If you are experiencing pain in your genitals, whether or not it's during intercourse, you may also be struggling to deal with your feelings about your body and having difficulty trusting and being open to intimacy with partners.
You are not alone.
Genital pain conditions such as vaginismus (a painful reflexive spasm in the vagina that interferes with intercourse or insertion of tampons/diaphragms/etc.) and dyspareunia (recurrent or persistent genital pain associated with intercourse - for men or women) can feel debilitating. But they are actually not as uncommon as some doctors would lead you to believe, and sometimes have physical causes. If you're having pain or any other problems down there, please make it a priority to talk to a gynecologist, urologist, or other MD who has experience assessing and diagnosing these sexual / reproductive conditions. They will let you know if it has a medical cause, and if it is, they should be able to help.
But sometimes doctors rule out a medical cause, and will suggest that you speak to a sex therapist. If you or your doctor think the pain may be related to emotional or psychological concerns, or that your condition is affecting your life negatively, we can work together to unearth the deeper cause and get you back on track to sexual health. You don't need to stay in a cycle of physical pain and negative feelings.
* Please call a doctor if there are symptoms such as bleeding, genital lesions, irregular periods, discharge, or involuntary muscle contractions. Genital conditions such as priapism, genital injury, Peyronie's, endometriosis, sexually transmitted infections, and any other problems with your genitals and reproductive system should also be primarily treated by your doctor, and may or may not be therapeutically-solvable issues.
You are not alone.
Genital pain conditions such as vaginismus (a painful reflexive spasm in the vagina that interferes with intercourse or insertion of tampons/diaphragms/etc.) and dyspareunia (recurrent or persistent genital pain associated with intercourse - for men or women) can feel debilitating. But they are actually not as uncommon as some doctors would lead you to believe, and sometimes have physical causes. If you're having pain or any other problems down there, please make it a priority to talk to a gynecologist, urologist, or other MD who has experience assessing and diagnosing these sexual / reproductive conditions. They will let you know if it has a medical cause, and if it is, they should be able to help.
But sometimes doctors rule out a medical cause, and will suggest that you speak to a sex therapist. If you or your doctor think the pain may be related to emotional or psychological concerns, or that your condition is affecting your life negatively, we can work together to unearth the deeper cause and get you back on track to sexual health. You don't need to stay in a cycle of physical pain and negative feelings.
* Please call a doctor if there are symptoms such as bleeding, genital lesions, irregular periods, discharge, or involuntary muscle contractions. Genital conditions such as priapism, genital injury, Peyronie's, endometriosis, sexually transmitted infections, and any other problems with your genitals and reproductive system should also be primarily treated by your doctor, and may or may not be therapeutically-solvable issues.
