Hi ladies. There is an excellent new blog posted today concerning the importance of distinguishing vestibulodynia from vaginismus.
Excerpts include:
“Women are often told that vestibulodynia is what causes the pain on attempted penetration when the real culprit is vaginismus and associated vaginal spasm.”
One of my patients writes:
“I self-diagnosed that I had vaginismus. I never considered myself to have vulvodynia or vestibulodynia, but I can see how my doctor could misinterpret this pain during a GYN exam because of my high level of anxiety. I mentioned vaginismus to my doctor and she thought I was talking about vulvodynia or vestibulodynia and seemed unaware of vaginismus.”
“Distinguishing vaginismus from vestibulodynia is very important because Botox is effective for both conditions, but one needs to know where it is best to inject this drug. In vaginismus, the entry muscle is usually noted to be in spasm under anesthesia and it is the vaginal muscles that are injected. In vestibulodynia, the vestibule is injected.”
“Dr. Pacik continues to have in excess of 90% cure rate using Botox for vaginismus and has noted that associated vestibulodynia disappears, as the patient is able to achieve intercourse.”
Ladies, I believe this is a very important thread. Were you ever misdiagnosed with vulvodynia or vestibulodynia when you, in fact, had vaginismus?
