Itching fanny

So, I treated the last episode of cystitis with probiotics up the twat, and managed to get by without taking any Chinese herbs. Then I developed an incredibly itchy fanny and sore vulva. Assumed it was thrush and shoved yet another probiotic capsule up my twat. Seemed to calm down a bit, but then early Tuesday morning, and another bout of cystitis reared its ugly head. Put yet another probiotic capsule up twat, drank a pint of cranberry squash, and took a paracetamol. Good news is that it cleared up super quick - seems fine again now. Bad news is that fanny is itching and vulva is red and swollen. Oh for trouble free bits... :(

What's been happening this past year, then?

My, oh my. It's been nearly a year since I last wrote anything down here. Am I finally free of the dreaded cystitis? Sadly, no. Things were much calmer over the past year, as (i) had my coil taken out in preparation for trying to create some munchkins, but couldn't start immediately for various reasons, so started using condoms; (ii) OH was away for four months visiting family. Turns out that using condoms all the time meant no cystitis, which was flipping great. Now, however, OH is back, and the munchkin-creation has started in earnest. And I'm back to regular episodes of burning pee. They say the best chances of conception involve sex every two or three days. But there's no way I can manage that with my bladder/urethra and other bits. Most recent episodes:

• Thursday 2nd August: sex for the second time in three days whilst on holiday resulted in me being up in the night with diarrhoea and painful wee. Felt under the weather as if had infection too. Treated it with Chinese herbs and probiotics. Over the worst hump quite quickly - by mid-afternoon - but then lingering residual pain for a few days.
• Today: had sex yesterday (second time in two days), then went on a long bike ride. Took probiotic precautions immediately after sex, and drank a salty sachet before bed last night. But woke up this morning with diarrhoea and painful wee again. Currently nursing bladder on sofa.

What to do? :( I don't want to keep taking the Chinese herbs every few days - not sure how good regular use might be for my kidneys, and also doubt it's a good idea if I do manage to get pregnant. Going on a long bike ride shortly after sex was probably a bad plan. But it's pretty frustrating if that's the problem - I want to be able to go cycling, dagnamit! So what's the plan? Wish I knew. The best we could come up with is:

• Be completely stringent about hygiene.
• Use condoms most of the month, only have unprotected sex around ovulation time. Have paper pee strips to track ovulation.
• I will try drinking cider vinegar on a daily basis. Also try drinking cranberry squash on a daily basis. Feel like this used to help once upon a time.