About Faith & Laura,

The Bad-Asses Behind this Blog

From Faith...

Hi everybody! My name is Faith Cornwall. I started this website in July of 2014. That summer, as I approached the ten-year anniversary of my vulvodynia diagnosis, I was reflecting on what a tough decade it had been.

When I was diagnosed in August 2004, doctors were not helpful or hopeful. I couldn't find a single positive story online or in research about how to heal. There was no map for getting better, but I promised myself I would anyway, and set off down the road. 

Just kidding, there was no road! Instead I set off bushwhacking through dense jungle with no visibility past three feet. (There, that metaphor's more like it.)

One reason my ride was so rough was because I was alone for so much of it. Things would have been much better if the topic of *gasp* vulvar pain wasn't coated in silence. But this pervasive silence prevents women from speaking to each other and gaining emotional support, prevents women from reaching out to doctors and therapists, and prevents doctors and researchers from doing anything to fix it.  

By July 2014 I was fed up with silence, so I started writing. 

I wanted other women to know that there was help and hope available, that it was possible for them to wear jeans again, to sit again, to love sex and orgasm loudly and enthusiastically again (or even for the first time.) I wanted the resources and wisdom I had gained over ten years to benefit others, to make their paths easier, less scary, and more hopeful.

For a long time I wrote this blog by myself, but I always imagined that this site would someday be community-oriented and feature voices other than my own. Thanks to new writer Laura, that is now the case!

Laura will be featured as the regular writer of My V Matters starting July 2016, and I will continue to contribute occasional posts. If you’d like to contact me, you are welcome to do so here.

And now, a word from Laura...

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Hi, I'm Laura, I'm writing from London, UK. I've suffered from chronic vulva pain since 2002 when I was still a teenager and have spent the years ever since finding my way through the fog of so so many different ideas for that elusive cure. You name it, I've probably tried it!

I have learnt so much about my body as well as my mind and soul. I've amassed a whole load of knowledge and experience on medical care and alternative therapies and what they currently can and can't do for v pain. If you have struggled with healthcare, believe me, I have been there! All of this has ignited a real passion in me of the role of the mind and lifestyle in both the cause of chronic conditions but also in healing from them. I'm not just talking about changing your diet and joining the gym.

It has only been since 2014 that I have realised that to heal from something so chronic and misunderstood is going to involve going far deeper. I have stopped looking for a cure that is external to me and I have realised that my body will know how to heal itself and that the light at the end of the tunnel is within me. This is the journey I am now on and it is moving mountains. My blogs will go into specifics and update on how I am getting on.

I really feel called to work to heal from vulva pain then use what I've learnt to try to help others and perhaps allow them not to have to suffer for as long. I have joined Faith on this amazing website so that I can hopefully start to do that.

YatraYoni.com is a patient support website and does not intend to take the place of the relationship between patient and personal physician.