The solution to painful intercourse!!!!!! Yipeee!

I was shopping at home goods for something else today & I found a jar of "virgin organic coconut oil"!!!

I had to buy it of course !!!

I'm not convinced that freezing the stuff is all that necessary.  Why couldn't you just get some out of the jar with a spoon and quickly roll it up a little bit and insert it before it melts in your fingers?

There are women out there having sex during all this?!?! Please don't let my boyfriend find out! LOL! Poor guy has been ultra-supportive and patient with me. I am feeling better these days and would like to make our "first time" as care free and comfortable as possible. thanks for sharing!

I live in the South, so even with the a/c on, coconut oil is liquid at room temp all summer long.

I was pleasantly surprised that the frozen suppositories were not unpleasantly cold...I guess they warm up quickly enough on contact. I considered trying to use a spoon or whatnot with the semi-solid stuff, but I do find that using the applicator is able to reach further.

Jeskachi, I've found coconut oil to be solid at room temp but in the summer, room temp made it too mushy to deal with so that's why I put it in the fridge. Of course, we're talking summer in Israel (hothothot) and no a/c except in the living room. So we're talkin' same substance, different environment.

Leah

Lulu - I had pretty much the same reaction, sorta.  When I spoke to my compounding pharmacist about it, he called my gyn for the ok on it (that office wanted copies of what I had down loaded from this site), and when I went to see my onc for the last appointment, he asked me what I was doing for vaginal dryness.  Now he never asked me that before in the over two and a half years that I have been there.  When I told him, he seemed to already be aware that I was using it.  (Doctors do talk among themselves.........my onc and my gyn are friends.)  So he requested the same info formula that the compounding pharmacist now had and a description of how breast cancer women are using it.  I was more than happy to send it to him.  Does make you wonder how many doctor's wives are happier people now.

Got my scream cream yesterday and tried it last night. Sad to say I didn't notice any difference! Maybe I didn't wait long enough...maybe I was too tired...but it was still painful, enough so that we had to stop before we got very far. 54 years old and I feel like a virgin again....and not in a good way.

I have to start off with an apology.  I was asked to explain screen-shotting a few pages back but I forgot, and kept forgetting even when I remembered (usually in the grocery store line).

So once upon a time, the residents of the Village Isayyes liked to discuss politics.  Some of the residents didn't like the politics discussed, and said so in no uncertain terms.  A year-long skirmish ensued, during which many posts were deleted and villagers temporarily banned.  Some villagers would post mean or snarky things, then delete them themselves to avoid a deletion and banning.  The insulted learned quickly, and so would "screen-shot" the insults before they were deleted.  What they'd do with those screen-shots was anybody's guess.  Thereafter, "screen-shotting" became synonymous with any other empty threat.  

So, I tongue-in-cheekily "threaten" people who upset me with a screen-shot.  What do I do with the screen shots?  Nothing.  That's sort of the humor of it.  If you have my weird sense of humor.

:-D 

cfdr, Sorry to hear the SC didnt work first time around... How can we fix that because I think it will work once we get things right.

First off I dont think being too tired will help you... but being too tired is kinda a part we have to deal with daily isnt it. Did you apply the SC to the right area's (& then wait 20 to 30 minutes) also are you using lido for the initial painful area....no where near the clitoral area as that will ruin the whole thing .

The SC stimulation is very gentle, natural.. almost not noticeable. But SC brings blood flow to the area to help kick start your body to do its natural thing.

The lido is completely different.. because we've had so many bad experiences with the horrid pain our bodies have a tendency to tighten up because it knows the pain will be there. The lidocaine placed just around the vagina opening & a bit more internally, after a few seconds helps to take the pain & fear away on penetration, it should be used right before intercourse or insertion of anything. Timing with all this is the key I think. Once your body is stimulated and theres no initial pain the rest should just happily fall into place. (its taken a few tries for many of us)

It might help to create a mood in the room as well.. especially if your tired. Light a few candles or dim the lights, put on some sexy lingerie to make YOU feel good, some mood music is a good thing too. None of this is necessary but adds to the anticipation of a romantic interlude .

I truly hope this helps, Hugs Suz

cfdr -

It didn't work the first time for me, either, and that was just a "dry run" (pardon the pun).  Someone (Suz?) suggested I use a lima bean sized amount on my clit and then more just inside the vagina.  The inner application burned like I don't know what for about a minute, then things were better.

As far as lubes go, most burn for me but I've found that both coconut oil and crisco work fairly well, without burning.  I do tend to crave fried chicken afterward, though.  ;-)

Thanks for the suggestion ladies!  This stuff really helped!

Both my onc and my gyn were fine with the ingredients.

FWIW-I got rx from compound pharmacy. The on-line stuff had a bunch of other ingredients that I didn't want.

V 

I haven't gotten a scrip for lidocaine; that may be the next step. My PCP also suggested a silicon (silicone?) based lubricant. I agree with the idea of a dry run...if at first you don't succeed...the results may not be ideal but I think my husband will enjoy the effort regardless. :-)

SC definitely helps a ton - Thank you for this thread!!!!  However, I am still noticing some pain/discomfort with full penetration (sorry for TMI!!).  Any suggestions for this?  So far I've only used the SC twice and I'm hoping I'm just missing something.  I think this is definitely one of the worst side effects from chemopause and would love to at least get this part of my life back to normal!

Bump for a friend in need.

Hugs Suz

Lol, thank you, That was in the Caribbean on a cruise. Heh heh didnt "need" SC for that vacation but I sure could have used some to make it extra special   

Dh is looking into plans for our next vacation hopefully before summer... not sure if its gonna be a European self planned mini tour?? Amsterdam, France, Germany, Spain (some sort of mix in a circle tour of a few destinations) or back to St Lucia & the Grenadine Islands for a week or so. We were only there for two days but fell in love with the smaller islands close by through the Grenadines. There are some really incredible spots I want to go back to so I can try to snorkel again. Would need to do some creative bandaging for the Pleure X drain as it cant get wet & needs to be kept sterile. Its being drained once a week and I now have the sterile package of all thats needed to do it myself once or twice (even the vacuum bottles) if necessary. I figure if I added about 3 extra layers of the water proof bandages I should be able to at least hit one or two good spots for an hour or two. Lol my nurse would have a fit if she knew, but I can only give up so much... skiing, biking & power walking just to name a few. Im really missing all my favorite things, so thats one that I want to try again. I would even be willing to throw on a life jacket & stay on the surface .

Anyway this is waaaay off topic. Sorry Gals, but even the thought put a smile on my face for the day!

Big Hugs Suz