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This is to everyone but especially to the woman with the 12 year old with Vulvodynia. I got Vulvodynia this year at 22, and this was honestly the worst thing to ever happen to me, I couldn't imagine how hard it must be for such a young girl :( Please consider what I am saying here even if your daughter is not up to the idea, this is truly for her own good and she will thank you for it later.
If you are coming across websites/blogs/forums that are telling you to change your diet, DON'T IGNORE THEM. I've had Vulvadynia for four months, and it was getting worse and worse. I also began having early symptoms of IC. I was beginning to lose control of my bladder, I experienced a very painful burning sensation every time I peed, and I needed to urinate every 10 minutes even when I wasn't drinking any liquid. I started to become very depressed, I was crying any moment I was alone. I found myself sobbing in the bathroom stalls at work and school, I had to constantly fight tears in public because this was causing me so much pain. I was so behind in school because instead of studying or working on assignments, I would be on my laptop for hours with dozens of tabs about Vulvodynia on my screen. It was the only thing on my mind and I felt so alone since it's not something I wanted to share, and even when I did, it seemed that nobody understood what I was going through physically or emotionally. I was already suicidal, I can't believe when I read these forums and I see that these women have been dealing with this for years!! Idk how they have been able to cope, but bless them for enduring it for so long.
Last month I began a raw food diet, mostly raw green vegetables and green smoothies. I would say that within my first three days, my pain levels went from a 9 out of 10 to a 2 out of 10. After my first week, no more pain at all, just discomfort and my IC symptoms were completely gone! Then the discomfort from my Vulvodynia went from being constant to intermit. After a month into this diet, despite all the times I cheated, I have gone several days with no discomfort at all. PLEASE, start googling raw food detox or how to heal your body with raw food. This may seem difficult, but if you are determined to finally get rid of your pain rather than jumping from doctor to doctor and medication to medication just to "treat" these symptoms (which will actually eventually lead to more issues later in life), then this is going to do it and it will change your life in the process.
Doctors don't know or honestly care about Vuvlodynia, you have to take matters into your own hands and be your own advocate ladies! There is a lot of information online and in books as well as amazing people on youtube that have a vast knowledge of this stuff and they are not trying to sell you anything, they simply want to help people cure their diseases. My favorite Naturopath youtuber is Montrealhealthygirl!
I am not healed completely, but I am optimistic that I will eventually cure my Vulvodynia. There is even a woman online who says she got rid of her Vulvodynia, look up Laura Lehraupt on YouTube, specifically the video titled "how I healed Vulvodynia". In my case, I know that this diet is working because when I first started, I felt a much more severe pain when I cheated on the diet and now I barely do. For instance, yesterday I had my first true and real cheat day with three slices of pizza, 3 cocktails as well as smoking at the end of my night (all terrible, especially if you have any sort of chronic pain). As a result of my cheat day, I had very minor discomfort in the morning, if I did this in the beginning of my diet, I am certain that my pain would be severe and I would have to miss class or work like I have been doing often for the past few months.
Bottom line, even though I was skeptical, I was willing to try anything to CURE my Vulvodynia, not simply "treat it". If you open your mind to this, you will be so incredibly enlightened! Even if you don't believe this will work, what is the harm in trying this for one week? Worst case scenario, you're going to be nauseous or break out in the first few days which is actually a great sign because it tells you that your body is detoxing! You would need to power through despite these symptoms by the way.
Everybody's bodies work differently, so you will have to experiment. For instance, you might not be able to eat raw vegetables at first, your body might be so weak that it won't be able to break down raw food. If you have a chronic pain condition, this is likely the case and also a sure clear sign that you are currently at a very unhealthy state and you need to detox your body!! Once your gut is strong enough to handle raw vegetables, I suggest you stop cooking them since when the food is raw, it has it's highest levels of nutrients. Nutrients is what your body needs right now, you need to help your body get rid of these toxins by giving it a break and eliminating all the processed and unnatural chemicals we call "food" these days. You also need to be consuming the right amount of nutrients to help it fight off your disease. Your illness is a sign of bad health, so you need to get to the source and get your body back to optimum heath. I can't explain all of this on this post, so please do some research and begin to educate yourselves!
Also you need to start drinking A LOT of water, specifically water that is high in alkaline levels, I'm talking at least 2 liters a day. Also start looking into the alkaline diet! The best book I read on this is called "The Acid-Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health" by Christopher Vasey.
Whatever your doubts are, just think of it this way, what is earth's food? In other words, what are the foods that we know for certain humans should be eating? Raw and organic vegetables, fruits and nuts. This is what humans were meant to eat before we ruined it with all artificial food that we don't realize we are addicted to. Haven't you ever come across those articles about processed sugar being as addicting as cocaine? We don't fully understand the human body yet, but after this, I am convinced that our bodies were made perfect. On the other hand, I think chronic pain conditions like Vulvodynia are signs that you have slowly but surely made your body ill due to your environment, the number one factor in our environment is food since we are directly consuming it. And especially in the Western world, most of us have been consuming this food since we were kids.
I am praying that you consider taking this advice. What I went through in just a short few months was unbearable, no one should have to endure this for another second! So yeah here I am on this site sounding like a health freak, which I never in a million years though I'd become. I still love the bad food and I think it is important to allow yourself a portion of the foods you want from time to time. Overtime, you will stop craving them anyway. In my opinion, the results are better when you are not as high strung and stressed about your diet. Good luck ladies, I wish you the best in whatever route you decide to take!