MUST READ FOR WOMEN: Why Your Vagina Might Hurt During Sex
Though real, many still feel it’s a myth, Vaginismus is One of the reasons your vagina hurts during sex.
Vaginismus is a specific kind of sexual dysfunction that makes the muscles of the pelvic floor tighten, preventing a woman from having vaginal intercourse, or having other objects placed inside her vagina, such as a tampon or an insertion during a pelvic exam.
The hymen isn’t intact, for those who are sexually active. The hymen is broken so sex should be easy but with Vaginismus it clamps shut, lock down, no prison-break. No object can’t go in. At all. And if it does, it hurts so bad.
“With any kind of sexual pain that is ongoing and seems to have no physical cause, Vaginismus should be considered as a possible contributor or perhaps the primary cause.”
With attempts at intercourse, vaginal tightness may cause sexual discomfort, sensations of burning, tightness, pain or inability to penetrate.
There are many causes of sexual pain also known as ”dyspareunia” and Vaginismus is one of these. Vaginismus is uniquely characterized by involuntary tightness of the vagina due to the pubococcygeus (PC) muscles; and in some cases the levator ani muscles (the group of muscles that includes the PC muscles), and even thigh and stomach muscles connected to the pelvic floor.
It is related to other types of sexual pain in that any type of general sex pain may trigger Vaginismus. In these cases, Vaginismus becomes a complicating discomfort or pain in addition to the original pain and typically remains even after the original problem is resolved or managed.
A woman may, in fact, confuse the ongoing problems of vaginismus with the original pain problem, believing that the original problem is still unresolved. This dysfunction is as common as it’s unknown. Many women who suffer from this don’t ever talk about it as there’s basically no knowledge of the condition.
According to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, vaginismus can occur in a few different scenarios:
The dysfunction may be primary (i.e. lifelong), or secondary (occurring after a period of normal sexual function).
It may also be global (occurs in all situations and with any object) or situational (may only occur in certain situations, such as with one partner but not others, or with sexual intercourse but not with tampons or pelvic exams or vice versa).
Many people describe the condition as being similar to when you reflexively close your eyelids when an object gets too close to your eyes.
Most Nigerian women might not have access to good health services and this might cause misdiagnosis of this condition sometimes. If you feel unbearable pain during sex, you just, might have vaginismus. Don’t brood. It’s a hundred percent treatable. A woman needs a pelvic exam to be diagnosed.
The causes of vaginismus remain vague: though the most popular reason which one might know is the vagina being ”too tight or too small” for intercourse. Still, vaginismus is usually triggered as reflex to fear, or anxiety. Treatment for painful yeast infection or a pelvic exam can also trigger the condition in a woman. Sexual abuse is also a factor.
According to a sex therapist, Talli Rosenbaum, writes in an article in 2013
”pain and anxiety are understood to be salient and interactive components of vaginismus. Pelvic floor dysfunction is not simply an isolated mechanical condition, but may be a physical expression of an emotional state.” (The article also cites conditions like endometriosis or irritable bowel syndrome, which may also lead to a tightening of the pelvic floor muscles.
Abuse is also a common complicating factor: A 2009 study conducted by Leclerc et al. looked at the prevalence of abuse in women who were diagnosed with dyspareunia, a term that refers to painful intercourse (it doesn’t always overlap with vaginismus, but can lead to the condition). The study concluded that about 60 percent of women experiencing dyspareunia had a history of sexual abuse.
Any negative association with penetration may contribute to the condition; for example, a woman who is told that having vaginal intercourse for the first time is painful may tighten her muscles during sex, and it “becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Connie Lappa believes there is an association for some women with any type of penetration, Insertion of contacts, dental work, blood draws, etc.
In that case it may have something to do with fear of [losing] their body integrity. For religious women who have been taught that they are the gatekeepers of their virginity, and that they are sinful to allow penetration, they may have been unconsciously guarding for awhile and have developed high muscle tone as a result. It can be difficult to flip the switch after they marry and let their body open up.
In today’s culture, the promoted message of women being sexually pleasing to men first and their own needs being second has made many women with the condition become reclusive as if not being good enough for any man. They feel inadequate.
“Woman often say they feel that sex is easy for everyone else and feel less of a woman,” says Lappa. “It affects their self-esteem. The message that women are to be sexually pleasing to men first and that their needs are secondary is still promoted in the media and in our culture in general. Therapy always includes women assessing and asserting their own needs and promoting their self-esteem. But the diagnosis of vaginismus may help a woman’s view of sex shift—for example, the realization that sex is not the summation of romantic relationships, or that understanding their sexual needs is vital. Many women come out of treatment with a more holistic view of sex and a much better understanding of their sexuality and how to express their sexual desires.”
Vaginismus is highly treatable. Successful vaginismus treatment does not require drugs, surgery, hypnosis, nor any other complex invasive technique. Effective treatment approaches combine pelvic floor control exercises, insertion or dilation training, pain elimination techniques, transition steps, and exercises designed to help women identify, express and resolve any contributing emotional components.
Treatment steps can often be completed at home, allowing a woman to work at her own pace in privacy, or in cooperation with her health care provider.
Source, jezebel
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