Contract and RELAX Your Pelvic Floor OK, you're getting there! You've had a good look with a mirror and you're starting to get to know the landscape down there. You're confident you've chosen the right position to insert the tampon. But for some reason, when you try to put it in, it just feels [...]
Lubricate the Tampon Like Crazy By nature, tampons are not the easiest things to get in the vagina. This is because they are usually made of cotton or a similar material - in order to be absorbent - which creates friction. So here's a simple way to make it easier. Get rid of the [...]
Pick the Best Time of Month to Practise Last post I mentioned that using lots of lubricant on the tampon helps when it feels like the tampon just won't go in. This may seem obvious, but most women I speak to haven't tried it. So here is a second tip that may seem obvious, but [...]
Use the Information on the Packet (But Don't Take It Too Seriously) You've had trouble inserting tampons. You didn't really know where you were going. Like the excellent TV ad, you didn't know if you were going for the "wrong hole". But now you've had a look. You used a mirror, you maybe looked [...]
Look and You Will Find When you have trouble inserting a tampon, you need a plan of action. This is the first tip in a ten part series on making tampons easier to use. I hate to state the obvious. But sometimes the simple things can be overlooked. You need to know where this [...]
A Bitter Pill to Swallow? There’s been research on the link between the birth control Pill or Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP) and vulvodynia going on for a little while. So what’s the story? Let me take you through a brief history. A study in 2008 found a 30% risk of vulvodynia in OCP-takers (a [...]
Tampons can be tricky to use. What's the solution? I'd like to help you to solve this common problem. I hear about the problem inserting tampons all the time from my patients in my practice. When tampons won't go in, no matter how you try, it can be frustrating. You would be surprised how [...]
Vaginismus, vulvodynia, vestibulodynia, vaginitis, vulvar lichen sclerosus, vaginal atrophy, vulvitis… Any of these might be names that your “painful sex” has been given, but they don’t tell you much about the root cause. Painful sex itself is medically termed “dyspareunia”- but again, if a doctor tells you that you have dyspareunia, it doesn’t leave [...]
Helping The Muscle That Is Literally A Pain In The Butt I have a dear patient who loves to express how much she despises the piriformis muscle. She continually wonders aloud at what the point of having this muscle is, and laments its existence at all. She thinks it exists purely to wreak havoc [...]
Period pain is a destructive force in many women’s lives. Time off work, pressure on relationships, stopping participation in sport and hobbies are just some of the effects…not to mention the untold suffering from the pain itself. What can you do? Many of my female clients report pain during their periods (also called dysmenorrhea) [...]
