Vulvodynia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

I have suffered with vulvodynia for nearly 4 and a half years, since I was 17. After going down many possible causes and treatments I feel I have finally found the answer to my pain.

I went to see a pyscho-sexual counsellor who was focused on the possible psychological causes of my pain and after many visits we came to the conclusion that perhaps my pain could be linked to my OCD. She felt that because I have the tendancy to obsess over certian things (at the moment that can be unpleasant thoughts, cleanliness, constant worrying and stress etc but in the past my OCD manifested itself in anorexia) that perhaps I am anxious about the pain and, subconsciously, it is another way for my OCD to manifest itself.

I did have some success with my pain - my partner could insert his fingers in me, without any pain at all, for the first time in 4 years. But then after that I became scared the pain would come back and so have been too afraid to try again, and when I did try again it hurt. I feel that this proves that my pain can be overcome, and my counsellor feels that the anxiety of it hurting again shows that it is my OCD that it causing the pain (whatever the origional cause - I wonder now if I was slightly dry as I had just gone on the pill and so didn't have the lubrication of condoms, which may have caused some discomfort that I then became worried about which in turn made my muscles tense and the problem got worse).

I am now working on letting go of my anxieties and hope that this will help my sexual pain.


I hope this is of help to some of you.

Hi Sapphire

Your story is very interesting to me. I have OCD I obssess about a lot of things and worry myself to death about anything and everything. I have ocd about cleanliness and food mainly. I freak out if things arnt clean and I dont eat any meat or any fast food. I had the fear about sex when I was younger and I was convinced it would hurt. I also feel like that bout a smear test. Maybe my ocd is linked. Let me know how you get on I would be very interested to know.

Hi Kate,

It does sound like it could be linked, perhaps you could ask to see a psychosexual counsellor too? Have you had all the tests and ruled out various medical conditions from your doctor?

Hi Sapphire

Yeah ive been tested for all std's 3 times including herpes, ive had an ultrasound and an mri. All that was found was a blood filled cyst on my ovary and the gyno said that wouldnt cause the pain. Im totally confused with it all. I think councelling would really help me as at the moment im so down. Are you in uk?

Yeah counselling is such a good idea, even if it isn't linked to your OCD the emotional effects of the problem are something that can be helped by talking it through with someone. Yeah I am in the UK, are you? If you just ask your GP about seeing a pyscho-sexual counsellor they should be able to help you. I think there are different types though, the one I am seeing is a consultant.

Right now all I am doing is using my inserters (do you have these?) and just trying to let go of my anxieties and hoping that this will eventually produce good results.

This is actually a bit of a relief, I just penned a really long post about anxiety and vulvodynia so this seems to fit my symptoms as well since my pain usually coincides with anxieties of various types.

Oh I just replied to your post! I really would recommend seeing a psycho-sexual counsellor. And focus on trying to let go of your anxieties. My counsellor says she doesn't recommend doing specific things to help with letting go of anxieties as this can be something else my brain becomes obsessive about, but she did say that on the other hand, things like meditation and yoga can really help. I had hypnothearapy which helped too.

I still suffer with pain, but when I use my dialators properly and listen to my hypnotheapray tapes I do feel better and I feel that if I did this more then my pain would eventaully go. Basically, I think that letting go of my anxieties is the key to letting go of my sexual pain...and I hope I am right!

I hope this has helped you in some way.