Diagnosed with ulcerated Urethral caruncle

Submitted by BumCollagen on April 4, 2017 - 4:50pm
Body: 

Hi, I'm a 65 year old woman who became menopausal in my late 50's. From that point on I have experienced a lot of medical issues.

In the past few months I have experienced a burning type pain especially acute when I urinate. After a few misdiagnoses from my PCP, a nurse practitioner at my gynecologist's office, a dermatologist (who sent a sample of the ulceration for screening for cancer) I was finally diagnosed by my gynecologist who had been away on vacation. She gave me the name, wrote a script for Estrace, and that was it. I learned a bit from Google and moved on to other health issues. (I have a genetic connective tissue disorder with faulty collagen so multiple body systems are impacted. In fact, prolapse of body organs is very common for people with poor collagen.) I have used the Estrace to get a handle on the situation although the rather large break in skin (~ 1cm square or ~ 0.5"square). I also wanted to use a product with hyuluron, which is supposed to be good for mucosal tissue (using it on my gums that break down easily). However, when I tried it a few times instead of the Estrace it felt like I was burning the tissue so maybe not a good idea. But I'm willing to insert any product that might help.

My vagina seems shorter now and I am hesitant to have intercourse with my husband while there is ulceration. Have any of you with prolapse or caruncle had intercourse?

It's interesting that I've been working on posture with daily physical therapy exercises daily (to correct "head forward" posture --- I have multiple spinal abnormalities --- spondylolisthesis --- and severe spinal pain).

Any suggestions would be most welcome,
BumCollagen

Forum:

Surviving60

April 5, 2017 - 4:47am

Hi BumCollagen and welcome. I searched "caruncle" on this forum and it seems to be a vague diagnosis that doctors use to explain an excess of tissue especially around the urethra.....so I don't think we'll get too hung up on that term. Burning with urination generally suggests a UTI; have you been checked for that, and are you quite certain you are emptying your bladder completely? Sex is not generally a problem with prolapse but I'm wondering if you have your uterus, since hysterectomy is the only thing I ever heard of that shortens the vagina.

I hope you will try the raw honey that we speak of just about every day on this forum.....post-menopausal tissues can find much comfort and healing by the insertion of raw local honey high in the vagina once or twice a day. Perhaps you could ditch the dangerous Estrace by switching to this natural treatment. Doctors like to say that topical hormones are safe and do not get into your system but this is blatantly untrue.

Please take a look around the site and consider learning and adopting Whole Woman posture and practices. This is most likely not the posture your physical therapist is teaching. Here's a good overview of the issues:
https://wholewoman.com/newpages/video/ww101.html
- Surviving

BumCollagen

April 5, 2017 - 7:00am

I suspect that the burning comes from the ulcerated tissue, an open wound, as I was checked for a UTI and it was negative. I am unsure about basic biology: is this wound getting exposed to my urine stream even as it is observable at the innermost part of my vagina, what used to be my cervix? I do have my uterus so maybe the loss of vaginal length is just what's caused by the influx of the caruncle tissue . . . or just my imagination. I love the raw honey fix idea. I'll check out the posture recommended on this site. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of an overview.