Hello! For two and a half years, I've had trouble with vulvar inflammation and other issues. At first after all the testing was negative, they thought it was contact dermatitis, like I was allergic to something I was coming in contact with.
They finally decided after awhile that I had DIV (desquammative inflammatory vaginitis). My pH is always high in the vagina and they have seen clue cells and parabasal cells and white blood cells under the microscope.
So the treatment for DIV is to insert hydrocortisone suppositories in the vagina twice a week. These are 25 mg suppositories that are really rectal suppositories, but I'm told to use them vaginally.
This has been helping in the past year with the pain, but my whole vulva is still inflamed and now I just had a pap and the doctor said my cervix is red and raw too. I don't think it ever was before.
So I don't know if the DIV has affected the cervix now, or if the redness and rawness is from the hydrocortisone. Does anyone else have this problem?
Thanks for any advice! I've been dealing with this for a long, long time. I would be interested in anyone's stories about DIV or lichen planus, which some say is the same thing.
Hey there--I haven't been officially diagnosed with DIV yet, but I've tested negative for EVERYTHING imaginable and my symptoms fit DIV to a T, so when I see my doctor this week I'm going to ask her about it. (I've also had the clue cells, white blood cells, etc.) If that is what's going on, I can tell you for sure I have issues with my cervix as well. I was actually treated for cervicitis once in the past because my cervix was red and inflamed.
I've read that DIV is usually treated with the suppositories as well as clindamycin--has your doctor suggested you try the combination of them? The reason clindamycin is used for DIV is because of the inflammation, so you might see if that would help with your symptoms in regards to that.
Thank you so much for writing. It does help to hear from someone having similar issues. Can you tell me how you were diagnosed with cervicitis and what the treatment was?
I am waiting for the results of my pap and I am kinda scared.
At first they did treat me with clindamycin and the hydrocortisone suppositories alternately for a month, then just the hydrocortisone. That was a year ago. I'm thinking maybe I need to use that clindamycin again. First I'm waiting to see what the pap may show.
Yeah, I know for sure a first round of clindamycin doesn't always do the trick, so you may want to see if another round helps any.
I'm not 100% sure how they went about diagnosing the cervicitis. I was in because I thought I had a yeast/bacterial infection, so they were doing a normal vaginal culture. After she looked under the microscope, she came back and said my cervix was inflamed and was probably infected, so she put me on doxycycline for it for a week. Apparently it cured my cervicitis, but my other symptoms stayed the same.
Also, last time I saw my doc (I've been, oh, ten times in the past year trying to solve my problem), she circled "cervicitis" on the sheet that says what she found during the exam. She never said I had it and never prescribed treatment for me for it, but the fact that she circled it as being something she found leads me to believe it's probably red/inflamed at the moment. So if it is DIV that I have, I guess the two must go hand-in-hand...
Good luck with your pap results, hope it all comes back looking good!
Thanks again for writing. I would be interested to know what your doctor says after your visit this week.
I have so many puzzling health issues that I am a mystery to my doctor in many areas. I always like to hear other people's stories dealing with similar things.
