Dyspareunia

Dyspareunia

Dyspareunia

Sometimes physical responses occur, but women do not notice them. In genital arousal disorder (a type of sexual arousal disorder), stimulation that does not involve the genitals (such as watching an erotic video) makes women feel aroused, but when the genitals are stimulated (including during intercourse), women are unaware of any physical responses or physical pleasure. As a result, genital stimulation and sexual intercourse are unrewarding and possibly difficult and painful.

The connection between dyspareunia and vaginismus

There are many causes of sexual pain (dyspareunia) and vaginismus is one of these. Vaginismus is uniquely characterized by involuntary tightness of the vagina due to the pubococcygeus (PC) muscles. With attempts at intercourse, vaginal tightness may cause sexual discomfort, sensations of burning, tightness, pain, or inability to penetrate.

Vaginismus is also closely related to any of the other forms of dyspareunia in that any type of general sex pain may trigger vaginismus. In these cases, vaginismus becomes a complicating discomfort or pain condition in addition to the original pain problem and typically remains even after the original problem is resolved or managed. A woman may, in fact, confuse the ongoing problems of vaginismus with the original pain problem, believing that the original problem is still unresolved.

“With any kind of sexual pain that is ongoing and seems to have no physical cause, vaginismus should be considered as a possible contributor or perhaps the primary cause.”

Diagnosis

treating sexual pain can become quite difficult when there are overlapping complications from vaginismus. It can be frustrating for both physicians and patients. Take, for example, a woman who experienced a temporary infection (one form of dyspareunia) that triggered vaginismus. Perhaps by the time a visit is made to a physician, the infection had resolved itself but the vaginismus remains. When the physician attempts to discover the source of the pain, there may seem to be no physical cause evident, since the patient continues to experience pain from vaginismus and no longer from the original infection. Moreover, the woman’s description of the pain may seem confusing since there were really two separate pain-causing issues at different times.