Since April 2006 I have been getting some kind of "infection" or "irritation" every month, during or within a week of my period.

Symptoms change slightly from month to month but always include a rash, swelling, redness, itching, burning, pain of the entire external vaginal area. Sometimes, depending on how long the symptoms continue, I have some discharge that feels like acid on the "irritation", other times I have no discharge. Sometimes, if the symptoms have prolonged for some time, the vaginal skin becomes so irritated that the skin bleeds when I am wiping myself. Urination is also sometimes extremely painful. However, I have never had any lesions, vesicles, or bumps of any kind. It is simply a really bad rash or irritation.

I have been to the urgent care clinic, walk-in clinics, family doctor, OB/GYN, in total at least 6 different doctors trying to get some kind of diagnosis. All have different opinions of what I "may" have, but no specific diagnosis.

I have been tested for everything under the sun several times over. This includes: clamydia, gonorhea, syphallis, bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, trichomonas, and herpes.

Everything came back negative except the yeast and an indeterminant HGG test for herpes and a positive HGM test for herpes.

They say that HGM only tells you that you contain antibodies but it can not tell whether those antibodies are from HSV-1 or HSV-2 or if you have had a recent exposure. One doctor says that the indeterminant HGG test is suspicious but can not diagnose on that alone. He says that the rash I get is not a usual herpes symptom as it is too even and circular...whatever that means? But in order to get a culture it has to be taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms and all the doctors have at least a 10 - 21 days waiting list to get in to see them. So I end up at the urgent care centre or the walk-in clinic where I get a doctor not listening to my year long story and just throwing me a canestan prescription and shoving me out the door.

I am at my wits end here. I am getting something every month and it is not a yeast infection as the cremes or pills don't work. They infact make the symptoms worse. I have tried hydrocortizone cremem at the request of the OB/GYN as she said it may be dermititus, which also makes it 10 times worse. I have been given a battery of cremes from anti-fungal, anti-biotic(pills and cremem), nerisoprone, and nothing works. I have also been perscribed prednizone which makes the symptoms weaker but the symptoms reappear next month like clockwork.

I don't know what to do anymore. It hurts to pee, it hurts to wipe, it hurts to wash but yet it hurts not to wash, it hurts to sit, it hurts to walk. It is interferring with my sex life dramatically. And no one can agree on what I have.

My partner has been diagnosed with herpes years ago but he has only had his first outbreak and has been asymptomatic since then.

I didn't know until tonight that you could still transmit herpes without any symptoms. So I am now thinking maybe I might have herpes. But there is one thing I can not figure out....I have never had any lesions, vesicles or bumps of any kind....and I mean NEVER. Is it possible to have herpes and only get a rash or symptoms resembling those of yeast infection of bacterial vaginosis? And why am I getting this every month with my period... I thought with herpes the outbreaks are less often and less intense after the intial outbreak?

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP BEFORE I GO COMPLETELY INSANE!!! I CAN"T HANDLE THIS ANYMORE!

THanks so much. At the very least, I have gained some very good information from this site. Thanks again.

Do you know if your partner has hsv1 or hsv2 genitally? If he doesn't know he should be pursuing a type specific herpes igg blood test to know his status.

Meanwhile - talk to your regular doctor about having the supplies at home to do pcr swabbing at home when your symptoms appear. It's easy to do - it's literally wetting a sterile medical Q tip and swabbing your entire anogenital area once a day for a couple of days when you have symptoms and putting it in a vial of transport medium. If no herpes is detected then you can be pretty sure that there's more than just potentially herpes going on in your body ( sometimes it really sucks to be a girl ). Your doctor might give you the hairy eyebrow when you ask about this but insist they look into it to get the details on how to do this. Either that or they need to work you into their schedule when you have symptoms - THE VERY SAME DAY YOU CALL. This has been going on too long without you getting decent answers Also if they are finding yeast frequently - don't apply creams to the already irritated genital area to just make it feel even worse - ask about oral medications and even some long term weekly oral medications to help keep the yeastie beasties at bay.

If you can get a copy of your igg blood test results and post them here we will gladly take a look at them for you to help you figure out if your results are of any help or not. ( I don't know if mike or fred will do this but there are several other "regs" here that will do it for you - myself included )

Are you on the pill? If so do you take it to have a period every month? If so you might also want to ask about delaying your periods and getting less each year. If your period seems to be the trigger for what's going on - stopping your period might be a good solution until you get to the bottom of it all.

Hang in there - I know from my own experience how frustrating this all is It's not the least bit fun walking around with a cranky crotch 24/7.

betsy

No neither of us know what type of herpes he has. Apparently, in Canada, or at least in Winnipeg, there is no such test available here to type herpes. According to my family doctor anyway.

I am not on the pill, but I just had the Mirena IUD put in this week, one day before this latest outbreak. And I noticed that my period was only like 3 days and very light. So I am thinking that this period thing might be a thing of the past. Which I am anxious to see if it has an impact on these outbreaks.

As for the yeast infections, they keep coming back positive on swabs but I do not get the regular yeast discharge that I normally get with those infections. And prior to having my baby... I use to get a lot of those. So I don't think it is yeast infections. I think it is just easier for a rushed doctor to hand one of those Rx's out than to actually take the time to investigate. Anyways, during some reasearch I did, I thought that positive swabs for yeast are not reliable as women contain yeast in their vagina's naturally anyway. So I don't get those results. BUt anyway...

My partner thinks that I am having a reaction to his bodily fluid chemistry. Which I think is ridiculous. I think it is either herpes or some wierd hormonal thing.

It is just so frustrating to get these "infections" every month and to go from doctor to doctor who is supposed to care for the ill, will not listen to the whole story of what has been going on. They cut you off in mid sentence. Interupt you to ask questions but won't listen to the whole story. They dismiss your complaints of how painful it is. I have had doctors tell me that I should just live with it unless I want to pay $20,000 to the Mayo clinic for them to tell me the same thing he is telling me...I don't know! I feel like crawling over the desk and strangling some of these docotrs. The good ones tell me to be patient and they will figure it out...which also infuriates me because I think I have been more than patient and I just want this to stop. I want someone to take my concerns seriously and I want someone to make the time to see me when I need it the most and take the time to listen to what has been happening to me in the last year. I want my life back! After all....it is my body...shouldn't I know what has been going on and it feels?

I don't want to be a member of this "club". But hey, it could be worse. Right now, I think it would be a blessing to be diagnosed with herpes because at least I would know what it is and I could go on some suppressive therapy to control it better. But this not knowing is just killing me.

But thank you....I will try to get those results and post them here.

Your partner can get a type specific herpes igg blood test even in canada. He might have to pay out of pocket for it though ( runs around $150 canadian from what I've told though some clinics can do it for much less ). His doctor can order the herpes select igg for hsv1 and hsv2 - he just has to look a little harder for how to do it. for some reason they are very resistant to ordering the test in canada and not many doc's unfortunately are even aware that they can order it there. ( check out the doctor's list at www.herpeshomepage.com - I know we have a few clinics in canada where they do it without giving you a bunch of grief about it there ). It's my understanding that for most folks - unless an infectious disease doc or a ob/gyn orders the test you have to pay out of pocket for it Considering their rates of hsv1 and hsv2 infection are the same as in the US - I'm not sure why they keep trying to not deal with it.

Any doctor who tells you to just put up with the pain and irritation isn't worth another trip to That's just bad patient care!!! I'd stick to following up with the ones who have told you to be patient - even though that's very hard to do ( if you can find someone who specializes in genital pain even better ). I know from my own experiences that answers don't always come quickly - it took me a year of monthly visits myself just to get an inkling of what was really going on in my own body at one point ( I already knew I had herpes - this wasn't related even though it was a genital issue ) - I understand how very frustrating and painful it is while you wait It just totally sucks to put it mildly!! If they are detecting yeast each visit - even if you aren't having obvious discharge you should be treating it. Many women are very sensitive to even low levels of yeast. As I mentioned ask about long term oral yeast medications to try to get a head of it all. Also if you and your man aren't using condoms - you might want to consider doing so for a few months. The ph of sperm can disrupt your vaginal ph and just encourage yeast overgrowth. Like I said - sometimes it really sucks being a girl

betsy

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How about ask your doctor to give you a Pyridium EQ....that would help you with all your burning, discomfort etc. I have HPV 1 & 2 and never have any symptoms but has been suffering with same problems specially a week before my monthly period or when I am stress. Try it, it may help you.