Calling a doctor’s office to ask about vaginismus

[Heather34]

Hi ladies. So much has been written about how important it is to educate physicians and clinicians on the condition of vaginismus.

In an excellent post, Vashalla recently wrote “Yeah, that is really frustrating trying to find a doctor who actually knows what you’re talking about. I found one in my area, fortunately. The whole office seems to know about it, in fact. At least, the doctors and the nurse practitioners do, which is the important part. One thing I did when I was looking around is calling the office and asking to speak with a nurse. When I got the nurse, I explained my situation and asked if the doctor knew what vaginismus was, and if she’d had any experience with it. It’s hard to talk about, especially to a complete stranger who may just think you’re crazy, but I much preferred doing that to having to make appointment after appointment trying to find a good doctor. I just don’t have the time or the money to bounce from one doctor to the next.”

This is a wonderful idea Vashalla for both those suffering with vaginismus and for those who previously had the condition. For the doctor’s offices called that do not know of vaginismus, an idea here would be to mail their office one of Dr. Pacik’s brochures that explains all about the condition as well as the treatment program. I would someday love for every single doctor to know of it so no women has to experience the shame and embarrassment that accompanies an exam with a doctor who is not knowledgeable at all about it. I welcome your thoughts here as well???

[lotus1000]

I am a physician as well as a patient of Dr. Pacik’s. When I first diagnosed myself, I went to multiple doctors to ask for help. I was told to “get drunk”, or “relax and just get it over with.” Ignorance on their part was very damaging to my self-esteem and made me feel extremely hopeless.

My whole journey with vaginismus has made me, I think, a better doctor who is more attuned to sexual issues with my patients. Coming from a traditional culture, I was never accustomed to asking patients about their sexual issues, and I would often change the topic when they would bring anything up about sex or sexual issues. Now, whenever I sense anything, I will dive into it with them and try to explore it, trying my best to be mindful of what my tone and facial expressions are. I have not yet had any vagnismus patients, as far as I know, but I’m sure I will at some point.

[Heather34]

Hi Lotus. You wrote “my whole journey with vaginismus has made me, I think, a better doctor who is more attuned to sexual issues with my patients.” This is an excellent post and so incredibly important. I hope that, together, we can all work to change other physician’s attitudes and lack of knowledge about the condition of vaginismus. I, too, was told to “just relax” or “have a drink” in order to overcome vaginismus by an ob/gyn who didn’t understand that there is also a true physical component to the condition in the form of pain and resistance. I actually hadn’t met a doctor who did understand the condition prior to meeting and having my procedure with Dr. Pacik. I, again, believe that so much more has to be done to educate clinicians and physicians on vaginismus and think that, together, we are all beginning to break down the walls of silence that has surrounded it for so long. Excellent post!!

[Vashalla]

I just saw my OB/GYN this morning for a birth control consult and told her about all the great progress that I made through internet counseling with Dr. Pacik. She was really interested and wrote down several of the things I told her, including this website so that she could look up more information. If any ever needs to see an OB/GYN in Austin, TX, http://www.obgynnorth.com/ has always been very understanding and caring about my vaginismus. It’s always nice to work with a doctor who’s enthusiastic about learning more.

Dr. Pacik, do you have any pamphlets about your treatment? I think it would be great to have something like that that I could drop off at my former OB/GYN’s office to see if I can get them interested in learning more about your treatment. I could drop off one of your books as well, but I think they would be more likely to read a pamphlet first. My former OB/GYN was always nice and tried to be as gentle as possible, but she never seemed very interested knowing more about what I was going through.

[Heather34]

Hi Vashalla. This is a great post. It’s wonderful that you shared the information about Dr. Pacik’s program as well as your tremendous success story with your ob/gyn and this is another excellent way of spreading the word. I remember sharing the same with a new ob/gyn doctor and she actually brought up Dr. Pacik’s website with a link to the “pure romance” dilators and asked me several questions about them. She disclosed that she had 2 patients that had vaginismus and she was going to direct them to the site to learn more and also recommend the “pure romance” dilators (pre-glass).

Also, concerning the pamphlets, in a prior post, Janet wrote “The best way to get pamphlets to pass out is to call our office at 603-669-0290 to request them. Ask for Jenn. She will be able to mail them out to you. It would be so wonderful if everyone on the forum passed out 3 or 4 pamphlets to their physicians and/or physical therapists. It is a great way to spread the word about the work Dr. Pacik is doing.”

[Heather34]

Hi all. In an excellent recent post, a Forum member wrote about the topic of embarrassment when it comes to speaking about vaginismus. I felt like this too while in my 20s and found it very hard to talk about. I loved what Dr. Pacik and Melissa at Maze Women’s Sexual Health wrote in their replies. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about…you have a medical problem that CAN be treated and you are NOT alone.” I think an excellent way to overcome this is to call a doctor in advance of visiting them and speak to either a nurse or the doctor themselves and determine if they are trained in treating vaginismus. Thoughts here ladies???