When was the last time you heard someone say they're avoiding something because of pain in their vulva or vagina? Unless you're a healthcare provider, the answer is probably: never. But vulvar and vaginal pain can be just as paralyzing as headaches or back pain. The difference? Most people who suffer from it don't talk about it, not even with their closest friends. They suffer quietly. Shamefully. Part of it is because the vulva and the vagina are still a taboo. You just don'

In previous articles The Yellow Emperor’s New Clothes part 1 and part 2 we discussed problematic aspects of the acupuncture point CV1 including, ethical questions, practitioner-patient relationship and definition of the treatment environment that would best contribute to healing processes. The reason for the necessity of this discussion is of course the location of the point which demands that the patient reveal themselves in an extremely intimate and potentially vulnerable

Jessica¹, a pregnant woman in her 30’s came to my clinic this summer. she had always suffered from pain during sexual intercourse, yet the first time she heard the word “Vulvodynia” was in her mid-pregnancy from her doula. It was the first time after years of bad sexual experiences, unable to understand her girlfriend’s stories of pleasure, whose advice and attempts to help didn’t work for her pain. During those years Jessica saw many gynecologists for routine examinations th

Almost two years have passed since I moved to the Netherlands and here too already most of my patients suffer from vulvodynia, well, I can't avoid making comparisons. I’ve learned quickly that the Dutch love protocols, in every field. In the medical field, as under the oath, the approach is to first let the body recover on its own with as little invasive help as possible, so occasionally serious diagnoses are being missed, but statistically it works, and in the case of vulvod