Age 22 dealing with Vaginal Dryness

For the past six months I've been in and out of the gynecologists office. Many times for yeast infections, I would take the required medicine and still there was no relief. I've been tested several and everything came out negative, I have no STI's. The pain I experience is either subtle throbbing on the vulva, discomfort, itching, painful sex, burning while urinating, hot flashes from time to time, and sometimes piercing pains on the inside and outside of the vagina. I noticed if I drank a ton of water 8 glasses, I would feel relief from the burning and sex wasn't painful. So I recently went to my regular doctor who checked me and found that I did not have a yeast infection but dryness. So he prescribed me a steroid cream to insert vaginally coupled with fluconazole for two weeks. He said this dryness was caused by the birthcontrol I had once taken. It's been two weeks and I'm still feeling itching, pain, and discomfort.

This sounds very odd. Gynecologists misdiagnosing simple yeast infections and a non-gynecologist saying that birth control pills caused these problems? Can understand why you are trying to get answers from other women. I don't have any for you, but I would read up on birth control pills (particularly the ones you took) to see if the symptoms are listed as possible side effects. Has anyone given you a blood test to check your hormone levels? Pretty sure I would ask for that. Good luck.

Hi. I would ask to be referred to a specialist. It sounds like a combination of things. The itching could be an allergy to washing powder and the burning when urinating sounds like cystitis. I take a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in a glass of water if I ever get this. Tastes horrible but stops the onset of it. Hot flashes at your age are unusual, as Beverley said, you should get your hormones tested, some women go through very early menopause, you want to rule this out.

One other thought on the constant UTI's. I had this issue as well in my 20's and it was due to hypothyroidism. If gettting other bloodwork done, have them check your T3/T4 levels which are the actual thyroid hormone levels, AND check your TSH levels. The TSH level tells you if your thyroid hormones (T3/T4) are starting to go out of whack. My T3/T4 levels were ok when the doc first checked, but he didnt check the TSH. Took another doc to figure that part out (after another year full of constant UTIs). Good luck

sounds like interstitial urethitis. it is treatable. if u can find one a urogynecologist would be a good choice. if not a urologist or gynecologist MIGHT help. good luck, dont give up.

Just sympathising as I am a hypothyroid patient myself. I hear you re UTIs and other gynecological problems that ultimately all turned out to have a hormonal basis.....

If you have hot flashes from time to time then you should make sure to check your estrogen levels and something called Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) that goes up if your estrogen goes down (FSH is a more accurate estimate of if your body is not producing enough estrogen for your needs). At the same time you should also check your thyroid hormones, as someone else has correctly pointed out. T3 and T4 and TSH. 

You can think of the thyroid gland as the gearbox so to speak of the body; it gives directions to everything else, including your ovaries. If it is sluggish the ovaries will also be sluggish and might not produce enough estrogen. 

Low thyroid levels and low estrogen levels can both cause hot flashes.