Body question

[TownHall]

Hey scarleteen, I recently found your website in the midst of my pregnancy scare and used the pregnancy scare companion and also the "you're not pregnant why do you think you are" article which were of great help. I started having sex with my boyfriend in November and we had unprotected sex and we've done it a couple of times. I'm not worried anymore if I'm pregnant because I've taken tests and they're all negative and I've gotten my period on time each month. But after we first had unprotected sex i started feeling this pain not necessarily were my vagina opening is but right on top. It's like an irritation pain and sometimes when I shower putting cold water on it helps. When I pee it sometimes stings if I haven't drank enough water. I've gone to the gyno and they said they were tears from having sex but I had had sex prior(before my bf) and I had never gotten this feeling. I went a got testing done to see if it was an std or so and I'm waiting on the results. I'm kind of panicked about it because if I do test positive for something idk if itd be curable and it I test negative I'm stuck trying to figure out what it could be. I just really want to get back to a place where I wasn't concerned about how I was feeling down there. The pain is very off and on and only seems to get worse when Im fixated on it. Any tips or help?

[Sam W]

Hi Jess,

It sounds like you're being proactive about getting this issue diagnosed, which is awesome. Given what the gynecologist said, it's quite possible that something happened during sex with your boyfriend that hadn't happened previously that caused a tear or other irritation. Something like the position you two were in, or how someone moved their hand (especially if said hand had fingernails) could have caused a tear.

Since you're waiting on test results, your best option may be to try and distract yourself, whether that's by doing self-care or something else, so that your brain isn't stuck worrying about the outcome of the tests. If the tests come back negative for everything, then you can start troubleshooting for other possible causes of the pain (for example, does the irritation seem to happen if you're wearing certain types of clothing). If it comes back with a positive, then your next steps can be treating whatever illness it is (most STIs are curable, and the ones that aren't are treatable to some degree or another).

Has your boyfriend also gotten tested for STIs recently?

[TownHall]

Hi thank you for replying, See I thought so at first that it was a tear but then I started having weird discharge and was feeling super insecure about it being some sti that I had gotten or like a yeast infection or something along those lines(the internet has only caused me to stress more about all my symptoms because there are a variety of things that have the same symptoms!!). I also figured if it was a tear it wouldn't have taken months to heal.
He hasn't yet, when we talked about our past he said to me he would wear protection and I had no doubt in my heart about it because he wouldn't lie to me. But lately after all this he's been trying to find a place to get testing done just to make sure he really doesn't have anything because he has never gotten any symptoms whatsoever.

[Sam W]

You're welcome! When you spoke to the gynecologist, did you tell them about the odd discharge you were having or have them take a look at it?

And I'm glad to hear he's looking into testing as well. When one partner gets tested it's sound to have the other partner do so as well, since you want to make sure no one is carrying an STI without showing symptoms or prevent you from accidentally passing the STI back and forth.

[TownHall]

She told me it was normal and then checked my urine and me and said nothing looked abnormal. She then swabbed me and that was it. I went twice for this problem and the second time is when they tested me and she actually took a look around better than the first time. She said "it could've been from herpe warts" and that really sent me into a downward spiral of panic because I've always checked myself out down there to make sure things have been normal and I've never seen anything off.

[Sam W]

Got it. At this point then, your best bet is to wait for your test results to come back and then work from there depending on the results. Right now you're still missing a big piece of information, so it will be easier to decide on your next steps once you have that information.

[TownHall]

Hey There, so I just got a call from my gyno and they told me all the testing they did came back negative!!!! Praise the Lord!!! Also, the prescribed me something for the symptoms to hopefully clear up in 7 days!!

[Mo]

Great to hear that your results came back negative and you will hopefully have lessened symptoms soon. It's always a relief to get good news!