Coaching for women with lichen sclerosus
✔ You have been diagnosed with lichen sclerosus and experience itching, burning, pain or changes to the skin around your vulva.
✔ You experience vulval symptoms such as pain, burning, irritation or sensitivity without a clear diagnosis.
✔ Doctors tell you that you “have to learn to live with it”, but you believe things can be different.
✔ You feel vulnerable or uncertain about your symptoms and notice that they affect intimacy, sexuality and your connection with yourself, your body and your sense of womanhood.
✔ You want to learn to listen more closely to your body and understand what it needs.
✔ You are tired of worrying and searching for solutions, and long for a different way of living with lichen sclerosus.
What can you expect from lichen sclerosus coaching?
Through lichen sclerosus coaching, I help you reconnect with yourself and rebuild trust in your body, precisely when you are living with lichen sclerosus. This condition affects not only your body, but also how you feel as a woman. It can affect your self-confidence, your relationship and the way you experience intimacy. Conventional healthcare often leaves too little room for this, even though an important key often lies there.
Your nervous system forms the foundation of your health and vitality. It determines how you respond to stress and affects your hormones, digestion, immune system and emotions. Women’s health concerns never exist in isolation. Your body and emotions continually influence one another. As a therapist, I help you understand these connections, and together we explore how you can regain a sense of control over your symptoms.
We look at how lichen sclerosus affects you and what it asks of you. Through simple exercises, I help you experience more relaxation and enjoyment in daily life. You will notice that you soon begin to feel somewhat lighter and freer. Health is not only about reducing symptoms. It is about returning to the woman you have always been: a woman who feels, enjoys and lives fully. That is possible, even when you have lichen sclerosus.
Body-focused sessions and nervous-system regulation
Nervous-system regulation means consciously supporting your body to release tension and return to balance. Your nervous system responds to everything you experience and continually shifts between different states:
- Sympathetic (activated): this is your fight-or-flight mode. You feel rushed, restless, irritable, tense or perhaps somewhat anxious. Your body is “switched on”.
- Dorsal (shut down): when stress continues for too long, your body moves into a freeze response. This can feel like fatigue and emptiness. You may feel shut down or disconnected from yourself and your surroundings.
- Parasympathetic (recovery): this is the state in which your body can relax and recover. You feel calmer, more present and connected to yourself. Your body’s self-healing capacity is also activated.
Many women become stuck between the first two states. Together, we work on shifting back towards recovery. We use techniques such as breathwork, yin yoga, feminine embodiment and somatic exercises. We pay particular attention to the pelvic area, because this part of the body often functions as a storehouse for tension, stress and unprocessed emotions.
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is an evidence-based method that is effective for chronic pain, physical symptoms and various psychological concerns, such as stress, anxiety or low mood. It helps you create more space around what you think, feel and experience. It helps you relate differently to your thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.
This creates room to pause and consider what truly matters to you. What is important to you? What do you long for, and what brings you joy? How can you create a life that genuinely fits who you are? I guide you through this step by step, so that it becomes not only something you understand, but something you begin to feel and live.
What can lichen sclerosus coaching bring you?
✔ Your mind becomes calmer and you worry less about your symptoms.
✔ You experience relaxation in your body and pelvic area.
✔ You learn to listen to and trust your body’s signals.
✔ You become clearer about your boundaries, needs and desires.
✔ You live according to your own rhythm, cycle and what truly suits you.
✔ You feel more able to manage the way you respond to your lichen sclerosus symptoms.
Dear woman, through my own experience with lichen sclerosus, I know how deeply intimate symptoms can affect you. But I have also learnt that they can be an invitation and can open a path back to yourself. For me, this may have been the most remarkable journey I have ever taken: a journey away from always pushing on, caring and adapting, and back towards connection. Towards the intimacy of being allowed to come home to yourself. Towards being truly present with what you feel, long for and deserve. This journey is here for you too, if you feel that it is time to take that step.
Programme — The Connected Woman
CONNECTION is the first step for women with lichen sclerosus who feel that things are truly allowed to change now. It is for those who want not only to gain a greater sense of control over how they respond to their symptoms, but above all long for more connection with themselves. Over nine weeks, we meet every other week for five sessions in total, either online or in person in Anna Paulowna. Between appointments, you receive inspiring exercises and support via WhatsApp. You also receive The Connected Woman workbook to support your process. The investment for this programme is €595.
Book your free discovery call today
A deeper step
For some women with lichen sclerosus, the CONNECTION programme is exactly what they need. Others feel that their healing process also has room for a deeper form of inner work. A truffle ceremony can offer valuable further exploration.
Are you curious whether a truffle ceremony might suit you?
Frequently asked questions about lichen sclerosus coaching
What symptoms can you experience with lichen sclerosus?
Lichen sclerosus is a chronic skin condition that usually affects the area around the vulva and can cause considerable discomfort there. You may experience itching, pain, irritation or a burning sensation around the vulva. There may also be tears in the skin, white patches, fragile or tight skin and pain during sex. Symptoms may be present all the time or return in periods or flare-ups. They can also be noticeable in daily life, for example when sitting, cycling, exercising, sleeping or wearing tight clothing. Because vulval symptoms are still discussed so little, you may feel alone in what you are going through.
What is the treatment for lichen sclerosus?
Medical treatment for lichen sclerosus is usually provided by a GP, gynaecologist or dermatologist. The symptoms can usually be treated effectively. Treatment often involves a potent corticosteroid ointment to reduce itching, pain and skin symptoms. An emollient ointment is also often recommended to keep the skin supple, moisturised and protected.
Lichen sclerosus is a chronic condition. This means treatment often helps calm the skin, but the skin continues to need attention and care — sometimes for a long time and sometimes throughout life. That is a great deal to carry. Living with chronic vulval symptoms can ask a lot of you, both physically and emotionally. Alongside medical treatment, there often also needs to be room for how the condition affects you; lichen sclerosus coaching can be a valuable addition in precisely this area.
Can stress affect lichen sclerosus?
Stress does not cause lichen sclerosus. Stress and tension can, however, affect how you experience your symptoms. When you are under stress, your nervous system is more often in a state of alert. Your body tenses more readily, including your pelvic floor. If the muscles in your pelvic area are tense much of the time, this can lead to more pain and tension around the vulva.
Many women notice that a lichen sclerosus flare-up coincides with periods of stress, overload, fatigue or emotional tension. This is not because it is “all in your head”, but because your body, emotions and nervous system are continually connected.
Lichen sclerosus symptoms themselves can also cause stress. Perhaps you are afraid that the pain will return, feel uncertain about intimacy or are tired of searching for answers. Fear that symptoms may worsen can also create a great deal of tension. You may then monitor your body more closely or tense unconsciously. In this way, symptoms, tension and anxiety can reinforce one another.
In my lichen sclerosus coaching, we therefore also explore what your body needs to experience more calm, relaxation and recovery. This may help you respond differently to stress or tension and feel more able to manage your symptoms.
What impact can lichen sclerosus have on self-image, sexuality and relationships?
Lichen sclerosus can affect you deeply, not only because of itching, pain or changes to the skin, but also because of what the condition does to you emotionally. It can affect your self-image, sexuality and relationships. Symptoms in such an intimate area of your body can have a significant effect on the way you see yourself. You may feel uncertain about your body, feel less free in your sensuality or feel as though your body has let you down.
Your sexuality may also change. Pain during sex, recurring symptoms, fear of tears in the skin or shame can create tension around sex. You may begin to avoid sex, feel less desire or find yourself mostly in your head during intimacy. That can be painful, for you and sometimes for your relationship as well.
Many women feel uncertain or vulnerable because of their symptoms. That is understandable. Lichen sclerosus often touches your sense of connection with your body, sensuality and sense of womanhood. Lichen sclerosus coaching can help you put this into words and restore connection with yourself. Support may also include exploring a new form of intimacy, both within yourself and in your relationship, with attention to your boundaries, wishes and what genuinely feels good for your body.
Can lichen sclerosus coaching be used alongside medical treatment?
Yes. Support for lichen sclerosus can be especially valuable alongside medical treatment and other forms of support, such as lifestyle guidance, pelvic health physiotherapy or acupuncture. Medical care remains important in treating the condition. My support does not replace that care.
I support you with the emotional and psychological dimension underneath it. This often receives too little attention in healthcare, even though an important key for many women in feeling better again lies here. There is space for stress and tension and the influence these may have on your symptoms. There is also space for how lichen sclerosus affects you: feelings of sadness, uncertainty or shame; your connection with yourself, your body and your sense of womanhood; and changes around sexuality, intimacy and relationships.
My coaching can help restore your connection with yourself and trust in your body, particularly when living with these symptoms.
What others say about my lichen sclerosus coaching
11 years’ experience as a therapist | More than 10,000 hours of therapeutic support
I came to Lotte because I was looking for support with my lichen sclerosus. I was caught in a vicious cycle of stress: the stress made my symptoms worse, and the worsening symptoms caused even more stress. My programme with Lotte helped me break that pattern. I now feel more calm and acceptance, and I can respond differently to anxious thoughts. As a result, I have regained some trust in my body and in the future. It can still be challenging at times, but Lotte gave me very valuable tools that I can continue using myself. I am enormously grateful for her support.
Nienke
On my gynaecologist’s advice, I sought support for lichen sclerosus. Through my programme with Lotte, I learnt to listen much more closely to my body’s signals and take better care of myself. Lotte’s support felt very personal and attentive. She listens in a way that made me feel truly heard, and she asked questions that made me think. The combination of conversations and body-focused exercises worked very well for me. Things surfaced during our conversations that I could then feel and process in my body. That helped me let go of what I had been holding on to for a very long time. The programme brought me closer to myself. I would genuinely recommend it to anyone struggling with this.
Joanne
Women with lichen sclerosus can also join a free online drop-in session, which we arrange together at a time that suits you. It is a safe place where you can ask questions, share your story and find recognition. It can be reassuring to discover that you are not alone. Would you like to join? Send me a WhatsApp message on +31 6 28 96 36 72 and I will send you the link.