Vaginismus Treatment

Vaginismus Treatment Turkey

In this section you will be able to find information about the vaginismus treatment methods applied in our clinic for the vaginismus treatment.

Before starting the vaginismus treatments, by making a person’s simple gynecological assessment, the diagnosis can be easily clarified.

Gynecological examinations that only last for few minutes and are absolutely painless and very easily made, will show how groundless are the fears the patients had at first place.

These gynecological examinations made at the gynecological examination chair before the treatment are extremely important. Because, as it is in the case of vaginismus problems that are not psychogenic, if the underlying problem is organic it can be fixed with a simple surgical operation. That’s why it is a must for the vaginismus patients to first of all get examined by a gynecologist!

In %90 frequency, the causes for vaginismus are psychogenic and for their treatment, most of the time, behavioral and cognitive treatment approaches are preferred in the world. Hypnotherapy (hypnosis treatment) is among the relatively new treatment methods.

Among cognitive approaches there may be methods such as informing the patient about their genital organs, showing them to her through a mirror and giving explanatory information about sexuality.

By teaching the person “Kegel exercises”, she can learn to have control over the working of the pubococcygeus muscle in her vagina. Logically, the person who controls this muscle when holding her urine or peeing, can be provided with the same control during sexual relation as well.

In most of the countries where sexuality is still full with taboos, cognitive programs should be applied to male spouses as well. Because, in this matter, men also have lack of information and these reasons might create situations that hamper sexual relations. Sexual relation is a mutual function that necessitates both men and women to come closer to each other in harmony.

Again, as certain urological problems in men can also cause vaginismus, the male spouses must always be talked with too.

If situations such as erection and premature ejaculation are encountered, the patient must first of all be taken to an urologist and ask for “urological consultation”.

After that “behavioral sex treatment methods” should be applied. Among these methods, according to the preferences of the clinics around the world, most widely used are the finger exercises and dilator sticks (dilato/fallus). It is sometimes time consuming for a person herself and in time her spouse to put their fingers into the vagina. The aim in these exercises is to enable the person to relax her pelvic muscles comfortably. Many times, even after a few sessions, a great part of the contractions cease and people increase in their self confidence.

In many clinics, such ours, in order for the person to practice, they are asked to continue their works as “home works” at home. To work the home works well is one of the most important factors that affect the time span and success of the treatment.

In people who have learned to relax well, these applications can be very easily tolerated. However, with women who have deep fears and cannot relax well, hypnotherapy (hypnosis treatment) is an exceptionally befitting treatment method. This way people can be both relaxed and inner fears be purged.

Therapies under hypnosis (hypnotherapy) lately regain their actuality and in centers like ours, are used as support to the sexual therapies. The important point here is that the person who employs hypnotherapy is a doctor who is certified and educated in sexual matters.

The treatment periods in vaginismus depend on the working system of the center and the level of the problem the patients have and can vary between a few days and a few months.

In Hera clinic with fast, painless, easy and personalized treatments, vaginismus treatments last approximately between 1 to 8 sessions and this means a treatment period of approximately 1 to 8 days for a patient that comes to treatment every day.

In vaginismus treatments, in our centers in Ankara and Istanbul, sessions are usually held every other day or every day. According to patient requests or different cases, sometimes only weekend sessions are arranged and patients are asked to exercise their home works at home during the week.

The treatments in our clinic are individual, thus group therapies are not conducted. However, patients, if they wish, can talk face to face or on the phone to other patients who are in the same condition as themselves and have completed their treatments or still continue.

In our center, for our treatments, there is no such rule as mandatory spouse involvement. However, husbands who are willing can be with their spouses during their treatment. Even though the husbands are not literally with their wives, the psychological support and motivation they provide for their spouses are one of the crucial factors that affect the success and duration of the treatment.

It is always very important to see vaginismus as a family problem and consider it as the mutual problem of a man and a woman. In this respect couples should never blame each other and especially during treatment period they should be very understanding towards each other. Vaginismus is not just your problem but it is a sexual dysfunction that is widely encountered both in our country (Turkey) and on the five continents of the world.

At our centers in Ankara and Istanbul, in our vaginismus treatments, we employ modern and scientific methods that are used all around the world. Among these are hypnotherapy, cognitive and behavioral therapies.

With our correct usage of the personalized and completely scientific treatment varieties, we have a success rate of 100% among the patients treated in our center.

The most significant factors that increase the chance of success in treatment are: to do the home works well which are given during sessions, to be determined, passionate and patient and never to lose faith in the self and the treatment up until the very end.

In obstetrics and gynecology clinics, it is very important to trust the gynecologist doctor and it greatly affects the duration and the success of the treatment. Especially if you are taking sexual therapy, it becomes much more important.

And please do not forget that, even only to decide and to start the right treatment at the right clinic is already the %50 of the cure.

Why are we different than other centers?

I.  The treatment methods employed at our center consist of completely scientific and “personalized” therapies. There cannot be a standard formula for vaginismus treatment.

II.  We are the only center that “guarantees a cure”. Our success rate for treatment at our clinic is 100%. In the last four years, we have succeeded in the treatments of all 3500 people who applied to our clinic and still continue their treatments. (Some of our patients were families who had applied to 5-6 clinics previously and had had no result)

III.  At our clinic, our patients are treated with easily applied, simple, painless, casual and scientific methods.

IV.  In “Hera Women’s Health Center”, the response rate for treatments is quite fast. Treatment durations vary approximately between 1 and 8 days. In many centers this period is between 3 and 6 months.

V.  In our center, for our treatments, there is no such rule as mandatory spouse involvement. This way, spouses do not fall behind from their jobs.

VI.  After the treatment of our patients, there is not a chance that their problems will recur. Because, behavioral treatment approaches are like to teach someone “how to ride a bike”, afterwards there are not risks such as forgetting or recurring of the problem.

Is vaginismus treatment possible in one session?

Can a child learn to run before crawl? In order for people to reach a degree certain maturity in treatment, they have to improve gradually. We do not have a “magic stick” in our hands. On the contrary the magic stick is in your hand and we can only make you work it.

In a person, sexual identity forms very early in the childhood. Vaginismus develops as a result of certain negative messages acquired since the very early ages. Because of this, it takes quiet time to wipe negative, incorrect and exaggerated prejudices about sexuality from memory and instead plant correct information. More importantly, it requires quiet a lot of patience, determination and effort.

The only exception here is the couples who have lighter vaginismus problems and cannot go into a sexual relation not because of fears but rather because they lack information. These couples, whose lack of information in sexual matters is completed with cognitive therapies in one session, can easily engage into a sexual relation. However, among all vaginismus patients, this group only makes up the 10%.

The period after vaginismus treatment

To get vaginismus treatment and to start sexual relation is a very happy and pleasing situation for couples. However, especially the first relation encounters are full of worries.

Minds are filled with questions such as “Will I be able to experience a complete relation? Will I be able to satisfy my spouse? Will I be able to take pleasure?” These kinds of worries normally push the person to the concern of “executing a sexual intercourse fully” rather than taking pleasure from the relation.

It should not be forgotten that the main aim in a sexual relation is to take pleasure, but not to get pregnant or satisfy your spouse. If the aim was just to have a child, all the couples who have children would not go into a sexual relation anymore afterwards. In this respect, for couples, after they live their first sexual experiences, fulfill a complete sexual intercourse and get rid of the pressure over them, it would positively affect their sexual satisfactions to “focus on pleasure”.

On the other hand, to get rid of fears such as “Would I lose my own control”, would prevent the person to encounter orgasm problems in the future. Thus, it cannot be expected from a woman, who does not fully relax, to take enough pleasure from a relation or attain an orgasm. The most important reason for anorgasmia, which is known as the inability to achieve an orgasm, is the fear of the person to “lose her control” when taking pleasure from the relation.

As the Hera Women’s Health Center, we advise our patients to not to get pregnant and protect themselves from pregnancy by a reliable family planning method for a 3 month period after their vaginismus treatments. During this period, with each passing day, their relations would settle and get better.

Family planning methods that can be used after the treatment can be exemplified as the usage of condoms, birth control pills and pulling back method (ejaculating outside). In some condoms, there are certain medicines that prevent premature ejaculation and these especially might work with men who encounter premature ejaculation problems.

Although in a normal pregnancy there is not a need for a restriction for sexual intercourse, as a result of nausea, bleeding, miscarriage and premature birth risks that might occur due to pregnancy, a doctor might prescribe sexual intercourse restrictions.