What is Vaginismus?

Vaginismus is essentially a muscle spasm that occurs in the outer part of the vagina.

When the spasm is slight, penetration might still be possible with a struggle, but this will be painful for the woman and can injure her if force is used.

If it is a stronger spasm, it can tighten the vagina so intensely that penetration is impossible. Sometimes not even a finger or tampon can be inserted, and a gynecologist will be unable to undertake a pelvic exam on such a patient without an anaesthetic. All this is totally uncontrolled by the woman.

The spasm can be brought on by physical or psychological triggers, but after it exists for a while it tends to become a combination of the two. Starting to tackle it involves delving into the reasons it exists. This may be due to an abusive or tormenting episode in the recent or distant past, or because of profound feelings of discomfort with sex that aren't necessarily aligned with your conscious beliefs about how you would like to behave sexually. It may also be the result of pain caused by surgery or circumstantial sexual pain. Basically, pain leads to fear and fear leads to pain, and the cycle becomes well entrenched in the muscles, even if the heart and the mind want to be able to enjoy sex.

The consequences of vaginismus can be painful, frustrating and disastrous to a relationship, if they are not dealt with. Lucky for us, today vaginismus is coming out of the closet, getting better acknowledgement and understanding, and treatment is available. The more we study it, the more we discover how common it is.