His and Her Health

ABC's 20/20 Featured Our Dr. Andrew Goldstein, Amy Stein on a Segment on Sexual Pain, Vulvodynia

Dr. Timothy Johnson, ABC News, chief medical editor, discussed the diagnosis and treatment of sexual pain disorders with Dr. Andrew Goldstein, Director of the Center for Vulvovaginal Disorders, and Amy Stein, MPT, a New York-based physical therapist who specializes in the treatment of chronic pelvic and urogynecological pain. Dr. Goldstein is the medical director of www.ourgyn.com and Ms. Stein is a special writer to the site. Dr. Goldstein is the author of Female Sexual Pain Disorders. The TV segment also featured the stories of three women, including Christin Veasley, the National Vulvodynia Association (NVA) associate executive director. Click here for the video segment http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=8281530

Oooohh! I hope there will be a way to obtain a copy. I will be out of town that day!!

We will have something after the show.Keep watching the board and www.ourgyn.com

If you missed the ABC show on 20/20 about Women's Sexual Pain here is a link to the video.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=8281530

I noticed in watching this segment, that they mentioned that all three women had vulvar pain caused by nerve proliferation. They mentioned that one of the women got rid of her pain from using hormonal creams. So can estrogen/testosterone cream really cure pain caused by nerve proliferation?

The one woman who used the hormonal cream said she got relief from the pain not a complete cure. The other two had to have the operation.

How does one know if they would be a good candidate for the operation? I'm not asking for specifics, but would a surgeon who specializes in this procedure know, for example, who would likely respond/have success with surgery as opposed to someone who wouldn't, just by an examination? Or is it more of a trial by error with the surgery?

A specialist in Vulvovaginal Pain/Disorders would be the wise choice as they have done many operations and are experienced in diagnosing the condition.

I was rather disheartened with the segment as it made it sound like the issues that women are facing are easily treatable. Unfortunately, for some access to qualified pt/physicians is quite difficult. Some pts who say they specialize in womens health, just seem to make the condition worse. I wish there would have been more emphasis on this as well as botox not being approved to treat pfd.