Functional Nutrition Treatment Options for Vulvodynia and IBS

When the pain of vulvodynia hits – the painful sex, the pain with wearing tight pants, the pain with just sitting through a movie! – you just want it gone.

Fortunately, by taking an integrative approach and getting to the root cause of your vulvodynia, it’s possible to relieve your pain for the long term!

You might have heard of seeking specialized pelvic physical therapy to treat your vulvodynia, and that is certainly an important strategy for pain relief, but for many women it’s not enough.

Have you noticed that you also have digestive issues like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or bloating? Do you struggle with chronic yeast or vaginal bacterial infections in addition to your vulvar pain? Even if vulvar pain – with sex, ob/gyn exams, tampon use, or no provocation at all – is your only symptom, you will still likely benefit from an integrative approach to your vulvar pain relief.

From our integrative perspective, a complete functional nutrition assessment and therapeutic recommendations are key strategies for getting to root cause healing for both vulvodynia and functional bowel disorders like IBS, or chronic vaginal infections. Functional nutrition goes beyond food, though personalized nutrition is important.  It also includes lifestyle strategies like nutritional supplementation, nervous system calming, pain science education, addressing the gut-brain connection, and more. And, in many cases pelvic floor specialty physical therapy is also part of the solution, but it’s just not the only option.

I have created a presentation for you that walks through our treatment approach for vulvodynia and IBS systematically.

In this presentation, I want to share with you how we use an elimination diet, functional testing, nutrient support and mind-body lifestyle medicine approach to relieve both vulvodynia and IBS.