Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy for Those with Lichen Sclerosus

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy for Those with Lichen Sclerosus

The muscles at the base of your pelvic floor are like any other muscle in your body. They can weaken, hold tension and affect how your body works. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help those with Lichen Sclerosus keep their pelvic floor muscles healthy. That’s where experts like Ashley Stump, PFPT, come in. As a pelvic floor physical therapist, she helps people with various problems, including painful sex, urinary and bowel issues, pelvic pain, and pain from LS. I spoke with Ashley to learn more about what she does as pelvic floor PT and how it benefits those with LS. How does Lichen Sclerosus affect your pelvic floor muscles? If you have LS, you already know the condition affects various parts of your life. It also involves multiple parts of your body, including your pelvic floor.  Just like people can hold tension in their neck muscles, they can also have…
Read More
Tips for Pain with Sex and Lichen Sclerosus

Tips for Pain with Sex and Lichen Sclerosus

Introduction .For today’s video, we are continuing our discussion of sexual health and lichen sclerosus. I'm going to share my top 10 tips for managing pain with sex. Be sure to share your favorite tips and what works for you in the comments below. Full disclosure, these tips for pain with sex come from my lived experience. There is no research on this topic I am drawing from. *Disclaimer: This video is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please consult with your medical provider before making any changes to your health plan Be sure to like this video and subscribe to our channel for more educational LS content. If this video was helpful to you, we’d love your support so we can continue providing important education like this. Make a donation today at https://lssupportnetwork.org/donate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx2JFHqaEjU Important Links Get my FREE eBook on vulvar lichen sclerosus here Want to work with…
Read More
Is Lichen Sclerosus Lowering Your Sex Drive?

Is Lichen Sclerosus Lowering Your Sex Drive?

*Just a quick warning, I will be talking about how Lichen Sclerosus affects our sex and sex drive. If you are sensitive to that, I completely understand, but this may not be the blog/podcast for you. **Another caveat. This episode is geared towards women with moderate to mild Lichen Sclerosus and not for those with severe Lichen Sclerosis (i.e., those with fusing across the vestibule/vaginal opening) or those with vaginismus or vulvodynia. I’m excited to bring some fresh insights to the podcast after our Lichen Sclerosus virtual meet-up. As many of you living with Lichen Sclerosus already know, Lichen Sclerosus can negatively impact our sex drive; sometimes, it stops it altogether. This week we dive into the topic of Lichen Sclerosus, how it can lower our sex drive, and, most importantly, how we can become empowered to get it back! During our Lichen Sclerosus Virtual Meetup, I discovered a trend…
Read More
Carrie Bock’s LS Journey: From Pain to Love

Carrie Bock’s LS Journey: From Pain to Love

Listen to the podcast here: Welcome to the second episode of Season 2 of Lichen Sclerosus Podcast! Today we have a diagnosis story from an amazing woman, Carrie Bock, who tells us about her journey from pain and shame with sex to acceptance and empowerment of herself and her disease. Keep reading to find out how Carrie moved from painful sex from Lichen Sclerosus to being in a loving marriage, with healthy, pain-free sex. Carrie’s Christian Upbringing Carrie grew up in a conservative, Christian environment. In her house, sex was never discussed. Her family never spoke about things like going through puberty, what it meant to be a woman and sex. In her church, there was a lot of shame and fear around sex. Sex and being a sexual person were negatively portrayed. Furthermore, in middle school, the form of sex education she received was fear-based. It focused on scaring…
Read More
How to have BETTER sex even though you have Lichen Sclerosus.

How to have BETTER sex even though you have Lichen Sclerosus.

Just a quick warning, I will be talking about sexual things. If you are sensitive to that I completely understand but this may not be the blog for you. I also want to set proper expectations. Lichen Sclerosus has many symptoms and progressions. Unfortunately, there are too many and span too many degrees for me to cover in one article. This piece will focus on women who do not suffer from severe fusing or other sexual complications that may require surgery. To honor you that are suffering these awful symptoms, I hope to bring in someone knowledgeable about these cases. I do not feel comfortable speaking on it because those are not my experiences and I am sensitive to your plight. Does Lichen Sclerosus Affect Our Sex Life?  How does having Lichen Sclerosus change our sex life? How do we talk to our partners about sex? What can we do to make…
Read More
Symptoms of Lichen Sclerosus

Symptoms of Lichen Sclerosus

Everyone suffers from different symptoms of Lichen Sclerosus. Some are affected by one or a variety of common symptoms, such as itching and burning. While others, who have gone untreated, can develop severe symptoms such as fusing or vulval cancer. Consequently, these symptoms are what the doctors look for and treat. Unfortunately, most of us will suffer harder from secondary symptoms. The mental health issues that develop because of a Lichen Sclerosus diagnosis. They are many and can run deep. The scariest part is we may not even realize we are suffering or need help. Common Symptoms: Itching (mostly at night) Burning and soreness White ashy skin or patches Fissures, ulcers, nonhealing legions, and blood blisters Excessive sweating between your legs Misshapen vulva Chronic urinary tract or yeast infections Severe Symptoms: The fusing of the labia The fusing of the clitoral hood Valvular scarring Secondary Symptoms: Depression Isolation Fatigue Anxiety…
Read More