Vulvodynia or Vestibulodynia



What Is It:
Vulvodynia (or Vestibulodynia) is the name given to women who are experiencing intermittent or ongoing discomfort, chronic pain, burning sensation, in and around the the vulva. It may also be felt in different areas around the genital areas well as the top of legs and inner thighs. This can, for some women, be very traumatic, as it affects so many areas of everyday life. If not constant, it can be triggered by touch, sitting at a desk, cycling, horse-riding, during intercourse, or inserting

Possible Causes:
Vulvodynia is one of the many health problems which doesn’t appear to have a known cause, although it is thought, could be related to the nerve endings in the skin of the vulva sending abnormal signals to the brain. It is thought not to be contagious or hereditary.

Cut Back On:
An acidic body is an unhealthy body, so acid-producing foods should be drastically cut back or taken out of the diet. Foods such as meats, grains, cereals, proteins and all other animal products like dairy products, are acid-waste-forming and will not be helping the body’s immune system fight the problem. Also avoid, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine.

Highly Recommended:
Avoid using commercial soaps, gels, etc to clean the vaginal area, it is self cleaning! If you find this challenging then change your brand to a homemade version using pure coconut oil, non perfumed raw soap and, if desired, pure, therapeutic brand essential oils. Swap those packets of “special” wipes for a cotton flannel and water to clean around top of legs and exterior vaginal area. Try to avoid tight clothing like jeans, leggings etc. Don’t wear panties/pyjamas to bed – let your skin breath.

My personal view is that women should not wear tampons, especially those who are suffering from problems such as Vulvodynia. Whilst many women do use them without any problems, for those that do
experience side effects it can be very traumatic. Our menstrual flow is meant to do just that “flow” not be locked in for hours by an absorbent toxic “bullet”.

*There was a time when Indian tribes believed in a woman’s capacity for other worldly powers stemmed from her ability to bleed, oftentimes profusely, without dropping dead. Perhaps most fascinating of all, is that many tribes believed women were more powerful, spiritually, during their periods – and that they even had special intuitive powers. Some Native American tribe members would call upon menstruating women for their advice, insight, guidance, or to connect them to higher powers.

Menstrual huts were also big amongst the Native American tribes. During the heaviest four days of their period, wives would leave their homes and go to this separate menstrual lodge to commune with other women. Since women tend to mense together, these lodges were often quite full and the women inside were encouraged to engage in some serious “girl time” by discussing female issues and indulging in creative pursuits like storytelling and arts and crafts.

Plus, when a girl would hit puberty in a Native American tribe, it was nothing like the shame and secrecy we experience today. Native American puberty rituals were big celebratory events for a village. Early European settlers noted that the Cheyenne and Apache tribes were particularly open about menstruation – often announcing a girl’s first period to the entire village with pride. Imagine if your dad broadcast your first period all over Facebook. How different we are!* (1)

Reducing stress can be advantageous to those suffering many of today’s health problems, easy to say but in many cases, not so easy to do especially when lots of women are in jobs they are not happy in, struggling to cope with money problems, living with uncaring partners or a difficult family, and on top of all that, trying to deal with a list of health problems. So where do you start?

Sleep plays a huge role in your physical health. It is whilst we sleep that a good deal of healing takes place. Sleep deficiency, however, is linked to an increased risk of many health conditions.

Talk Therapy. Have you ever had the feeling of being completely de-stressed after meeting up with a girlfriend and spending time just talking, laughing, hugging. You need to make time to get off that unrelenting “hampster wheel” and make some space just to have a bit of “me time” and fun with other women, trust me in this, it works!

Physical Activity. Many young women today feel the need to join a gym and carry out very strenuous activity in their goal to obtain that “perfect” body and what they have been led to believe, a healthy body. How many times have you heard of someone, young, super fit, thought to be extremely healthy suffering a heart attack or even death when they were in their prime. (1)

When you drive yourself to fit this “gym” time into an already manic day you could be building up problems for the body. Females were not built for this kind of crazy activity. You will get more healing benefits from incorporating daily, physical activity by taking a brisk walk in nature, along the beach, in a park just smelling the roses, and so much nicer than a sweaty gym!

Meditation. Start to practice meditation, you can begin with just 10 minutes each day, find a time during the day when you can sit quietly, maybe during lunch break. As much as I don’t want to encourage the use of modern technology you can get meditation apps to get you started if it is new to you. Or just find somewhere “green” and relax, read an inspiring book or listen to some soothing music – it works!

Essential Oils. Introducing essential oils into your life can help in so many ways. If you have ever enjoyed the scent of a rose, or a lavender bush, you’ve experienced the aromatic qualities of essential oils. In addition to their intrinsic benefits to plants and their beautiful fragrance, essential oils have long been used for food preparation, beauty treatment, and health-care practices.

Essential oils can be used for a wide range of emotional and physical wellness applications. They can be used as single essential oils or in complex essential oil blends depending on user experience and desired benefit.

Diet. This is the name given to what we eat on a regular basis, there are many different labels for particular diets you may call yourself  vegetarian, vegan, raw, pescetarian, fruitarian, we could go on, but at the end of the day what we eat provides us with the nutrition we need in order to survive, without nutritious food we would eventually die so we all need to be mindful about what we are putting in our mouths.

What exactly is nutrition? According to the Oxford dictionary it is “The process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth”

Nutrition feeds us on a cellular level and therefore aids health and growth, but in order to do this it must contain the necessary vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, protein etc. All of these compounds acting in concert, performing hundreds of roles throughout the body, help build our bones, heal wounds, and bolster our immune system, which is our bodies defence against infectious organisms and other invaders. These compounds also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage.

Let us just look at an apple, there are so many vitamins, minerals, micronutrients etc it would take a few pages to list (2) You can google lots of different sites for nutrition facts, which, I believe are all flawed in some way. Like humans, every apple will be different depending on where they are grown, the weather, the soil, when they are picked and so on. What we all instinctively know is an apple is good for us it contains what is necessary to help keep our body healthy, as do all fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately as the world progressed Man decided he could improve on nature and came up with an array of highly processed foods loaded with sugar and untold “mad-made” chemicals, that have no benefits to the human body. This has led to the massive problem we have today with a growing population of sick, lethargic, stressed, over-fed but undernourished people, all looking for the magic bullet when the solution has been here for us from the beginning of time.

If you can’t eat it – juice it!

Juicing: Why Juice? It is very obvious that the vast majority of people in the UK do not eat enough fruits and vegetables regardless of the amount of information presented. People are more likely to get the raw nutrients required for good health if they have it in juice form. Juicing is a way of getting in many fruits and vegetables in one easy hit.

Introducing juicing into our diet on a regular basis provides our bodies with everything it needs to keep it running for a lifetime. It is natures very own ‘fast food’.

If your diet is devoid of fresh, raw produce and consists of nothing, but cooked, processed, refined foods, packed with colours, additives and chemicals you will be toxic and deficient. Despite eating constantly, you will feel hungry, because on a cellular level you could be genuinely starving.

It is time to start eating real food, you will notice a change almost straight away as those much needed nutrients are recognised and distributed into the blood stream to feed us on a cellular level. Your body will thank you in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine, so what are you waiting for……………….. Your health is in your hands, start your journey back to vibrant health today!