“Lyear in which I started to feel bad I was sixteen. I have always been ever since accompanied by pain like a shadow“. Thus begins the monologue of Giorgia Soleri a TonedRai 2 program conducted by Andrea Delogu.
Fixed gaze in front of the camera, Damiano dei Maneskin’s girlfriend told about her life marked by vulvodynia, painful and often difficult to diagnose disease. And that profoundly marks the life of all the women who suffer from it.
Giorgia Soleri: her life with vulvodynia
Giorgia Soleri
“There have been years when I woke up with pain, ate with pain, went to school with pain, went to bed with pain. Most of the time I didn’t sleep from the pain. He was my most devoted, silent but ever present companion. Obsessive and possessive. So much so as to remove everything and everyone, as in the most classic of toxic relationships »says Giorgia, model and influencer
. Who decided to tell his story for a very specific reason: to dispel taboos and prejudices about this disease. “I was told about everything, that I was crazy, that I was anxious, stressed, that I was making up the symptoms. I have come to believe it and to consider the pain part of me ».
Life is difficult for those with vulvodynia
Giorgia does not spare the details of the disease, remembering all those nights spent “trying to expel a drop of urine soaked in blood with the bowels on fire.” Life is very difficult for those suffering from vulvodynia.
“I don’t even know how many things I lost because of my pain. Dozens of specialists saw me, I was hospitalized in dozens of hospitals, I passed out on the street. All of this lasted eight long years. Until two years ago, this pain finally took a name and materialized for everyone, “he explains. Revealing the name of the diagnosis: “vulvodynia, pelvic contracture and purendo neuropathy, also called chronic pelvic pain”.
“A monster of a problem, but when you look him in the face it’s less scary”
“For many, the moment of diagnosis is a sentence for me it was a joy. Because it means the possibility of receiving therapy »continues the model. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get well, but one thing is certain: a monster is less scary when you look it in the face“
. Then, still staring at the camera, she speaks for all those women who suffer from the same ailment. “I’m here tonight giving up my privacy to ask for a right: a social, political, medical and economic recognition of a still underestimated but extremely disabling disease such as vulvodynia“.
The power of sharing
Sharing his monologue on social Giorgia also explains why she decided to make her illness public.
“If there is one thing I have learned in these 26 years of life, it is that sharing is the opposite of loneliness. And that breaking the silence by telling our stories to make chorus what was just a voice is the most powerful and revolutionary tool we have. So, a year and a half ago I decided to put mine, of history, at the service of anyone who needs it – including me. And despite there is still a great taboo and it is perceived differently to say “my vulva hurts” compared to a headache or a broken leg, I discovered arms ready to welcome me and voices ready to tell each other ».
Today, also thanks to her and her choice to tell about herself, something is changing.
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