Sarah told me this with tears in her eyes at our first appointment.
She was not distant because she didn’t love her husband anymore.
She was distant because she felt broken.
"I just didn’t feel comfortable down there anymore no matter how often I showered. Something was wrong with me."
Despite all care products, shower rituals, and creams this unpleasant feeling remained this constant distrust of her own body.
And like so many women in their 30s and 40s, she suffered in silence.
Her doctor said: "This is normal at your age."
Antibiotics helped briefly and then everything came back.
Every setback made her more insecure.
She began to avoid closeness. Avoid intimacy.
"It eventually wasn’t about the smell or the burning anymore but about not feeling like myself anymore."