Dr. Harris is amazing. I have had vulvar pain for almost THIRTY YEARS, on and off (mostly on for the past 20 years). And I am almost better now, after seeing her for the first time less than 6 months ago.
As background: I am not shy; I have discussed my problem over and over with gynecologists over the years. I have consistently asked for help, from MDs, GYN's, sex therapists, integrative medicine practitioners, naturopaths, homeopaths, and more. I have been told that I need to relax, that it's psychological; I've been told to do various exercises; I've ben told to do hormone therapy; etc. Sometimes I've been told to do a few of those things at once.
But no doctor, not one, has been really curious and scientific about getting to the bottom of my problem, with a series of lab tests and other investigative and therapeutic alternatives to explore. Yet Doctor Harris did that for me - and has gotten to the bottom of my seemingly intractible problem. And guess what - it wasn't psychological, I had a real reason for my pain.
At the end of the day, through her disciplined, thorough, questioning and exploring, we found that the heart of my problem was probably a relatively rare form of yeast infection - that doesn't show up on standard lab tests, only on specialized lab tests, so I had tested negative for years. (If my other doctors had even bothered to do the test.) The form I have is resistant to treatment but not impossible to treat. WIth disciplined, steady treatment of the yeast, (which was very likely the original cause of my pain), we then began "peeling back the onion" of my related problems: tight muscles, fear of intercourse, vaginal dryness/poor vaginal tissue quality (I'm now in in my mid 50's). So now we're treating the yeast, we're treating the tissue quality (through topical, bioidentical hormones), we're treating my libido (also through topical hormones) and we're treating my muscle tightness with physical therapy (yes, there are therapists who are trained to do this!) I can now have intercourse without pain, for the first time in almost 20 years.
And by the way, Dr. Harris follows up. And she emails. And she takes notes. And she doesn't forget anything. (Her office staff follows up too.) And while she's willing to do all the tests she thinks are necessary, she doesn't try to sell me extra services or do unnecessary testing. Yes, I usually have to wait for a while to see her during my scheduled appointments; but given what she's done for me, I just plan on the extra time. (If she's using that to help someone else the way she helped me, how can I begrudge the time?)
I wish there were more doctors who did this kind of work, with the thoroughness that Dr. Harris displays. I have a variety of other health issues and (unfortunately) have had to see a lot of doctors over the years, and there are few as thorough, careful, and caring as Dr. Harris.
by RoseJ
xxx.xxx.210.3
March 12, 2013