What are the causes, symptoms and treatment options for Vaginismus? Jess shares resources and chats with her friend Meredith who shares her story of successfully overcoming Vaginismus.

As mentioned on this episode, check out the work of Dr. Susie Gronski and the Pelvic Mafia!

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Rough Transcript:

This is a computer-generated rough transcript, so please excuse any typos. This podcast is an informational conversation and is not a substitute for medical, health or other professional advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the services of an appropriate professional should you have individual questions or concerns.

Vaginismus: Painful Sex

00:00:05 - 00:05:00

You're listening to the sacs with Dr Jess podcast, sex, and relationship advice you can use tonight. Hey there, just so Riley here. Your friendly neighborhood sexologist. This is the sex with Dr Jess podcast. And today, we will be talking about vaginal Smith's, but first big, thank you to desire resorts in cruises for their ongoing support. They have clothing optional. Couples only paradise is on the Mayan Rivera as well as temptations resorts, which is open to people of all relationship arrangements. So singles couples threesomes and more checkout at desire experience. Vaginal. Dryness involves the sudden and painful contraction of the muscles in the vaginal area upon penetration, and this pain and contraction can be so severe that you cannot handle any degree of penetration. It's just too much. Some people describe a burning sensation that can develop as soon as you touch, and for other people, it develops as penetration is prolonged or deepened, and vaginal Smith's can be linked with, with inflammation with injury with pass trauma with hyper sensitive nerve endings near the vaginal opening and of course, with stress and psychological factors. And if you're new to sex. So if you're trying to engage in penetration for the very first time you can often. Nervous and because of those nerves your pelvic floor muscles, Ken tense up so severely that it feels as though you're hitting a brick wall, so feels like there's something blocking the entrance to the vagina. Now, this doesn't mean that something is actually blocking you from entering. But it feels like it. And when this happens in the beginning, so in your early attempts at having some sort of penetrative, sexual experience, it can be so distressful that the next time you try the same thing, happens because you tense up again or utensil even more. And what happens is you experience more of the same and it becomes a cycle and the distress itself. And the fact that this heightened by he know dealing with shame and secrecy around our bodies and sex, this can be enough to make sex or any sort of penetration. Feel imp-. Possible time and time again. And the more you experience, this distress, the more the muscles respond by contracting. So it becomes this negative feedback loop. And of course, there are many types of sex, you can have without penetration, but many people do desire, vaginal penetration. And it's not only folks who are new to penetration who experienced Baginda Smith's, I've had clients, who experienced secondary, onset, meaning they've had sex in the past they've enjoyed penetration without issue, but secondary onset might occur after trauma after surgery, with battle and bladder issues, and, and even and often with distress in their lives and distress in their relationships. And it's it's fairly common this experience, and it's,