{"id":2379,"date":"2010-02-19T12:07:16","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T19:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2379"},"modified":"2013-07-31T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T15:23:52","slug":"living-with-and-blogging-about-a-painful-medical-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2379","title":{"rendered":"Living with, and Blogging About, a Painful Medical Condition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wroblesky
Senior Tamra Wroblesky, shown here during a 2008 trip to Mount Kilimanjaro, created a blog to document her struggles living with Vulvar Vestibulitis Syndrome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tamra Wroblesky \u201910<\/strong> had never heard of Vulvar Vestibulitis Syndrome (VVS) when, during her sophomore year, she felt the sharp pain that marked the onset of the condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cChronic pain doesn\u2019t even begin to explain” what VVS feels like, Wroblesky said. \u201cWhen people ask me what [I feel], I\u2019m at a loss. It\u2019s difficult [for them] to understand.”<\/p>\n

Wroblesky consulted several doctors trying to discover the source of the pain, but they were equally unsure of the cause. She endured several months worth of misdiagnoses until finally a gynecologist determined that the pain was caused by VVS, a subtype of vulvodynia, which causes chronic pain in a female\u2019s genital organs. There is no known cure.<\/p>\n

Armed with the diagnosis, Wroblesky searched online for information about the condition. What she found were a lot of theories about what VVS is, and how it is caused, but no solid information.<\/p>\n

So Wroblesky started blogging about her experiences suffering from VVS<\/a>, seeking treatment, and searching for a cure. What started as a self-help tool for venting has turned into a widely known resource on this painful medical condition. In December, Wroblesky\u2019s blog, \u201cLiving with Vulvar Vestibulitis,\u201d was awarded 4th place in wellsphere.com\u2019s 2nd Annual People\u2019s Health Blogger Awards.<\/p>\n

Through her blog, Wroblesky offers advice and support to other VVS sufferers (who number in the millions, she said). She receives several e-mails each day from women who have questions or just want to talk about their condition.<\/p>\n

In addition to dispensing advice via her blog, Wrobleksy occasionally receives it from her readers. When she blogged about her upcoming vestibulectomy surgery, a reader strongly advised against having it done. Wroblesky researched the procedure some more and found that it had mixed results at best. She canceled the surgery, and opted instead for physical therapy.<\/p>\n

Wroblesky is determined not to let VVS take control of her life. Although her treatments force her to miss a lot of classes, she will graduate with her class this May with a double major in history and women\u2019s and gender studies and a minor in international studies. While at TCNJ, she has remained active with the Women in Learning and Leadership Program, the tennis team, and as a community adviser. She even traveled to Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a research project two summers ago, where she climbed to the top. \u201cIt was very symbolic of my struggle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wroblesky continues blogging about her experiences living with VVS, but remains hopeful that one day she won\u2019t have to. As the tagline on her blog reads: \u201cI write to form a knowledgeable and supporting community. I write to encourage myself and others. I write in the hope that one day I will write no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to read Wroblesky’s blog.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamra Wroblesky’s blog, which started as a self-help tool for venting about living with her medical condition, has since turned into a widely known resource on the syndrome from which she suffers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-march-2010","category-on-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}