Vaginismus Myth: Childbirth is a cure

[Heather34]

Hi ladies. There was a recent very inspiring and educational post where it was mentioned that several doctors had suggested that the birth of a child would cure vaginismus. Even after the birth of a child, however, the condition remained. Has anyone else reading this also been told that childbirth would cure vaginismus? Similar to the misdiagnosis of vulvodynia, clinicians and doctors who do not understand vaginismus may suggest this. Dr. P, why doesn’t childbirth cure vaginismus?

[Dr. Pacik]

This is certainly a myth. Most of my patients who have delivered children before their vaginismus was cured delivered by C-sect. Those that delivered vaginally still had vaginismus. During their delivery high anxiety remained. Nothing was done to effectively reduce the spasm related to vaginismus, so once the child was born, these women were no further ahead. It would certainly be of interest to hear from those who delivered children. Tell us about your fears and the outcome.

[Alyx]

My GYN told me this… ,mind you I’ve since gone through the botox procedure with Dr. Pacik… , but she did. Early on in my vag journey she told me that having a child could possibly cure me. She said the vaginal birth would cause my muscles to losen. At the time I thought long and hard about it…she even gave me info for a Dr. for invitro fertilization if I wanted to go that route, as in order to have a vaginal birth in the first place I’d need to be impregnated if not by intercourse due to vag then some other way. I’m soo glad this is a post because until this very second I even thought that even though I’ve had the procedure maybe I wouldn’t need to dilate anymore after having a child due to what she told me…wow… Thank you for this post, really…