Image by Richard Kadrey / Kaos Beauty Klinik.
It’s estimated that if you’re in a room with 18 women in it, probably three of them are experiencing some sort of vaginal or vulvar pain. It’s not fun to think of. They are not dancing because they are happy. I’m not talking about painful intercourse — which can derive from a number of factors such as physical inexperience, hyper-sensitivity, dryness, big or overlong object/penis, cervix bumping, infection, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, or pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This is Vulvodynia, which can also add to painful vaginal penetration, but is a condition much like “hysteria” or fibromyalgia, that have historically been misdiagnosed, untreated — and worse, dismissed as being “all in your head”. Well ladies, your pussy hurts and it’s not all in your head. Snip from the Globe and Mail’s Vulvodynia: Dismissed and undiagnosed:
Three years ago, Regina Netto felt as if her vulva was on fire, “like somebody had lit up a flame down there.” It was so bad that most days the 38-year-old from Laval, Que., could barely walk. And sex? Forget about it.
Her doctor thought she had a urinary tract infection – but treatment for that only worsened her pain. Blood and urine tests for a UTI came up negative, and then a cystoscopy (examination of her bladder with a small camera) showed nothing.
Thinking she had interstitial cystitis (a chronic bladder disease), a urologist prescribed Ms. Netto medication – but that didn’t work either. Nor did visits to an acupuncturist, naturopath, osteopath or physiotherapist. She saw eight different gynecologists and urologists in search of relief.
Finally, she says, “A family doctor and a gynecologist told me that there was nothing wrong with me and that I needed to see a shrink.”
Ms. Netto had a real condition, called vulvodynia, meaning chronic vulvar pain. But there is no test for it, and while there is some faint visible redness in some women, on the surface most women with vulvodynia look completely normal. This makes the condition difficult to diagnose and leaves sufferers prone to hasty dismissal by their physicians. Most GPs – and many gynecologists – are not even aware of its existence.
But research is now uncovering the concrete, physical markers of vulvodynia, giving therapists the tools they need to develop effective treatments.
In 2006, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Family Physicians felt the need to print an educational piece on the condition in their monthly newsletter, sent to 150,000 physicians, with information on how to diagnose and treat it. (…read more, theglobeandmail.com,thanks Praemedia)
To think that 3 out of 18 women have to deal with this 24/7 is horrible! I hope that this info gets out to everyone.
I had no idea that this was such an incredible issue.
Thank you for bringing it out into the light!!!!
This is a very real problem that affects my partner. It is an incredibly difficult thing to tackle, even with knowledge of treatments that work (i.e. vaginal exercises). I am glad you posted it because the stigma of “it’s in your head” can make even the diagnosed doubt themselves.
Thank you thank you for posting this! I had been considering writing to you and asking if you would address this. When I developed Vestibulitis (not identical but similar in many ways) this past year I realized how little I knew and how little info was out there in a casual fashion – things that women who hadn’t been diagnosed would have seen.
Having always been a very sexual person there was a lot of disconnect in feeling pain during my favorite pastime, almost a sense of betrayal from my body, which took some time to get over. Luckily all I had to do was go off birth control and use a cream and everything is much better, thanks in part as well to my very patient boyfriend who was more than willing to help me think up other fun activities when I was taking time off from penetration.
The amount of pain and permanence that exists for so many women is astonishing to me and it breaks my heart. I’m so glad the word is getting out. You are fabulous as always!