Dr. Shantala Rudresh

When the vagina hurts and contracts involuntarily during the insertion of a foreign object, this is known as vaginismus. The muscles in the vagina tighten around the foreign object and causes pain, discomfort and a burning sensation. It is basically an involuntary spasm occurring in the vaginal muscles, which makes a penetration in the vagina almost impossible. Vaginismus works in a reflex mechanism, just like the eye shuts automatically when an object comes towards it.

Symptoms: Painful sex is the most basic symptom of vaginismus. Penetration initiates the pain, which usually goes away after withdrawal. Usually, you might think that your vagina is small because of which you are hurting on penetration. This causes the situation to go undetected. Many times, you might even feel discomfort during an internal pelvic examination or while using a tampon.

Causes: The actual cause of vaginismus is not known. Usually anxiety and the fear of having sex are stated as the causes of vaginismus. Sometimes medical causes like vaginal infections might also result in vaginismus.

Types: Vaginismus is of four different types, based on the time span of it occurring and on the object of penetration:

1. Primary vaginismus: Suffering from vaginismus throughout life it called primary vaginismus.
2. Secondary vaginismus: If you start suffering from it after having normal sex for quite some time then it is secondary vaginismus.
3. Global vaginismus: When the pain starts with any foreign object penetrating the vagina, like a tampon or with internal pelvic examination instruments.
4. Situational vaginismus: When the pain occurs with any one sex partner but not with the others.

Treatment: Vaginismus can be treated with exercise. If you do 20 kegels at a time every day, then vaginismus can be cured gradually.