Vulvodynia, what it is and how it is treated the disease that Giorgia Soleri also suffers from

“I don’t even know how many things I lost because of my pain. Dozens of specialists saw me, I was hospitalized in dozens of hospitals. I passed out on the street. All of this lasted 8 long years until two years ago this pain finally took a name and materialized for everyone. For me it has always been concrete … only the name was invisible: vulvodynia“.

The words spoken by Giorgia Soleriduring the last episode of Toned, the late musical show broadcast on Tuesday in the late evening on Rai Due. The presenter Andrea Delogu he wanted to invite the model and influencer to talk about her illness on TV for the first time and shed light on a pathology not yet adequately known.

«For many, the moment of diagnosis it’s a sentence, for me it was a liberation because it also means being able to receive therapy. I don’t know if I’ll ever get well, but one thing is certain: a monster is less scary when you look it in the face. Tonight I’m here and put my pain at anyone’s mercy just to clamor for a right: social, political, medical and economic recognition of a still underestimated but extremely disabling disease such as vulvodynia ».

An appeal then to the institutions, a battle she witnessed – together with her boyfriend Damiano Davidfrontman of the Maneskinwhich has repeatedly raised public awareness on the subject – to give a voice to all those women who suffer from this pathology.

According to official data, in fact, 12-15% of the female population suffers from it, but vulvodynia is actually a much more frequent pathological condition, difficult to estimate due to a series of factors related to the difficulty of women to speak about the symptoms, due to modesty and excessive self-judgment; for a little knowledge of the pathology even in the medical field which results in an objective complexity for women to land in the hands of the right specialists, competent in providing a correct diagnosis and then a resolutive therapy.

Burning, itching, impossibility of sexual life are some of the main ones symptoms with which vulvodynia occurs, a painful condition that affects the female external genitalia, which can afflict the woman for a variable time, often persisting for months or years, with chronic pain determining an important psychological impact on relationships, habits, emotions and daily life.

“In women affected by a diagnosis of vulvodynia it is also essential to analyze psychological and relational aspects within the diagnostic and therapeutic process – commented the doctor Paola Zucchipsychologist and psychotherapist of the medical center Santagostinonetwork of specialized clinics, based throughout Northern Italy – From this point of view it is important to take into consideration the personal life story of the woman (even prior to diagnosis), the impact of symptoms on the quality of life, on the emotional experience, on one’s self-esteem, on the sexual sphere and in the couple relationship to define a specific space of acceptance, sharing and expression of these emotional experiences as part integral to the therapy “.

Without correlation to a specific cause, but often linked to one persistent inflammatory component, diagnosing the disease requires specific gynecological skills and a specialization in this pathology that not all professionals have. Here the diagnosis is delayed and the pain continues to manifest itself.

«To arrive at an early diagnosis it is essential to turn to specialized gynecologists in this context, they can prescribe the most appropriate pharmacological therapy for pain and refer the patient to other specialists according to a multidisciplinary approach which will allow you to collaborate with any muscle relaxation therapy and with psychotherapy where necessary “, adds the doctor Chiara Stefanisurgeon specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics at Santagostino.