Shows
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic PainSex Therapist on Pelvic Pain and Trauma: When the Pain Itself Becomes the TraumaWhat happens when pelvic pain improves, but your body still expects sex to hurt?I'm joined by Romi Terk Brudno, a sex therapist specializing in pelvic pain and painful sex.Drawing on her own experience of ulcerative colitis and painful sex, Romi explores avoidance, feeling "broken," and the gap between progress in pelvic floor PT and feeling safe during intimacy. We discuss trauma-like responses to pain, sexual motivation, and how diagnostic labels and research gaps can shape access to care.For anyone whose pain has improved but who still feels on guard, or...
2026-10-1247 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain48: Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause: Why You Can Have It In Your 20s & 30sWhy do the tissue changes we link to menopause also show up in women on the pill, breastfeeding, or in their twenties?I'm joined by Dr. Sameena Rahman, OB-GYN and sexual medicine specialist, founder of the GSM Collective in Chicago and ISSWSH scientific committee chair.We unpack genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), why the same hormonal mechanism drives vestibulodynia in younger women on birth control or spironolactone, and how vaginal estrogen, vaginal DHEA and estradiol-testosterone cream are used. We also cover the removed boxed warning on estrogen, why under 5% of women are offered a treatment...
2026-10-0559 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain47. Vulvodynia & Gut Health: Exploring the Vaginal Microbiome ConnectionIn this episode, I sit down with Dr. Christina Enzmann, a board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine practitioner specializing in vulvovaginal disorders, to explore how gut health and the vaginal microbiome connect to persistent vulvar and pelvic pain.We cover the everyday products that disrupt the vaginal barrier, why pain can persist after repeated yeast and BV treatments, how endometriosis and gut inflammation may be linked, which tests are worth doing, and when probiotics can backfire.Sponsors:- The Pelvic People, makers of the Ohnut and the Kiwi. 15% off with code TWTC15 at thepelvicpeople...
2026-09-281h 21
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain46. Pelvic Floor Botox: My Experience & Why My Physio Told Me to Do LessIn this solo episode I catch you up on my own treatment. I talk you through what pelvic floor Botox was actually like at a specialist vulvar clinic in Oslo, why my new physio's homework for the whole summer was to lovingly touch my thighs, and what that taught me about anticipating pain and turning even rest into something to achieve. I also explain the TTNS machine I'm using, which puts electrodes on my ankle to target pelvic pain.We've now passed 10,000 listeners a month, so I share what I'd love to build next for this community...
2026-09-2233 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain45. Postpartum Pelvic Pain: Why Sex Hurts After Birth And What Actually HelpsYou had a baby, and months later something still hurts. Sex, sitting, the scar. And you've been told this is just what happens now.If that's you, this conversation is for you. I'm joined by Dr. Alexandra Dubinskaya, a urogynecologist and sexual medicine specialist in Beverly Hills. She chairs the communication committee at the International Society for Sexual Medicine and wrote the vulvodynia chapter in Taking Care of You. Much of her work is with women who come to her months or years after giving birth, still in pain, told there was nothing wrong...
2026-09-1527 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain44. Neurodivergence and Pelvic Pain: What ADHD and Autism Change in the Exam RoomStephanie Berman has lived with vulvar pain since 2011. She spent eleven years being dismissed, misdiagnosed and told to be patient, and the referral that finally moved her forward came from an Instagram DM she sent to Dr. Corey Babb. She is also the founder of the Aziza Project, a nonprofit that pays for women in pelvic pain to physically get to the care they need.We cover her full story, and then something I have never covered on this show: what it actually takes to advocate for yourself in a clinical room when you...
2026-09-1154 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic PainNeurodivergence and Pelvic Pain: What ADHD and Autism Change in the Exam RoomStephanie Berman has lived with vulvar pain since 2011. She spent eleven years being dismissed, misdiagnosed and told to be patient, and the referral that finally moved her forward came from an Instagram DM she sent to Dr. Corey Babb. She is also the founder of the Aziza Project, a nonprofit that pays for women in pelvic pain to physically get to the care they need.We cover her full story, and then something I have never covered on this show: what it actually takes to advocate for yourself in a clinical room when you are...
2026-09-0854 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain43. Vulvodynia Medications: Why Nothing Has Worked, and Every Option That Actually MightVulvodynia just means pain in the vulva. It is not a diagnosis - and Dr. Maria Uloko argues that is why treatment so often fails.Maria is a urologist trained in comprehensive sexual health, one of seven in the world doing this work. We go type by type: what causes each one, what treats it, who it will not help.SPONSORSPelva: the HydroSlix liner, a cushioning insert for more comfort during insertion. pelva.com, code TWTC10 for 10% off your first order.Origin: the largest in-network pelvic floor PT provider in...
2026-08-311h 18
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain42. Supporting a Partner With Vaginismus or Painful Sex: What It Feels Like and How You Can HelpThis episode started with an email from a listener: a man in his twenties whose girlfriend has lived with vaginismus and pelvic pain for years. He wanted to know how to be a good partner to someone going through this.So this one is for the partners. I talk about what this can feel like from the inside, why she might pull away when you touch her and why that is not a verdict on you, and how the two of you can become a team around this instead of letting it come between...
2026-08-2435 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain41. Vestibulectomy on Screen: Bonnie Gross on Lady Parts and Her Second SurgeryIf you are googling vestibulectomy recovery at 2am, this one is for you.Bonnie Gross has had the surgery twice, ten years apart, and she is unusually good at describing it - she wrote and executive produced Lady Parts, the award-winning comedy based on the first one. We recorded this four weeks after her second.Most of this conversation is the practical side she could not fit in the film: the pre-surgery shopping list, the recovery timeline week by week, the insurance denial, the graft taken from inside her...
2026-08-171h 07
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain40. The Only Episode You Need to Understand Pelvic Floor Strength, Tightness and KegelsWhat does it actually mean to have a strong pelvic floor - and is strong even the right thing to chase?Kimberlee Sullivan is a board-certified women's health physical therapist and Head of Clinics at Origin, where she leads nationwide clinical strategy. She has spent over twenty years in pelvic floor PT and founded her own Austin clinic, Sullivan Physical Therapy, in 2005.We cover the difference between strong and healthy, what the 0 to 5 strength score does and does not measure, why tight is not the same as strong, and...
2026-08-1051 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain39. Pelvic Venous Disorders and May-Thurner Syndrome: One Woman's Pelvic Pain DiagnosisOlivia lived with chronic pelvic pain for years - a constant dull, dragging ache on her left side that worsened when she sat or bent down - while doctors dismissed her fatigue and brain fog as just being a tired mother. What finally explained it wasn't the vascular surgeon who wanted to remove a vein in her leg. It was an interventional radiologist who suspected pelvic congestion syndrome, sent her for the right imaging, and found she also had May-Thurner syndrome. That diagnosis led her to dedicate her Instagram and a new symptom-checker platform to helping other women connect...
2026-08-0345 min
Gyno Girl Presents: Sex, Drugs & HormonesSeven Gynecologists Refused Her Before She Got Help | Mathilde Olstad on Vulvovaginal PainAt 25, Mathilde Olstad's life was on track: a new relationship, a finance degree nearly finished, a career about to launch. Then pain during sex appeared out of nowhere, Then pain during sex appeared out of nowhere, and it didn't go away. What followed was years of dismissal, dead ends, expensive alternative treatments, and being refused by seven gynecologists before she could access specialized care. Instead of staying silent, she turned her experience into The World's Tightest Community, a podcast reaching thousands of women living with vulvovaginal pain.In this episode, Dr. Sameena Rahman sits down with Mathilde...
2026-07-1751 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain38. Self-Hypnosis For Vulvodynia: The "Silly Fad" That Actually Ended Sheren's 10-Year PainSheren Gaulbert lived with severe vulvar pain for ten years — bedridden, on high doses of amitriptyline, and told by a leading specialist to consider giving up work. What changed things wasn't a new medication or a new specialist. It was a self-hypnosis script she recorded herself off the back of a book she picked up in a bookshop, something a friend had dismissed as just the latest fad. That breakthrough led her to train as a cognitive hypnotherapist, and she's now a Trustee of the UK's Vulval Pain Society. We go through her full story and what cognitive hypnotherapy ac...
2026-07-1354 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain37. Vulvodynia's $18,000 a Year Cost + a Mini Interview With Origin CEO Carine CarmyWhat does it actually cost to get taken seriously when you're in pain? For the average woman with vulvovaginal or pelvic pain in the US, it's about $18,000 a year - paid entirely out of pocket.Today I'm speaking with Carmen Rising, a Brooklyn-based writer whose reporting on vulvovaginal pain has recently run in The New York Times and The Guardian. She came to this as a patient herself, and in this episode we get into the real economics of chronic pelvic pain, why the insurance system fails these conditions almost by design, and how an unregulated wellness...
2026-07-0653 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain36. Clitoral Nerve Mapping, Botox Update, and the Question Dr. Rachel Rubin Made Me Ask MyselfWhat does a groundbreaking study on clitoral nerves, a Norwegian novel about a man who moves into the forest, and one question from Dr. Rachel Rubin have in common? This week's solo episode.This episode is kindly sponsored by Pelva. Use code TWTC10 at checkout to receive 10% off your first order. (I earn a commission if you purchase through my link.)In this episode, I cover four things that have been living in my head: a new piece of research out of Amsterdam that is rewriting what w...
2026-06-2921 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain35. Low Desire in Women: How It Works, Why Pain Affects It, and What Can Be Done I Dr. Corey BabbWhy does desire so often disappear after sex has become painful - and is there actually anything you can do about it?In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Corey Babb, a board-certified gynecologist and one of my favorite voices in sexual medicine, whose Substack writing on desire and arousal is some of the clearest thinking on these topics out there. He returns to the podcast to set the record straight on two things we constantly confuse: desire and arousal.We get into why these are two completely separate processes, and...
2026-06-2242 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain34. ART for Pelvic Pain: Changing the Way the Brain Stores Distressing Memories in 1 to 5 SessionsWhy does the body sometimes hold onto pain long after there's a clear physical reason for it? And what would it take to actually shift that?In this episode, I speak with Brooke Bralove, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW-C), psychotherapist, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, and Certified Master ART Practitioner with over 20 years in private practice. After accelerated resolution therapy (ART) resolved her own trauma in just two sessions, she trained in the modality and now specialises in brief trauma treatment, including for people with pelvic and sexual pain....
2026-06-1546 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain33. Vulvodynia and the Partner: What the Research Reveals About the Relationship in Chronic PainWhat happens to the person standing closest to your pain - the one who witnesses it but is almost never asked about?In this episode, I speak with Linn Myrtveit-Stensrud, a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Linn has spent her career studying vulvodynia in heterosexual relationships - specifically, how partners respond to pain, and how those responses can shape the pain itself. She is one of the few researchers focusing on a piece of this puzzle that most of us have lived but rarely see studied.
2026-06-0852 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain32. Mast Cells and Vestibulodynia: The Inflammation Root Cause and A New Treatment Trial Dr J. KrapfFor years, the hormonal and muscular causes of vulvar pain have become easier to understand and treat. Inflammation is the part we still understand the least - and it may be one of the biggest missing pieces in provoked vestibulodynia.Dr Jill Krapf returns to the podcast for one of the most cutting-edge conversations we've had on vulvodynia. She's a gynaecologist specialising in vulvovaginal disorders, the co-author of When Sex Hurts, and the principal investigator on a brand new clinical trial testing a topical treatment for provoked vestibulodynia....
2026-06-0153 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain31. The gap in OBGYN training: what doctors never learn about vulvovaginal pain I TightlippedWhy do so many people with vulvovaginal pain leave their OBGYN's office feeling dismissed - or worse, like the problem is in their head? The answer might have less to do with individual doctors and more to do with what they were never taught.In this episode, I speak with Noa Fleischacker, co-founder and executive director of TightLipped, a grassroots patient advocacy organization working to change how people with vulvovaginal pain access care. Noa comes to this work from her own experience as a patient - including going under general anesthesia just to get...
2026-05-2548 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain30. Refused by 7 Clinics With a Vulvodynia Diagnosis: How Broken Women's Pain Care Really IsI recently hit a wall that I, of all people, should not have hit. And it reminded me exactly why this podcast exists.But this episode is also about something else. I've been self-funding this podcast for about a year, and I'm now at the point where I need to figure out how to keep it going. That means sponsorships, and possibly other things too - and I want you involved in that conversation.If there's a brand you love, a company you think really gets this community, or...
2026-05-2018 min
Pelvic Pain unPacked: Real Talk About Pain, Pleasure, & Wellness009: Vulvodynia, Healing, and Finding Community with Mathilde OlstadWhat starts as a conversation about pelvic health quickly becomes a discussion about identity, relationships, healing, and the importance of finally being heard. Our special guest is Mathilde Olstad, host of The World's Tightest Community podcast, who shares her personal journey navigating vulvodynia and how it reshaped nearly every aspect of her life. Mathilde shared how her symptoms appeared unexpectedly during a hopeful season of life and how difficult it was to understand what was happening when medical answers felt limited or dismissive. We explored the emotional and physical realities of living with chronic vulvovaginal discomfort, and...
2026-05-1452 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain29. Vaginismus and Pregnancy: TTC Options, Birth Planning, and What Happens to Your Pelvic FloorWhat happens to your body - and your pelvic floor - when you want to get pregnant, and you have a history of vaginismus or pelvic pain?In this episode, I speak with Dr. Saige Evans, an occupational therapist with a clinical doctorate in occupational therapy and the clinical director at Bloom Pelvic Therapy in Tampa Bay, Florida. She leads a team of pelvic health OTs and PTs across three clinics and also sees clients herself, specializing in sexual health and pelvic pain. She also has her own history of vaginismus - which she brings openly to...
2026-05-1158 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain28. Vulvodynia, Desire, and the Diagnostic Odyssey: One Writer's Journey from Shamans to Sex ToysWhat happens to desire when your body becomes unpredictable?Sara Sturek is a writer and founder of Writing Shamelessly, whose essay "From Shamans to Sex Toys" is published in Women's Health magazine. She has lived with hormonally-mediated vulvodynia since she was 21, and she writes about desire, sexuality, and the diagnostic odyssey with an honesty and literary precision that's rare in this space.In this episode, Sara walks me through her full journey — from the first gynecologist appointment that sent her home with Advil and a bath suggestion, through months of worsening pain she kept trying to...
2026-05-0450 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain27. Vulvodynia, Vaginismus, and Pelvic Pain: Start Here If You're NewIf you're new to this podcast - hi! I'm so glad you're here.This is the episode I want you to start with. Whether you've just been diagnosed, you've been searching for answers for years, or you typed something into Google at 2am that you've never said out loud to anyone - you're in the right place.In this solo episode, I walk you through the basics of chronic vulvovaginal and pelvic pain - what it is, the conditions that fall under this umbrella (vulvodynia, vaginismus, vestibulodynia...
2026-04-2712 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain26. CBD for Pelvic Pain: Do Suppositories Actually Work for Vulvodynia and Vaginismus?Can CBD help with pelvic pain - and if so, how does it actually work?In this episode, I speak with Tamar Hill, co-founder of Medroots, a company making CBD and low-dose THC suppositories for pelvic pain, vulvodynia, vaginismus, dyspareunia, and sexual health. Tamar is a former biology teacher turned entrepreneur, and she brings both the science and hard-won knowledge of navigating the CBD regulatory landscape.We cover the endocannabinoid system and why our bodies have cannabinoid receptors concentrated in reproductive tissue - and what that means for people...
2026-04-2142 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain25. Pudendal Nerve Entrapment Surgery: One Woman's 15-Year Road to the Right DiagnosisWhat does it mean to do everything right for fifteen years — and still not get to the bottom of your pain?In this episode, I speak with Carli Cutchin, a writer and disability advocate with a background as a comparative literature scholar. Carli has lived with pudendal neuralgia for fifteen years and writes about chronic pain and disability for publications including Ms. Magazine. She is one of the sharpest thinkers I've come across on this topic, and this conversation goes well beyond the personal story.We go into Carli's fu...
2026-04-131h 08
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain24. Vulvodynia Clinical Trial: The First Drug Being Developed Specifically for This ConditionThere is no medication approved specifically for vulvodynia. Not a single one. John Connell and his team are trying to change that.In this episode, I sit down with John Connell, Chief Scientific Officer at MAC Clinical Research — one of the UK's longest-established contract research organisations. John has spent over 35 years in clinical research, and has been working with Danish biotech Initiator Pharma for the past six or seven years to develop pudafensine: a first-of-its-kind drug being investigated specifically for vulvodynia.Pudafensine works by increasing dopamine levels in the brain — a chemical messenger most people asso...
2026-04-0644 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain23. My Vulvodynia and Vaginismus Story: The Episode I've Been Afraid to RecordFor a long time, I've been standing slightly to the side of my own experience on this podcast. Today, I step into the center of it.In this solo episode, I share my full story with vulvodynia and vaginismus for the first time - from the first symptoms five years ago to the rock bottom moment that broke me open, and eventually, to the unexpected thing that gave me the strength to keep going.I talk about what it was like to be dismissed by doctors, to spend years in a treatment rabbit hole trying...
2026-04-0136 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain22. Botox for Vaginismus and Vulvodynia: Success Rates, Who It's For, and What to ExpectCan Botox really help treat vaginismus and vulvodynia - and if so, how does it actually work?In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Corey Babb, a board-certified gynecologist, ISSWSH fellow, and one of only four providers worldwide trained in the Pacik Multimodal Botox Protocol for vaginismus. Dr. Babb is the founder of Haven Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and co-authored the landmark research that established the five-point grading scale for vaginismus, now used internationally.We go deep into how Botox works physiologically, how it relates to the pain-fear-spasm...
2026-03-2449 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain21. Women's Health Censorship: Why "Vulvodynia" Gets Flagged and What We're Losing Because of ItSocial media platforms are systematically censoring medically accurate women's health content. Words like vulva, vagina, and vulvodynia are being flagged, shadow banned, and suppressed - not because they're explicit, but because the systems designed to moderate content were never built to tell the difference. This is about accurate, life-saving health information being treated as obscene.The problem with this is it is enforcing the deep-rooted societal stigma around topics like menstruation, menopause and sexual wellbeing - the very stigma that advocates, clinicians and educators are working to dismantle.In...
2026-03-1625 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain20. Painful Sex and Vaginismus: The Femtech Device Designed to Change How Treatment FeelsWhat if the answer to painful sex wasn't another dilator - but something genuinely novel?In this episode, Mathilde sits down with Kelley, co-founder of Pelva and a fellow woman with lived-experience who went from primary vaginismus and provoked vestibulodynia to building one of the most innovative femtech products in the vulvovaginal pain space.Kelley breaks down exactly how Pelva's hydrogel vaginal liner works - and why the science of nociception (how pain receptors respond to pressure, friction, and force) is at the heart of its design. Think of it like an insole for your v...
2026-03-0939 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain19. Vulvar Pain Recovery: The Nocebo Effect, Medical Dismissal, and What Finally WorkedIn this episode, I'm joined by Heather Coppard - nurse, hypnotherapist, and author. Heather spent years navigating the healthcare system as a patient with persistent vulval pain, experiencing firsthand the dismissal, gaslighting, and harmful messaging that so many of us know all too well. One particularly devastating appointment with a specialist became the turning point that drove her to write her book, set up a vulval pain support group, and dedicate her work to ensuring no other woman walks away from a consultation feeling the way she did that day.In this episode we cover a...
2026-03-0250 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain18. ISSWSH 2026 Recap: The Vulvodynia and Pelvic Pain Research You Need to Know AboutI just got back from the ISSWSH (International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health) annual meeting in Long Beach, California - and I couldn't wait to bring everything I heard straight to you. This solo episode is part conference recap, part deep dive into the research I think matters most for anyone living with vulvovaginal pain, pelvic pain, or sexual pain of any kind.In this episode I cover:What sexual medicine actually is - and why a whole field exists around itVulvodynia subtypes and treatment matching
2026-02-1936 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain17. From Black Box to Breakthrough: Dr. A. Goldstein on the Golden Era of Vulvodynia ResearchFor decades, vulvodynia was considered a mystery condition with few answers and limited treatment options. That's no longer the case.In this episode, Dr. Andrew Goldstein - Clinical Professor at George Washington University and one of the world's leading experts on vulvar and pelvic pain - explains how 25 years of dedicated research has transformed our understanding of vulvodynia from a "black box" into a condition with identifiable causes and effective treatments.In this episode, you'll learn:Why vulvodynia wasn't part of standard medical training...
2026-02-1051 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain16. Red Light Therapy for Pelvic Pain: Can It Help with Vaginismus and Vulvodynia?If you're dealing with vaginismus or vulvodynia, you know how limited treatment options can feel - and how rarely we see real innovation in this space. That's why I was so intrigued when I discovered light therapy as a potential tool for pelvic pain relief.In this episode, I sit down with Liz Frey, a pelvic health physiotherapist and Women's Health Medical Director at Fringe, to explore how light therapy is being used to treat vaginismus, vulvodynia, and pelvic floor hypertonicity.Liz breaks down the science of photobiomodulation and...
2026-02-0241 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic PainCan Light Therapy Help Pelvic Pain? Science, Benefits & Expert Insights | Liz FreyIf you're dealing with vaginismus or vulvodynia, you know how limited treatment options can feel - and how rarely we see real innovation in this space. That's why I was so intrigued when I discovered light therapy as a potential tool for pelvic pain relief.In this episode, I sit down with Liz Frey, a pelvic health physiotherapist and Women's Health Medical Director at Fringe, to explore how light therapy is being used to treat vaginismus, vulvodynia, and pelvic floor hypertonicity.Liz breaks down the science of photobiomodulation and explains how...
2026-02-0241 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain15. Vaginismus Recovery: The Arousal-First Dilating Routine That Finally Worked After 15 YearsAfter experiencing vaginismus for over 15 years, Lauren found a treatment approach that finally worked - and it looked very different from the clinical, physical therapy-style dilation she'd tried before.In this conversation, Lauren opens up about her journey from her first painful gynecologist visit at age 12 through years of inadequate medical advice ("just relax" and "have a glass of wine"), to discovering what actually helped: an arousal-first approach to dilating that prioritized pleasure over protocol.Lauren shares the practical details of her routine - how she started so slowly...
2026-01-1937 minThe World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic PainLauren's 15-Year Vaginismus Journey: The Arousal-First Routine & Mindset Shifts That WorkedAfter experiencing vaginismus for over 15 years, Lauren found a treatment approach that finally worked - and it looked very different from the clinical, physical therapy-style dilation she'd tried before.In this conversation, Lauren opens up about her journey from her first painful gynecologist visit at age 12 through years of inadequate medical advice ("just relax" and "have a glass of wine"), to discovering what actually helped: an arousal-first approach to dilating that prioritized pleasure over protocol.Lauren shares the practical details of her routine - how she started so slowly she didn't...
2026-01-1937 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain14. Vaginismus & Self-Worth: Why You Don't Have to Wait Until You're "Fixed" to Live FullyThis episode isn't just about dating and relationships - though we definitely talk about that. It's about how vaginismus can impact every corner of your life: your confidence at work, whether you feel like an imposter in your career, how you express yourself creatively through movement or dance, your ability to assert yourself in everyday situations, and the mental space it occupies in your mind.Are you postponing not just dating, but living fully until your vaginismus is "fixed"? Do you feel broken, unworthy, or like you're somehow less than because of sexual pain?
2026-01-1239 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain13. Year-End Update: Progress, Gratitude, and What's Coming in 2026As the year closes, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you - to everyone who's listened, shared, and reached out.In this episode, I reflect on the journey so far, share a personal update on my own journey, and talk about about why fact-checking and accountability matter so much when it comes to information about women's bodies.Your feedback shapes this podcast. If you ever want to talk, suggest a topic, or question something you've heard here - I'm listening!Connect with Mathilde...
2025-12-2207 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain12. Sex Therapy for Vaginismus: What It Actually Involves and Why Dilators Alone Often Aren't EnoughWhat happens in sex therapy for vaginismus and vulvodynia? In this conversation with certified holistic sexuality educator and embodied intimacy coach Lauren Elise Rogers, we explore how sex and relationship coaching addresses the root causes of sexual pain - beyond just the physical symptoms.Lauren shares her journey from purity culture to becoming a specialist in treating vaginismus, vulvodynia, and painful sex. We discuss:The "garden metaphor" – three levels of sexual beliefs living in your body (explicit, latent, and body-based)Why your body's "no" to sex might be wisdom, not dysfunctionHow arousal actually da...
2025-12-081h 01
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain11. Acupuncture for Vulvodynia: What Traditional Chinese Medicine Actually Does for Pelvic PainVulvodynia can feel mysterious, isolating, and overwhelming - especially when treatments seem to focus on symptoms instead of causes. In this conversation, acupuncturist and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner Jennifer Dubowsky shares how she approaches vulvar pain through a whole-body lens built on 24 years of clinical experience.Jennifer walks us through the most common TCM patterns she sees in women with vulvodynia and explains how acupuncture may help with pain, inflammation, and pelvic-floor tightness.She also demystifies concepts like qi, damp heat, and mirror-imaging points in a way that feels practical and accessible.
2025-11-2043 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain10. Thrush and Vulvodynia: The Link That Gets Missed and Why It Matters for Chronic Vulvar PainThrush (aka yeast/candida infections) is common - 75% of women will experience it at some point - but for some women, it can trigger long-term vulvar pain (vulvodynia). In this powerful episode, Mathilde speaks with Philly Baines, a UK-based women’s health advocate, about her journey from repeated thrush infections to developing vulvodynia, and how years of medical dismissal led her to campaign for change.Together they unpack what we do know about the link between thrush and nerve pain, why so many women are dismissed or misdiagnosed, and what warning signs to look ou...
2025-11-0644 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain9. Pelvic Floor and Daily Habits: The Small Things Worsening Your Vulvodynia or VaginismusIn this conversation, pelvic floor physical therapist Dr. Julie Sarton shares the small, surprising ways our daily routines - like how we sit, breathe, carry stress, or even pee - can quietly create or maintain pelvic floor tension.We unpack why “just doing Kegels” often backfires, how breath-holding and sucking in your stomach keep your pelvic floor on high alert, and what it really means to release rather than strengthen.Dr. Sarton brings nearly 30 years of experience treating pelvic pain to explain how posture, clothing, exercise cues, and even nerv...
2025-10-2452 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain8. Fascia and Pelvic Pain: Why Jaw Tension Can Show Up in Your Pelvis with VaginismusFor so many living with vaginismus or vulvodynia, pain feels like a puzzle with missing pieces. What if one of those pieces is fascia - the thin, stringy web that connects every part of your body, where tightness in your jaw could whisper tension into your pelvis?In this episode, we unpack what fascia actually is, how it connects areas like the jaw and pelvis, and why this matters for anyone experiencing chronic pelvic pain. You’ll also learn simple, practical tools to support your fascial health through gentle movement, breath, and touch....
2025-10-1045 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain7. Vulvodynia Research: How Psychology, Relationships, and Stigma Shape Your Pain OutcomesWhat really shapes how we live with vulvodynia, vaginismus and other pelvic pain conditions - biology alone, or also our emotions, thoughts, partner interactions and place in society?In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Claudia Chisari, one of the most cited scientists in vulvodynia research and founder of Bloume Health.Claudia shares her own journey through years of pain and medical dismissal, and how that experience led her to research vulvodynia using the ACT framework and later establish a pelvic pain platform, Bloume Health.
2025-10-0135 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic PainThe Mind-Body-Social Connection: Rethinking How We Treat Pelvic Pain with Dr Claudia ChisariWhat really shapes how we live with vulvodynia, vaginismus and other pelvic pain conditions - biology alone, or also our emotions, thoughts, partner interactions and place in society?
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Claudia Chisari, one of the most cited scientists in vulvodynia research and founder of Bloume Health. Claudia shares her own journey through years of pain and medical dismissal, and how that experience led her to research vulvodynia using the ACT framework and later establish a pelvic pain platform, Bloume Health.
We talk about why stigma, mental health, and relationships can influence pain outcomes, what...
2025-09-2435 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain6. Vaginismus and Fear: How Your Nervous System Creates the Pain Cycle - and How to Break ItFear is one of our most powerful instincts - and it often plays a central role in vaginismus. In this episode, psychologist Dr. Seth Senecal explains how fear overrides logic, shapes our nervous system, and keeps our pelvic floor muscles from relaxing.Whether it’s a tiger chasing us or worrying that someone we love might leave, the body responds as if survival is on the line - and that signal can often be hard to mute.Together with host Mathilde, he unpacks why safety is as crucial as ar...
2025-09-1254 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain5. Vulvodynia Root Causes: Hormonal, Muscular, Nerve, and Inflammatory I Dr. Jill KrapfIn this episode, Dr. Jill Krapf joins Mathilde to unpack the four main drivers of vulvar pain - hormonal, muscular, inflammatory, and nerve-related - and why these factors often overlap. She shares why she believes the catch-all term “vulvodynia” will eventually disappear as research continues to uncover specific root causes.We discuss how Dr. Krapf investigates these causes in her practice, from examining glands and muscles to considering hormones and nerve involvement.She outlines practical treatment options - topical hormones, pelvic floor therapy, medications - and when surgery might be a...
2025-08-2747 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain4. Lubricants, Condoms, and Vaginismus: The Intimate Products That Could Be Making Pain WorseJoin us with Sam Evans, intimate health expert and co-owner of Jo Divine, a UK pleasure shop specializing in skin-safe products. Sam shares her personal experience with vaginismus and how intimate products directly contributed to her condition.In this episode, we discuss:* How common ingredients in lubricants, condoms and other intimate health products can trigger vaginal pain* Why "doctor recommended" products might still contain harmful ingredients* How incorporating toys and focusing on pleasure can be beneficial for those experiencing vulvodynia and vaginismusRequest...
2025-03-1842 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain3. Pelvic Pain Neuroscience: Why Anticipating Pain Makes Vaginismus and Vulvodynia WorseIn part two of our two-part series, we explore the fascinating neuroscience behind pelvic pain with pelvic health physiotherapist Jo Gipson. We cover why pain isn't just physical but a complex response to perceived threat, and how our beliefs and past experiences shape our body's reactions. Jo breaks down how pain cycles can emerge, explains why anticipating pain can make it worse, and reveals why even trusted partners can unknowingly trigger protective responses.Connect with Jo Gipson:Instagram: @jogipsonphysioWebsite: www.jogipsonphysiotherapy.comFor UK-based pelvic...
2025-02-0854 min
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain2. Pelvic Floor PT on Vaginismus and Vulvodynia: What You Actually Need to KnowIn part one of our two-part series, pelvic health physiotherapist Jo Gipson explains the basics of pelvic floor anatomy and the relevance for vulvodynia and vaginismus. She challenges common myths about Kegel exercises, explains why both muscle relaxation and strength matter, and shares practical treatment approaches from breath work to dilator use.Connect with Jo Gipson:Instagram: @jogipsonphysioWebsite: www.jogipsonphysiotherapy.comFor UK-based pelvic health support, visit the Pelvic Pain Network: @pelvicpainnetworkConnect with MathildeIG: @theworldstightestcommunity or mathilde...
2025-01-211h 03
The World's Tightest Community - A Podcast About Vulvodynia, Vaginismus & Women's Pelvic Pain1. Vulvodynia and Vaginismus Diagnosis: Why These Conditions Get Dismissed and What to Do About ItIn this first episode, we dive deep into the often misunderstood world of vulvodynia and vaginismus with Dr. Tania Adib, a leading London-based gynecologist specializing in vulvar health. Through host Mathilde's personal journey and Dr. Adib's clinical expertise, we explore why these conditions are frequently dismissed by healthcare providers despite affecting up to 1 in 5 women.Dr. Adib breaks down the four key root causes - inflammatory, muscular, neurological, and hormonal. We discuss why vulvar pain remains a diagnostic challenge for medical professionals, the potential link between hormonal birth control and pain, and how symptoms...
2025-01-0735 min