Vaginismus? Maybe you meant veganism.

[Heather34]

Hi all. In an excellent new Blog, Nicole wrote:

“One of our specialties at Maze is treating vaginismus. Vaginismus is a condition where there is involuntary tightness of the vagina during attempted intercourse. Women do not control the tightness, and many do not even realize this tightness is causing the tightness and pain with penetration. Most patients have been to see several other medical professional before coming to us. If they saw a gynecologist they were often told to just have a glass of wine to relax, or that it is “all in their head. “ Many then seek out a sex therapist to help then figure out how to “get it all out of their head.” However talk therapy alone will not cure vaginismus.

So why then do we have so many women come to us who have suffered with vaginismus for years, and have seen numerous providers with no results? One reason is that many providers question if it is real, and treat it like it does not exist, and therefore untreatable. I have several instances lately where I have been writing about vaginismus, and certain spell checks do not have it in their dictionary. They offer me “vaginitis” or “veganism.” What? This occurred to me that this is a telling metaphor for vaginismus in general. It is still not recognized by many in the medical profession as a real issue just as spell check does not recognize it as a real word. However many spell checks let you add a word, just as we at Maze are adding vaginismus as a real medical issue with real cures.”

In a prior post, another Forum member wrote:

“I am 23 years old and I have vaginismus (gosh darn why doesn’t spell check recognize that as word!).”

These are placed in the Vaginismus Advocacy category as so much more needs to be done to spread the word about the condition of vaginismus and make it recognized as prevalent as ED. Nicole, as you wrote in your excellent Blog, “[i]t is still not recognized by many in the medical profession as a real issue just as spell check does not recognize it as a real word.” It is beyond wonderful and so comforting that you and the Maze team do understand it and understands what each of us has gone through with it. It, unfortunately, is so common to see a doctor or provider that says “it’s all in your head, just relax, have a drink, etc.” Its, again, very comforting to know that there are medical providers who understand it and treat the entire condition, both physical and mental.

[Heather34]

In terms of continuing to spread the word about vaginismus, what else can we as a forum do to make it more well-known? In the past, several of us handed out Dr. Pacik’s books to the doctors we visited post-procedure and this was helpful as, again, so many had never even heard of the condition.