If you have refrained from sexual intercourse for a while and are now experiencing pain when you and your partner make love, then you may be suffering from a common gynecological problem known as vaginismus. Vaginismus can cause your vagina to feel too small for your partner and will cause you to have pain after you have been intimate. The good news is that vaginismus can be successfully treated without medications or surgery of any kind.

Below is some information on this painful condition and how your gynecologist can help you solve this problem once and for all:

The Basics of Vaginismus

Vaginismus is an involuntary tightening up of the muscles at the entrance to the vagina. When these muscles are tightened, they are not welcoming to your sexual partner and give you the illusion that your vagina is too small for your partner's penis to enter. In reality, the vagina is designed to allow for childbirth and will accommodate a penis of any size. However, it is vital that the muscles at the vaginal opening are relaxed, otherwise you will experience pain and possible tearing of your vaginal tissues when your partner attempts to enter you with his penis.

The Cause of Vaginismus

Vaginismus is caused by many different things and can strike a woman at any time in her life. Some of the most common causes of vaginismus are:

• previous sexual assault
• abstinence from sexual activity for a long period of time
• previous vaginal medical problems

While vaginismus is both a mental and physical condition, the good news is that it is very responsive to the therapies that have been developed to treat it.

How Vaginismus is Treated

There are two aspects of treating vaginismus:

• physical relaxation of the vaginal muscles
• mental relaxation to avoid tensing up the vaginal muscles

Your gynecologist can teach you simple exercises that you can use to force your vaginal muscles to relax during sexual intercourse. If your vagina needs to be physically stretched because of a long absence from sexual contact, then a gynecologist, like those at Ogeechee OB-GYN, can prescribe a dilation therapy regimen for you. Dilation therapy uses small plastic devices that you insert into your vagina to help widen it and expand the muscle tissue if necessary.

If your vaginismus is caused by a fear of penetration or memories of a past sexual assault, then your gynecologist will refer you to a mental health professional for therapy.