Around 10 years ago, I was under a lot of stress, took the morning after pill followed by a course of antibiotics and I ended up in terrible discomfort. Raw, burning, prickly. Yuk. After months of putting up with it I finally got some help. Ammityptiline and some soothing gel put the problem to bed. A few months later the problem came back like a yeast infection. More a nuisance than chronic. I started making link with my mind. I would 'check in' on symptoms each morning, catastrophise, think the worst. 'It will never go' BUT it did go. A course of diflucan, ammityptiline and positive thinking and it just disappeared! I got on with my life. Got married, had two kids. Never gave it a second thought. Until now. I was concerned about getting pregnant again so went back on pill. A new one, a high hormone one. Big mistake. A couple of weeks of stress and BAM it's back! Swabs have shown an overgrowth of strep G. Due to pill unbalancing flora. This is a stress/ hormone issue. No damage to nerves for me. This thing can go. It's an imbalance. A reaction in body to a threat that is no longer there or has been healed. On antibiotics to fix rebalance but the V is there and showing its ugly head again. But I do notice periods its at bay. Relaxing on the bed or bath, first thing in morning. After few glasses of wine at a party. Time to rebalance. Lots of pro biotics and address those mixed nerve messages. Talking therapy. Keeping anxiety at bay. This is not cancer. This will not kill me. This is very annoying and uncomfortable but it will go again like it did last time. Last time I'm touching the combined pill. Time to get the balance back and if it takes a few more months then so be it. I'll get there, like we all will.