How to find out if your vagina is okay? Signs not to be overlooked

The expert's answers on what the symptoms are, both functional and visual, to know if the vulva is healthy

ROME – Everyone thinks they know enough about the vagina and yet there are so many annoyances, symptoms, pain even in sexual intercourse, when young and not only after the age of 50 , they can be the indicator of overlooked problems. While on the one hand younger girls should be the most aware, thanks to more accessible health information also via social media, only older women, faced with the problem, face it by resorting to the help of a specialist. What are the signs, both functional and visual, to know if your vagina is well?

THE SIGNS NOT TO BE NEGLECTED: FROM THE LOSS OF PEE ‘ TO THE PAIN

“From a functional point of view, the signals can be all those changes that we can detect over the course of a woman’s life. We are talking about menarche, menstruation, sexual intercourse, childbirth up to menopause”. The signals must be found in “concomitance with these important ‘passages'”, begins Nicoletta Murgia Mancini, midwife at the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome, to Dire. “It is important that the woman undergoes specific consultations. The visual signals are not so evident. By observing the vulva externally it is not possible to realize if there is something wrong unless we are faced with a proctological problem (see hemorrhoids). We need to activate greater awareness – adds the midwife – which combines on the one hand a ‘culture’ of periodic checks and on the other the idea that one must not accept for example that gynecological problem or pain. To women who suffer from urinary leakage which can occur at any age and not only after giving birth, I say: do not passively suffer what happens to your body”.

YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE BLADDERS HYPERACTIVE AND DIFFICULTY ORGASM, OVER PELVIC WEIGHT PEOPLE

“In young women – explains the obstetrician – I especially encountera problem of hypertonicity of the pelvic floor, vulvodynia, recurrent cystitis, overactive bladders or even difficulty reaching orgasm.It seems impossible but many girls really don’t know what having an orgasm is.While in more mature women in my work I encounter problems related to the sensation of pelvic weight, loss of urine or actual incontinence linked above all to stressful events (taking the stairs). , laughing or other stresses on the pelvic floor) or problems that fall within the proctological field from hemorrhoids to gas leaks or worse, stools”.

A HEALTHY VAGINA IMPROVES PENETRATION AND ENSURE PLEASURE

“A healthy and aware vagina – underlines Murgia Mancini – ensures greater pleasure for the woman because it allows you to eliminate all those factors that can lead to pain during penetration and consequently the impossibility of achieving pleasure and orgasm. But not there is only pain. Let’s think for example of the period after childbirth or after gynecological surgery with consequent scarring that changes vaginal dynamics and sensitivity. All this consequently reflects on the pelvic floor which is our source of sensitivity. This is why it is important, when necessary, to do specific rehabilitation. The problem is that the cost of rehabilitation sessions almost always falls entirely on the woman because in the NHS there are long waiting lists, sometimes lasting for years.”

WOMEN ARE ASHAMED AND TOO USED TO BEAR PAIN

“Women under 30 have a lot of difficulty talking about their problems, just as adult women feel ashamed to talk to a specialist about the urinary and/or gas incontinence that afflicts them. Both categories of women, however, are united by fact that they know little about the body: they don’t know the distinction between the vagina and the vulva and between the labia minora and the labia majora. Yet we are talking about educated women with a good social level. Sex then…’this unknown’. – says the midwife – They really don’t know where to start: they don’t know each other and for this reason they have difficulty masturbating. The reason for this lack of self-awareness is a lack of social attention to these issues and the rush that marks our days It is rare for a protocol to be activated in the treatment of girls which parallels the rehabilitation treatment for chronic pain associated with a psychological path. The fast pace at university and at work leads to neglecting the problems and making them chronic”.