Why Do I Feel Pain In Any Kind Of Vaginal Penetration?

Painful sex, vaginismus and Vulvodynia: These conditions, although much hushed by society and talked about real less, are more common than you think. "More than half of the people I see at my clinic experience painful sex and the majority of them have vaginismus," says Anita Elias.

According to the Consensus International definition of vaginismus, the persistent or recurrent difficulties of a woman to allow vaginal entry of a penis, finger or any object despite her expressed wish to do so is vaginismus. Affected women often avoid intercourse, experience involuntary pelvic muscle contraction and anticipate fear, or experience pain.

What is Vaginismus?

Vaginismus ranges from mild to extreme. If it's mild, it will bring discomfort to you while inserting a finger, penis, tampon, or other such objects into your vagina. However, if it is severe, it can become impossible for you to insert the said objects.

Why Is Vaginismus Experienced And Is It Treatable?

Dr Anita Alias explains the reason by saying, "the reason for the extreme pain is that the pelvic floor muscles that surround the vagina, tighten up or tense up."

This act is an involuntary muscle contraction.

The vagina is like a tube, not having much muscle in it but surrounded by pelvic muscles. When someone is feeling some kind of tension or is stressed out, the muscle contracts itself involuntary as a "defensive mechanism". This is healthy and normal.

However, some bodies are always in a state of tension leading to holding pressure in the pelvic floor all the time. Hence, this makes the insertion of any kind of object inside the contracted muscle surrounded vagina uncomfortable, painful or even impossible.

Alias adds another important fact, that is, this phenomenon is very common. She says, "more than half of the people I see at my clinic experience painful sex and the majority of them have vaginismus."

She also adds that vaginismus is treatable.

What Is Vulvodynia And How Is It Different From Vaginismus?

While vaginismus is the condition where the pain is experienced only while inserting an object into the vagina, Vulvodynia is the condition where pain or discomfort can be experienced even to the touch at the entrance of the vagina. However, even this condition is treatable.

"Get help from someone who knows what they are doing. Don't suffer in silence."

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