It’s been five years since the scene, which makes Ritika Sohni agreeable to concede, “I had no clue where the vagina was situated in my body.” Sex is traumatic for some women.
At the time, Sohni was 33, and recently wedded. In the wake of neglecting to consummate her marriage for six months, she chose to counsel a gynecologist, who embedded a vaginal speculum inside her. This burst her hymen, bringing on slight dying. Be that as it may, the torment’s memory she encountered put her off sex. Every time, the couple got cozy, Sohni would clasp up in trepidation, declining to give her a chance to spouse enter her.
“Another gynecologist we counseled exhorted my spouse to slap me in the event that I didn’t participate. Luckily, he wasn’t happy with the guidance. It was when examining online that I understood I was experiencing Vaginusmus,” she says.
The condition alludes to the automatic snugness of the vagina amid endeavored intercourse brought on by compression of the pelvic floor muscles. Once in a while, it can prompt agony, smoldering or stinging amid sex, making intercourse unthinkable.
Dyspareunia, say specialists, is the umbrella term used to allude to any sort of torment amid infiltration, intercourse, and/or taking after intercourse.
“It’s often that women have no clue why they are unsuccessful in bed,” says Dr Rajan Bhonsle, HOD of the Department of Sexual Medicine at Parel’s KEM Hospital. In a large number of cases, he says, the fear of pain is psychological. “It’s possible that she may have suffered abuse as a child, or was told by a friend that sex is painful. For various reasons, she associates the idea of penetration with trauma,” he adds.
Treatment in such cases, Bhonsle adds, involves counselling the couple so that they are able to trace the root of the fear. “We get them to try exercises that help them get intimate at a leisurely pace, and comfortable with each other’s bodies rather than plunging straight into intercourse.”
Sometimes, the woman is asked to self-dilate her vagina using dilators or inserting her own fingers which helps her realise that the process needn’t be painful.
“Awareness is low. Several couples have to be made to understand that the vagina is capable of expanding enough to allow a child to pass through, so, entry during sex isn’t a problem,” says Mirror sex columnist Dr Mahinder Watsa. He adds that in a large number of cases, insufficient foreplay can lead to discomfort. “Women take longer to get aroused. If the vagina is dry, penetration is bound to cause pain,” he adds.
Nine out of 10 cases of Dyspareunia, says Bhonsle, can be attributed to dryness. Applying an anaesthetic gel — 15 minutes prior to the act and wiping off the excess — or using a lubricating gel can provide temporary relief.