pelvic floor

Episode #124: All Things Vaginal Health, HPV, Pain with Sex & Beyond with Dr. Sameena Rahman

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Vaginal Health. Pain With Sex. STI stigmas.

As vulva owners, it can be incredibly frustrating to know what’s normal. From the moment we start menstruating, there are so many things to figure out — and little to no education around it. And it’s frustrating as f*ck. Finding a gynecologist that has been a true advocate for my health, and that I trust deeply, was a very important part of my own health story, and I am so thrilled to welcome my very own to the podcast.

Dr. Sameena Rahman is a practicing gynecologist with a solo practice in downtown Chicago specializing in female sexual dysfunction, menopause care, vulvar dermatosis , and pelvic pain as well as 4th trimester care. She has an academic affiliation with Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine as a Clinical Assistant Professor where she teaches medical students and residents. She grew up down south in North Carolina and attended undergrad at Duke university and medical school at the University of NC at Chapel Hill and completed residency up north in Massachusetts. She worked in Southern California for years at USC prior to moving to Chicago and getting married . She loves to teach, peloton, and spend time with her kids and family.

Things we talk about in todays episode

  • Painful sex — is it normal?

  • Pelvic floor dysfunction

  • HPV and the likelihood of getting an abnormal pap

  • Birth control pills

  • Being an advocate for yourself

  • Weird discharge and what it means

  • The science behind how to really treat our vulvas and vaginas with love

LINKS MENTIONED IN TODAYS EPISODE:

Live Your F*ck Yes Life Patreon

Video version of the podcast

Dr. Rahmans website: Www.CGcChicago.com

Dr. Rahmans Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

ISSWSH

International Study for society of vulvar & vaginal diseases

American college of OBGYN

North American Menopause Society

International Pelvic Pain Society

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Episode #106: Using Pleasure To Cope With Trauma And Grief - A Conversation with Alyssa Pressman

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Hi loves.

Todays episode is different — you may notice that there’s no typical intro music/snippets — because it didn’t feel right today. This week has been heavy. Hell, this year has been a fucking trip. And I wrestled with the idea of not releasing a podcast episode today — I wasn’t sure how we would be experiencing this post election day time. And when I woke up yesterday morning, in a mix of deep feels/sadness and hope for a brighter future in the US, I knew that this conversation, with a soul human of mine, was one that I needed to share with all of you today.

And with that, I’d like to introduce to you my friend and kindred spirit, Alyssa Pressman (she/her).

Alyssa is a Licensed Clinical Therapist & Certified Sex + Relationship Coach. She specializes in pleasure & joy post trauma, grief & with chronic illness. She loves supporting women in moving closer to themselves, to other people and to creating lives that feel in deep alignment with their unique desires. She is a BRCA1 mutation carrier like me, and a person living with chronic illness and pain. Reaching for joy and pleasure has been deeply healing for her. When not working, you can find her dancing, lounging, reading or cooking, usually scantily clad if not naked. She loves talking, learning and sharing on all things sex, relationships, death, healing & dark nights of the soul-you know, all the super casual things.

I invite you to take this one on a walk outside, or curl up with a cup of tea and absorb these words as a way to get away, for a moment, from the chaos. You are so loved.


Things we discuss in todays episode:

  • Alyssa’s wake up call around a chronic illness that made it impossible to have penetrative sex without serious pain in her younger twenties

  • How her work as a sex & relationship coach started to empower her sexually, in a more wholistic way

  • Pelvic floor struggles

  • BRCA and the other piece of the fear with our mutual diagnosis: ovarian cancer

  • Self pleasure practices & building a relationship with your pussy

  • How to claim your sexuality as your own and experience life changing pleasure

  • Redefining what sex and pleasure is

  • How to talk to your partner(s) around how to have more connected intimacy with one another

  • Boobs, the beauty of being un-partnered, using pleasure as a form of self care and beyond