Aldara

its Karen again, just curious, is everybody fair or light complexion and had problems with soaps, could never take a bubble bath etc. even as a small child. I remember always getting rashes from bubble baths, could never use tampax. no femanin products, just dove for sensitive skin.

 

Karen

Hi, Karen!  My name is Donna.  I am 52 years old and have been diagnosed with vaginal and vulvar dysplasia, as well as the lichen sclerosis previously spoken of in this message discussion.  Although I have not used Aldara, my Effudex treatment sounds very similar .....  created open sores, burning, and escruciating pain.  I am fair complected, strawberry blonde hair .... well, before coloring to hide gray (HA!) ... and freckles.  My gyn/onc prescribed Lidocaine, which numbs the area and stops itching.  This is applied topically as needed.  He also suggested Diaparene as a protective agent.  Who would have ever thought I would be buying Diaparene at age  52, let alone to use on myself.  Both of these did help, but there was still pain.  I had so many sores after the first three treatments that I had to stop for a month.  In any event, I return on 7/14 to see if the treatment worked, and if not, what is the next step.  I am scared and already frustrated with the pain from my treatment.  Reading about treatments for this disease is very, very scary and stressful.  Thanks to everyone who shares on this forum.  I makes me feel I'm not alone.

I'm so glad I found this website!  I have been battling vulvar issues for about a year now and been through so many doctors!  I finally found one that has been helping me.  My first visit she was pretty sure that I had LS so she prescribed temovate and had me follow up after 2 months of using it.  It did help with the irritation and symptoms a lot.  When I went back early this week she decided to do a biopsy because the lesion I have had not healed as well as she would have liked.  It is on the inside of my right labia.  She called me last night and told me that there were pre cancer cells on the biopsy and that HPV also showed up.  It was not what I expected to hear.  I don't think she was either.  I am only 33 and she said cancer from LS would be extremely rare in someone my age but since it is only pre cancer I don't think she has gotten too excited about it at this point.  She prescribed the aldara cream and I am supposed to start on Monday.   Now I have all of kinds of questions from reading all of this information.  Last year at my pap they did not detect any HPV.  When I read about Aldara, it talked about genital wart treatment so that confused me with the HPV but she and the other doctors did not see any warts and that type of HPV is also not cancerous so I don't think that's what I have? I need to find out what strain it is. I also did not verify with her the LS diagnosis.  I have another message into her about all of this.  I know the aldara is going to be painful but I just want this to go away and if this will do it, then that could really be a good thing.  At this point it is not cancer so if we can get it under control now, I suppose there will be a lot less worries later.  I'm trying not to stress too much.  I know about how hard it is to talk about it.  I have friends that don't even want to hear about it they are so squeamish.  Bottom line is that it can happen to anyone.  I am a professional single but have not slept with many people and do not smoke at all.  I'm just thankful that I stayed persistent and found a good doctor.  She's the 5th one I've seen.  Most of the others did not think there was anything wrong or misdiagnosed me.  At this point I guess I'm just looking for support. 

Hi to all, I haven't been on the site in a while and was surprised all of the reponses, well I have done the aldara form about 2 1/2 months, the only time I am very uncomfortable is after I put it on and the next day, it is the same syptoms that brought me to the doctor, itching, burning etc.

Well we will see if it worked I see the dr on August 8 I have a feeling I will still have the spots I am just feeling very negative right now. Last time I went to the doctor he asked if I was smoking again, I was totally insulted, it has been a few years and never again.and besides alot of you never smoked, My dad has bladder cancer caused by the same chemical and he never smoked. It gets very depressing because your sex life is definately different, intercourse is few and far between because I just bleed from the tenderness, I have the greatest husband but I feel so bad for him. I know there are other things to do, but you know men still like intercourse. Well everybody keep writing in it does lift spirits, and we all need each other because other people just don't get it without making judgements that they know nothing about.

Love to all, KarentheKat

he never smoked.

 

I am just following up on how things are going.  I just went back to my doctor after about 6 weeks of aldara treatments.  The side effects were not very fun (a lot of itching and burning-at times unbearable).  She saw a lot of improvement in just that amount of time.  I have to use it twice a week for another month and then she is going to do a colopscopy to make sure that everything looks normal.  If it does, I would not have to follow up for another 6 months. She told me that they are finding aldara to be a very effective treatment for LS and vulvar cancer issues.  Much more effective than laser treatments or surgery.  It is also less invasive, less expensive and not disfiguring.  Yes, it takes time and is not fun for the weeks that you are using it but if it works, it is worth the pain.  I don't think the other options available would be much better, if not worse.  She is very optimistic that once I get through this, I may not have to use anything in the future and could go back to normal.  I feel very fortunate that my doctor knew about aldara as option for me.  On the days between treatments, my body is actually starting to feel normal and I feel like I'm starting to get back to my life again.