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What is Vulvodynia?

Sep 3, 2024   •   
What is Vulvodynia?

My journey with Vulvodynia

Vulvodynia is the topic which continues our journey with Womens Health Week 2024. Dani shares her story with you in honesty, vulnerability and hope.

My vulva felt like it was on fire 3 months after birth so I knew something wasn’t right.

My first birth didn’t go the way I’d hoped. It did end vaginally but with the addition of forceps and an episiotomy. To this day, this has left me wondering how different life could have been had I been offered another choice. If I had been given as much information on the complications of a vaginal birth as I had a c-sections.

As someone who is prone to chronic nerve pain the idea of a c-section worried me. The thought of potentially having to endure life long nerve pain in my abdomen wasn’t a risk I really wanted to take. Despite expressing this concern to medical professionals, not once was I told that there’s also a possibility of experiencing life long nerve pain in your vulva, which I now know as Vulvodynia.

The definition of Vulvodynia is,

Vulvar pain of at least three months duration without a clear identifiable cause. Vulvodynia pain can cause pain that is severe, debilitating and devastating to the patient suffering from it

And it did just that.

Newborns and Vulvodynia

Life after Sam’s birth was one of the hardest times I’ve ever faced. My body was no longer mine. I was now in ongoing pain, managing a prolapse, postnatal depression and soon to be diagnosed with vaginismus. AND I had a newborn to care for!

Vulvodynia makes it uncomfortable to wear underwear or tight pants. Just sitting can hurt. Going to the toilet hurts. Internal examinations can be near impossible and sex is impossible.

After the trauma from the birth along with the constant feeling of everything falling out from the prolapse plus the pain from the vulvodynia, my pelvic floor was constantly in tensed state, which is known as vaginismus.

The definition of Vaginismus is ‘the involuntary tensing or contracting of muscles around the vagina’. It is when the vagina suddenly tightens up when you try to insert something into it.

Working with a Womens Health Physio

Thankfully I was under the care of a Women’s Health Physio. They are incredible humans. She talked me through using silicone dilators to help me learn to relax my pelvic floor again, which is the therapy for vaginismus. This felt awkward and overwhelming initially as I also needed to use numbing cream to cope with the pain in my vulva to even start this process.

Despite the challenges, as time went on, I learnt a great deal about my body. I learnt how to relax my pelvic floor again. And, with the help of my psychologist and anti-depressants, I am now able to lower my stress levels and calm my nervous system enough to feel like life is manageable.

As a result of this, plus time, my vulvodynia symptoms have settled enough to no longer need numbing cream! I still get flare ups when I’m stressed but it no longer sends me spiralling downwards. I have more confidence that things will settle once I can get my stress under control.

What is Vulvodynia 2

Next Steps

When it comes to Vulvodynia, I do feel like I’m one of the lucky ones though, as for many people the pain can stay heightened and it’s not a simple thing to manage. If you’ve been reading and can relate to some of these symptoms, it’s worth talking to your women’s health physio or a medical professional and asking the questions. This is a key step in figuring out your path to get relief. As I’ve said, there is help and if you want to do a deep dive into vulvodynia hit this link for a comprehensive research article.

I hope that my story helps you. Please do share as you never know who may need to read this. It is often an unspoken topic that many women carry with shame and silence.

Danielle Petrik runs Newy Fitness in Lake Macquarie, New South Wales . Learn more about Danielle and Book your Trial today.

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