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Healing the Pain
'Down There' We are a multidisciplinary team of pelvic health professionals who are dedicated to hope and healing for women with chronic genital, sexual, and pelvic pain.
And we believe we can change the way that this, often secret, female pain is understood and treated by practitioners, women, and the world. |
OUR STORY
Our story is probably very similar to your story. Though every story is unique and while we are not sure where we may be finding you in the middle of your story we believe this is the story of many women who suffer from persistent genital and sexual pain:
Chronic genital and sexual pain is misunderstood and often misdiagnosed. We understand where you have been and probably are now: Sent from one doctor to another, one specialist to another, with no answers as to why symptoms of pain, itching, burning, cramping, and clenching during genital or sexual contact continue to occur.
You may have been treated for various maladies like yeast infections, bacterial infections, STDs, ovarian cysts, and urinary tract infections but still your symptoms continue. You may have tried to internet search for answers but the most you can find are articles about insuring you lubricate properly, which you already know. Had you known words like "Pelvic Pain", "Pelvic Floor Dysfunction", "Vaginismus", or "Vestibulodynia" you would have known where to start but you don't know what those words mean or even that they existed. These experiences can leave us feeling like "it's all in our heads". Perhaps you've even been told by a practitioner it's in your head. Or you've been given other unhelpful advice like "get drunk before sex" or "we just don't know, there's plenty of room in there".
We are here to tell you that even though you feel isolated in your suffering, you are definitely not alone. In fact, The International Pelvic Pain Society, the Interstitial Cystitis Association, the National Vulvodynia Association, theEndometriosis Association, and the Institute for Women in Pain would all tell you that you are among tens of millions suffering from these disorders.
It is estimated that 12% - 21% of women will at some point in their lives experience pelvic pain problems effecting their sexual health, and these conditions affect not only sexual functioning but also psychological well-being and quality of life.*
Experiencing depression, hopelessness, anxiety, fear, loss of relationships, and suicidal thinking are all among the completely natural reactions to feeling alone in your suffering and not getting answers that make sense to you. We personally know these experiences all to well. So while talking about issues of sexual functioning can be "taboo" we need to work together to change that, so others aren't resigned to suffer in silence.
Speaking of "taboo" subjects, try bowel, bladder, and menstrual functioning. No one wants to talk about these. But they are the most common organ triggers for pelvic and genital pain disorders.
In addition, many popular sports activities can cause injury to the pelvic floor. For instance, body mechanics in common sports like gymnastics, track and field, soccer, softball, volleyball, martial arts, dance, and many others, place heavy emphasis on core strength, tight body positions and breathing from the chest instead of the abdomen. Tight and clenched stomach, buttocks, legs and chest breathing are necessary to perform many of these sports activities well. However, these body positions, when carried over into everyday tasks and living, can, over time, be harmful to the pelvic floor.
Adding to these everyday experiences in girls and young women is a significant upsurge of significant sports related injuries, traumas of pelvic surgeries, childbirth, and the continuing burden of physical, emotional and sexual abuses that unfortunately remain so common in our society.
Pain 'Down There' exists to help you connect these dots, so you can be aware of your own body's reactions to these triggers.
* From the scientific journal "Pain", 2011
Meet Our Team
Robert Echenberg, M.D.
Chronic Pelvic Pain Specialist OB-GYN |
Karen Liberi, MS, MPT, WCS
Specialized Women's Health Physical Therapist |
Stephanie Yeager, WHNC
Women's Health & Functional Nutrition Coach |
Why Pain 'Down There'?
Why call our site Pain 'Down There'? Doesn't using replacement words for the real medical terminology perpetuate ignorance and the forbidden nature of the true subject? Great question, which we've also asked ourselves and weighed carefully. Perhaps team member, Stephanie Yeager, who experienced her own long road of healing from chronic pelvic pain can describe it best:
"Even now I have to go back to the dictionary and remember the terms. I think this is part of what made it so hard to find answers other than “it must be in your head”. Because if I’d of known to search online for words like Vulvodynia I would have. But I didn’t know that term even existed. I didn’t even really comprehend the fact that “pelvic” and “pelvis” refer to actual anatomy in that area of the body and that I could have been searching for terms like “pelvic pain”. If you said “pelvis” to me back then and I would have said, "yeah - the thing Elvis shook around!”
Women like Stephanie who are searching for answers and direction online may have never heard of vaginismus, vestibulitis, or even pelvic pain. But they know exactly what Pain 'Down There' means. And our number one priority is reaching them. We think you will be pleased to find that beyond our name, we are using correct, medically accurate terminology in our instructional and educational guides.
"Even now I have to go back to the dictionary and remember the terms. I think this is part of what made it so hard to find answers other than “it must be in your head”. Because if I’d of known to search online for words like Vulvodynia I would have. But I didn’t know that term even existed. I didn’t even really comprehend the fact that “pelvic” and “pelvis” refer to actual anatomy in that area of the body and that I could have been searching for terms like “pelvic pain”. If you said “pelvis” to me back then and I would have said, "yeah - the thing Elvis shook around!”
Women like Stephanie who are searching for answers and direction online may have never heard of vaginismus, vestibulitis, or even pelvic pain. But they know exactly what Pain 'Down There' means. And our number one priority is reaching them. We think you will be pleased to find that beyond our name, we are using correct, medically accurate terminology in our instructional and educational guides.