Introduction
Introduction
Welcome to the NVA’s new online teaching program for women with vulvodynia. We created this tutorial to answer many of your questions about vulvodynia and its treatment, and to give suggestions for improving your quality of life. First, we’d like to highlight a few key points. You probably already know that some health care providers are unfamiliar with vulvodynia; consequently, many women spend months or years seeking medical care before they’re accurately diagnosed. Once you have the diagnosis, you can focus your attention on finding the most effective treatment. Each woman’s experience with vulvodynia is unique, with symptoms ranging from mild to incapacitating. If your pain level is mild to moderate, some of the information in this tutorial may not apply to you. When you start a new treatment, it’s important to be patient as well as hopeful. There are many treatment options for vulvodynia and no single treatment works equally well for all women. Sometimes progress can be slow and you may notice improvement on a month-to-month rather than a day-to-day basis. It’s very important to participate in treatment decisions and communicate your progress (or lack of it) to your doctor or other health care provider. You know more about how you feel than anyone else. Finally, as you navigate through this program, we recommend that you take notes on subjects you’d like to discuss with your provider.
|
Introduction