Advice | When sex is just too painful

Seven years into her marriage, sex still wasn’t getting any easier. Instead of it being a wonderful and intimate experience, it was painful and difficult. As much as she tried, she just couldn’t relax and enjoy it. 

The emotional and physical torment of vaginismus is real, says Anneri Nielsen of Somerset West, near Cape Town, and she believes it contributed to the breakdown of her marriage.

Vaginismus is a condition where the muscles of the vagina involuntarily spasm, making penetrative sex extremely painful or even impossible. It’s a condition that shows just how strong the connection is between mind and body.