WELCOME

Edit: I WAS CURED AFTER 22 YEARS! I had a vestibulectomy Dec. 2016. The recovery was easier for me than having sex ever was. It took about 5 weeks. I have included my recovery photos. Look for the blogpost "I'm Cured!" and "My Vestibulectomy".

I’m a great woman with a pissed-off vulva. I have “primary vestibulitis." Most people are uncomfortable discussing their genital pain in public. My hope is that my obsession to find help for myself will make your experience shorter, easier, and less painful. P.S. Recently "vestibulitis" has been renamed to "vestibulodynia."


My Biofeedback Machine

I wanted to show you the biofeedback machine that I rented. It is called U-Control Incontinence Trainer. It comes with either vaginal/anal or electrode sensors. I understand that using the vaginal/anal sensor gives a better EMG reading for the pelvic floor. I chose to get the electrode sensors, however, because I have other tight muscles and I figured I could multi-task on my rental. The three links attached will help fill you in on the details. The youtube video does a good job and gives you the information on how to use it and where to get the equipment. A youtube video shows the vaginal/anal sensor. If you use the electrode sensors, you place the yellow and blue connectors to the immediate right and left of your anus. The black connector goes on a bony part of your body like your iliac crest, aka hip bone, and is the ground. There are two sensitivity settings: x1 and x3. The x1 is more sensitive and probably what you want to eventually work with, but x3 also will read the electrical conductivity of your pelvic floor muscles. You may be able to get to the lowest reading (I rarely did), but feel good about just going lower into the A, B, and C range (you can see this on the photo below at the bottom of the unit). It means my nerves were pretty calm.

Overview

I used this for 3 months and now can get to a relaxed state in about 2 minutes. I also learned what sitting and lying positions help relax my pelvic floor.

You can buy or rent this equipment. I rented for 3 months from the company listed on the unit. I made sure my doctor's prescription had "incontinence" on it as one of the symptoms to treat as it is part of the name of the machine proper "U-Control Incontinence Trainer". I have a P.T.'s recommendation, a doctor's prescription, and a good PPO plan and the reimbursement went through. I can't remember how much I paid out of pocket. The company offered to put my rental cost towards a purchase of the machine. I declined, but hope that was the right choice...

Update Nov. 26, 2015
I'm thinking of doing this again, this time as a purchase. To that end, the best price I found online for purchasing this is at http://www.lifematters.com/u_control.asp 

U-Control™ Home Continence Trainer
1 Channel of sEMG
Price $334

Then you add: T3425: UniGel Pre-Gelled Single Electrodes. Package of 100 for $35 (each electrode lasts a while); or the T6050: vaginal sensor for $50, and the cable.




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