First Gyno appointment and left underwhelmed and confused
I’m a 22F and I think I have vaginismus. My issue with penetration and my failures attempting penetration began with me wanting to explore tampons and menstrual cups. However, when I did try, I was met with this excruciating pain and my body would freeze up. I’ve tried mostly everything from trying to inset a tampon sitting down or standing up, no success. I’ve tried lubricants, stretches meant to relax the pelvis, and dialators, nothing has helped even a little bit. That was when I searched my symptoms up and found out about vaginismus. However, I didn’t want to self diagnose without definitive proof so I decided to go to a Gynecologist just to a professional medical opinion.
I had my appointment a few days ago and after I opened up about my experiences with unsuccessful insertion and my painful attempts , my gyno told me that the only way she would be able to diagnose me was to do an internal exam under anesthesia. If I was successful with insertion under anasthesia, then it would rule out that I have vaginismus.
Now I’m not a doctor nor do I claim to be above one, I’m just unsure on how insertion under anesthesia is going to prove that I do/don’t have it. My main issue is the pain and the reaction my body has when I’m conscious. I want to know/figure out why I can’t fit anything near my vaginal opening. What if they succeed penetration when I’m unconscious under anesthesia and they’re like “well, successfully penetrated, definitely not vaginismus!”. Penetration unconscious doesn’t mean I’ll have a comfortable insertion while conscious. I asked about any alternatives and even if she could do an external exam just in case it was a hymen or other deformity of my bum a abd I was told the only solution was an internal pelvis exam under anesthesia. I think the part that hurt me the most was when I told her I can’t even achieve penetration with a q-tip, and she said “if you can’t even put a q-tip in, how do you even expect me to help you?” and that if penetration is so impossible for me, there’s nothing she could do for me.
I just left feeling a little broken and confused? I feel like this is an issue I can’t fix, even with medical help. I think I’ll reschedule another one after I succeed with a q-tip, so maybe then, an external exam while conscious won’t be painful. I have seen some redditors on this sub say that they have had success with an exam under anesthesia so idk if I should just suck it up and go through with it. At least I’ll get an answer.
I think I just hoped to gain some clarification, but I’m just more confused. If anyone has any advice on what I should do, I would love to hear it