Suffering Quietly
My symptoms began five years ago after a very traumatic vaginal birth of my first son. Repair that was done during after the birth left me with an extra flap of skin that would get irritated during intercourse. This continued into many issues. I also was diagnosed with Hypothyroid around the same time.
My health continued to spiral downwards and with it my relationships with my children and husband. It affected not just me but them. Then I was diagnosed after the birth of my second son three years later with chronic inflammatory disease, this is an autoimmune disease. Which one, they can’t figure out. But they did figure out that it started with my immune system attacking my thyroid and for some reason has not stopped.
I have learned to manage my joint and fatigue on my own. But suffered from what I thought we bacterial infections and vaginal infections. They were treated that way. Because of the autoimmune disease my doctors just assumed I was suffering reoccurring infections and most of the time the test came up positive but I still suffered from pain on a regular basis. This began to heavily affect my marriage in the last two years.
I had severe PMDD and thought that was they cause. I was prescribed YAZ and a lot of my PMDD symptoms disappeared but not the pain… When I saw my GYN again she recommended Dr. Echenberg. Who had been on the team of OBGYNs when I had my first son. He did not deliver him but saw to our care during the pregnancy. I was thrilled that there might be someone who could help me. When I went into his office I thought I just have vaginal pain. He took more than 3 hours with me to get to understand and explain my body to me.
He found pain in places I didn’t know existed. I hadn’t realized I had this pain because I was suppressing a lot of it because I suppress pain on an everyday basis because of my chronic inflammatory disease. He told me I had IC in my bladder. I didn’t even think there was anything wrong with my bladder but when he pushed on it the pain was terrible. He made me realize how everything in my body was working together and against each other. One pain was irritating another pain and then another pain. I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis, Vular Vestibulitis, and High Tone Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. He also told me I had a nerve misfiring that inflamed the pain when sitting. Everything all of a sudden made sense.
I wasn’t crazy and he didn’t treat me that way. I know understood why sitting for 8 hours a day at work programming websites was so uncomfortable for me. I now understood why I avoided intimacy with my husband.
I now understood why pain was affecting my relationship with my family.I have been to so many doctors since I was born because of repetitive illnesses that they could not explain and I have never been treated as well as I have with Dr. Echenberg. He truly is amazing. I speak with women on a daily basis about my condition hoping to find one or two that are also secretly suffering in order to help refer them to the proper care. I hope more women like me and the many other women on this site are able to find help with Dr. Echenberg and are able to find relief…I will update you on the status of my care as time goes along. Thank you all