m sure that your vaginal tissues are very thin and dry from lack of estrogen (called atrophic vaginitis). There is something called
vagifem that might help, if you can take estrogen even genitally.
This really could be from herpes, or from the hysterectomy, or its something different causing the vulvodynia. If you've had PHN for a long time, then maybe its that.
When they are treating you for bacterial infections, are they testing you or just assuming?