Vaginismus. When the vagina has excessive self-defense.

A husband and wife who are in a long-distance relationship decided to do a pregnancy program.

They then came to a clinic to check each other’s reproductive organs. However, unpleasant things happened when the wife did the examination.

During the transvaginal ultrasound and HSG process, the wife felt excessive pain. There he knew there was an oddity in his female organs.

The wife then finds out about the problems she faced during the examination. He also discovered a condition called vaginismus.

After further examining his condition to an obstetrician, it turned out that it was true, he was diagnosed with vaginismus with a high enough severity.

This makes it difficult for him to accept penetration under any circumstances.

Instantly, the wife’s world fell apart — she felt like a less than perfect woman. What’s more, her and her husband’s desire to have a baby must be delayed.

Why did the above case happen? Check out the explanation below.

Getting to know Vaginismus

Two to three percent of women in the world experience a sexual dysfunction called vaginismus, which is a condition in which the body seems to refuse to have sex.

This condition is due to abnormal spasm of the vaginal muscles in the outer third and around the vagina. This physical reaction also occurs to any stimulation effort in the vital area.

When stimulation is done, the patient will unconsciously react by tightening the pelvic muscles, lifting the thighs, and closing the thighs as a form of resistance to attempted penetration.

There are many wrong perceptions related to the occurrence of vaginismus disorders in a person. Some of them include the size of the vagina that is too small, the thought that vaginal penetration will hurt too much, or the feeling that the body is less relaxed when penetrating.

In fact, according to dr. Robbi Asri Wicaksono, SpOG, the cause of vaginismus is still unknown, and it is not at all related to whether the sufferer is relaxed or not.

The muscles affected by vaginismus work out of the control of the owner, so that even when they are relaxed, they cannot be controlled.

Vaginismus has varying degrees of severity, and it is important to know it in order to help take action to cure the sufferer.

The first level, vaginal muscle stiffness is minimal. The patient can perform an examination after being sedated.

The second level, wider vaginal muscle stiffness. Rigidity will still appear even after the patient has been calmed and given understanding.

Third, vaginal muscle stiffness is severe. The patient tries to lift the buttocks to avoid examination.

The fourth level, the patient will pull away and close his thighs tightly to avoid penetration of any kind.

The fifth level and the most severe, there will be a general body reaction, such as heart rate levels, irregular breathing, trembling, nausea, vomiting, crying, fainting, trying to escape, and even attacking the examining doctor.

The Dangers 

As in the case above, vaginismus does not only affect the sufferer physically, but also mentally and the relationship with the partner.

Not a few couples have been married for a long time, but because their wife has vaginismus, they have never had sex at all.

This makes the wife feel guilty for not being able to meet her husband’s biological needs, especially knowing that this condition can also prevent them from having a baby.

Moreover, there are many judgments from people around who blame a lot of vaginismus sufferers with their comments that are not pleasant to hear.

Of course, if not treated immediately, these problems will cause frustration and depression in the sufferer. Women who have vaginismus tend to feel bad, and guilty about it, even though they can’t control their physical reactions.

Still Can Be Cured

Vaginismus can be cured by undergoing a dilation procedure.

Dilation is an artificial penetration process, can be done with your own fingers or with a dilator.

Not all sufferers can easily perform this procedure, depending on the severity of the vaginismus suffered.

At low levels, the patient can start practicing dilation using his fingers, but at the intermediate and high levels, dilation exercises cannot be done independently, so assisted dilation should be performed.

In addition, vaginismus sufferers also need to practice increasing courage and self-confidence because most sufferers are even afraid to look at their own vagina.

Dilation exercises are also recommended in stages, starting from inserting one finger and increasing in size to two fingers and so on. The use of lubricants will also help the process of dilating exercises.

What is no less important is getting the right support from people around you, especially from partners for married sufferers.

Sharing experiences with fellow vaginismus sufferers and getting help from the right doctor also has a big effect on the patient’s recovery.

Cultivate positive thoughts that vaginismus is not the sufferer’s fault at all, and also instill confidence in them that the condition can be cured.