Hi all. In a recent post, the husband of a woman with secondary vaginismus posted about the condition of vaginismus developing after the birth of their child. In an excellent reply, Melissa at Maze Women’s Sexual Health discussed that the key to treatment is stopping the cycle of pain. She writes:
“Often times when there is some type of change to the vaginal tissue, like child birth, or going on birth control, or breast feeding, and initial penetration is painful, a women’s body’s natural reaction is to tense the muscles inside the vagina to protect it. This creates a viscous circle, as with every repeated penetration attempts with pain, the body will tense more, and that will then create more pain. This is why we often see patients state that in the beginning the pain was “tolerable” but after a while it became “unbearable”. The key to treatment is to stop the cycle, and reverse the vaginal damage, and start to reintroduce penetration in a slow controlled manor without pain. For some that will include topical treatments, dilators,physical therapy and/or sex therapy. The good news, is that this cycle is reversible and for most women we can get them back to their full functioning with no pain.”
