Vaginismus / Pain Books

By Amy Stein, 2008

If you suffer from an agonizing and emotionally stressful pelvic floor disorder, including pelvic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis, prostatitis, incontinence, or discomfort during sex, urination, or bowel movements, it’s time to alleviate your symptoms and start healing–without drugs or surgery. Natural cures, in the form of exercise, nutrition, massage, and self-care therapy, focus on the underlying cause of your pain, heal your condition, and stop your pain forever.

The life-changing plan in this book gets to the root of your disorder with:

• A stretching, muscle-strengthening, and massage program you can do at home
• Guidelines on foods that will ease your discomfort
• Suggestions for stress- and pain-reducing home spa treatments
• Exercises for building core strength and enhancing sexual pleasure

By Heather Jeffcoat, 2014

This concise, self-treatment guide, written by a pelvic floor physical therapist, offers an approach to treating women with painful intercourse using dilation techniques. It is written in a straightforward step by step manner with clear drawings. There are additional chapters with exercises for large muscle groups, progressive relaxation, and treatment aides.

By Abby Norman, 2018

This book, a mix of memoir and reporting, records how the author’s diagnosis of endometriosis evolved in the face of medical disbelief. Her quest is to make doctors believe in women’s pain.

By Peter Pacik, 2010

This is an excellent book about vaginismus. The book explores possible causes of vaginismus, the history of vaginismus, and various treatment options. It is weak in that it does not outline the most common treatments for vaginismus: dilators and physical therapy. Rather, it focuses exclusively on Vaginismus Treatment Under Anesthesia, which is a last resort, but can be important for cases where dilation is unsuccessful.