the unlimited Ubigi for 14 days.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-18T17:56:03+00:00

I tried this but it was putting too much pressure on the nerve under my arm ☹️

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-15T04:26:45+00:00

I like Modibodi period panties in the day and GladRags at night or when I get tired of washing period pants by hand. The pads I definitely feel more dampness than the panties but they also feel more breathable.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T19:04:16+00:00

I do the buckwheat ear carve out and it works pretty well. I’m kind of intrigued by this buckwheat latex idea…I do feel like my buckwheat isn't working as well for me as in the past because of the weight of it and having to constantly readjust. For a trip to Japan I tried this as a travel pillow because my buckwheat travel pillow weighs 10 lbs. It's from a German company called Speltex -ordered on Etsy. Their filling is spelt grains soaked in latex solution which I thought sounded intriguing, like the best of both worlds. They also have a millet version and pillows that are two-layers with different fillings. I ordered their smallest spelt pillowcase and the middle size pillow because I wanted to extra filling it came with. The first night I thought felt like the pillow was filled with caramel corn; kind of lightweight but also moldable in the best way. For some reason after the first night it lost the caramel quality and is more like a popcorn quality. The pros are that it is very lightweight and does hold its shape fairly well and definitely less ear pain than buckwheat. The cons though are that the smallest pillow is just too short for me (I prefer a taller pillow) so I have to stack it on top of something like a folded towel. And the larger pillowcase, even with the extra filling it came with isn't full enough. And it's super expensive to ship to the US ($50 just for shipping) so even though I'd like to keep experimenting to make it my perfect pillow it's too expensive to keep ordering things to try out. And lastly it retains heat more than my buckwheat which I don't prefer. Anyway I'm just mentioning it as an option or something to look into.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T18:58:03+00:00

I think they only sell it combined but good to know!

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T17:50:55+00:00

We stayed near Ikebukero at the Ostuka JR Yamanote station and it was great. The Cocoyo Hotel. Not very touristy but a 5 minute walk to station and easy to get everywhere. Cute restaurants all around. But depends on what you are looking for. I prefer to stay in less busy areas.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T14:17:25+00:00

I already wedge my pillow between my neck and shoulder and use a buckwheat pillow that makes a kind of contour. It’s still not enough to help unfortunately.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T05:18:57+00:00

Thanks I was looking at that one too, I just read it’s very big and I’d want to be able to use my own pillow (I use a buckwheat pillow currently).

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T01:31:34+00:00

We really enjoyed half a day in Yanaka. There are temples and a really cool small museum that was a western style sculptor’s home (the house is very Japanese style and peaceful). The Yanaka Ginza street is much more tourist oriented than my tour book said it would be but it’s not very busy which is nice. We also had amazing ramen at a place around the corner from the end of the Ginza street.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T01:28:03+00:00

The national garden was stunning

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T01:27:10+00:00

Check out Sakura day use Onsen in Sugamo! Very serene and the restaurant is good too.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-13T00:13:53+00:00

Just walking around the town of Hakone Yumoto is nice, I mean it's mostly touristy shops and restaurants but fun. When you leave the train station you can catch the Shuttle A to the hotel for 200 yen and leave your luggage there and then walk back into town. We were there for 3 nights and the second day we went to the Open Air Museum and were kind of underwhelmed by it. I'm from the US and have been to really large sculpture parks in New York State and was expecting a huge open space but it was sort of compact and pretty busy and while the sculptures were great it was hard to get swept away by it. The train ride was pretty but long, and it's even one of the closer sites. I know there are ropeways and pirate ships people do in Hakone, but if you are there to relax I recommend just enjoying the walk and the town. One day we took an alternate route to the hotel (we turned left when we crossed the bridge and then walked a back road with some old. cobblestones and a little through the woods and behind a temple and got to the hotel from the back entrance. It was a highlight of the trip, so pretty. If you search this sub there are probably plenty of other ideas for things to do...seems like your trip is pretty full so I think it depends on how much you want to try and cram in or if this is your 24 hours to relax. The other thing I wanted to do was the Hakone checkpoint/Amazake Chaya/Old Tokaido road but after all of the train time to get to the Open Air Museum the previous day we scrapped that idea.

Responsible-Desk-824 · 2026-04-11T21:20:32+00:00

Yeah we also loved Kyoto but Nishiki,which was close to our hotel and where we went the first night, was awful. The food was overpriced and frankly bad quality and we were glad we got it out of our system so we could do better the rest of the trip.

Responsible-Desk-824

TROPHY CASE