A personal journey and testimonial from one of my patients:
“I was diagnosed with vaginismus 4 years ago. I never heard of such medical condition until after I got married. At first my husband and I didn’t know what to do, we didn’t know what the issues were or how to overcome it. Being born and raised in Armenia and being Christian I wasn’t that open about talking to sex with others and so it wasn’t easy to seek help. But eventually I went to an Ob-Gyn and luckily she knew about the medical condition (not many doctors know). She referred me to a physical therapist and I couldn’t believe it and thought it’s something I can handle myself. I ordered a kit from vaginismus.com and started practicing with dilators. There was some small progress but wasn’t much helpful.
Luckily, my husband has been very caring and supportive and my medical condition didn’t affect our relationship. However, it did affect me greatly. I lost my confidence as a woman, as a professional and entered a state of mind where I believe I’m worthless and not good for anything.
“Not being able to give and take love, to share intimacy with a loved one can hurt a lot more than anything else. Constant depression, stress and all that affected me deeply and I didn’t find the strength to look for help. So we decided to live like that.
“About a year ago I found a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic floor muscles. I went to see her for about 3 months, 3 times a week. We made a huge progress. I overcame the fear and was able to have sex. However it was still painful. And so I didn’t have much desire for sex. This progress was encouraging and I put my acts together thinking there is a cure. I also found Joyce and Cliff Penner, who specialize in Vaginismus. However, they, like most of these type of specialist, don’t take insurance and the treatment can be very expensive. So I couldn’t afford a treatment with them. One day I received an email from them inviting us to join a Vaginismus support group. My husband and I went and we met with other couples who had the same issue. We felt we were not alone and there were other couples struggling with the same problem as we did.
The best part of the meeting was we met with Heather. The first thing I asked was if she takes insurance or no and luckily she does have such options. So I decided to go to her for a treatment. When I first went to her I thought all I needed is to somehow increase my sexual desire, however after a few sessions I realized that sex can actually be painfree! This is something I couldn’t even dream of. I saw her for 5 sessions only and I am absolutely pain free! She did some magic and after only 5 sessions and extensive practicing at home I was able to enjoy sex. With time I noticed my desire increases, too. I can’t say enough thank you to Heather for bringing me back to life and making me believe that this is just a muscle and all it needs is some physical therapy. As someone who tried another therapist and has someone to compare Heather with I can tell she is the best choice for treating vaginismus. She knows what she is doing, she is very friendly and cares about the patients. Over these 5 sessions I felt like I was going to see a friend and not a therapist. Not everyone can understand our situation and show the care we needed. But Heather does and so I would highly recommend her!” – M.N., age 28
