Something else? Ask Aunt Vadge – bottom left of your screen!
Can food irritate the vagina? Gluten and allergies
Wheat allergy, coeliac disease, gluten, sugar and oxalates can all drive vulvovaginal symptoms. How to tell food reactions apart.
Vaginal bromocriptine for adenomyosis: a pilot trial
A small trial of vaginal bromocriptine eased period pain and heavy bleeding in adenomyosis – a rare non-contraceptive lead for an under-served condition.
Clitorodynia – clitoral pain disorder
Clitorodynia, a form of severe clitoral pain, can arise from various causes such as keratin pearls or nerve impingements.
Understanding and treating keratin pearls
Keratin pearls, tiny irritants formed by keratin and squamous cells, can cause significant clitoral pain.
Aunt Vadge: I’m nearly postmenopausal and my vagina hurts – what’s happening?
Painful sex near menopause? It could be vaginal dryness (GSM), vulvodynia, or both - how to tell them apart, what helps, and why vaginal oestrogen is gold standard.
Understanding and treating smegmatic pseudocysts
What a smegmatic pseudocyst is, why smegma gets trapped under the clitoral hood, how it's told apart from a true cyst, and how it's treated.
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)
MCAS is a condition whereby the histamine-producing mast cells across the body are activated, with very uncomfortable results.
Sexual pain study needs postmenopausal participants!
A study is seeking participants for a study on herbal medicine, a green tea extract, to eliminate sexual pain.
Sexual pain: what getting help looks like
When you have chronic sexual pain, getting help can feel hard, humiliating and endless. We've mapped out what getting help looks like.
Oxalates and vulvodynia
Oxalates are normal and natural, but if too many of them are making their way to the kidney and bowel, oxalates can affect the vagina.
Aunt Vadge: my new girlfriend has major pain when I touch her vaginal entrance. Why?
Your girlfriend has pain at the vaginal entrance but not the clitoris? It's usually protective tensing in someone new to sex - but here's the nuance worth knowing.
Aunt Vadge: inserting a tampon gives me unbearable pain
Can't insert a tampon, and sex is impossible from pain? It's likely vaginismus - not a structural fault but a retrainable reflex. The hopeful, self-directed path.
Aunt Vadge: my boyfriend was rough on my clit, now it’s swollen
Clitoris swollen and sore after rough rubbing during sex? It's irritation of the engorged tissue and it heals fast. How to soothe it, and prevent a repeat.
Aunt Vadge: pains in clitoris, vagina and labia after rough sex three months ago
Burning vulval and sharp clitoral pain months after rough sex? The tissue has healed - this is likely sensitised pain, which is treatable. Who helps, and how.
Aunt Vadge: is it normal to be sore when I pee after sex?
Sore to pee for a few days after sex, plus trouble getting wet or climaxing a month into sex? It's usually friction from going in too dry. How to fix it.
Aunt Vadge: chronic constipation, vaginal rash and painful sex
Chronic constipation, heartburn and a recurring vaginal rash with painful sex? They're likely one problem via the gut-vagina axis, not three. A joined-up plan.
Aunt Vadge: why is my vagina always dry?
Always-dry vagina that started before menopause? Low oestrogen may be part of it, but that clue matters - think Sjogren's, medications or blood flow too. The fixes.
Aunt Vadge: sex really hurts – why?
First-time sex unbearably painful, won't go in, and the lube burns? Usually it's arousal - but if you're aroused and it still won't, that's vaginismus, and it's treatable.
Aunt Vadge: I have deep vaginal pain during and after sex
Deep, crampy pain during and after sex? It's deep dyspareunia - often a bumped cervix or tight pelvic floor (both fixable). But take the endometriosis flag seriously.
Understanding pain receptors in vulvodynia that cause burning pain – the C fibre
There are certain pain fibres that cause the slow, long, burning pain of vulvodynia. Understanding a these fibres can shed some light on vulvodynia.