I'm 22 years old, and have been menstruating for 11 years, using tampons for most of that. A couple years ago, I started feeling pain with insertion and removal of tampons in the later days of my periods (I don't use pads because they make other parts of me hurt). The pain is up around where I assume the top of the tampon is, possibly somewhere around my cervix. (I also have occasional pain at the entrance to my vagina, usually related to using those new extra secure tampons.) It's not usually a strong pain, just feels like pressing on a bruise. Sometimes it lasts for a few hours. I mentioned it to a doctor (not a gynecologist) today when I was in for something else, but all she said was "that's not supposed to happen." I had her give me a pap smear for my own peace of mind, though she said it was pointless because I've never been sexually active. The pap smear itself was quite painful, but I'm guessing that's not uncommon.

Is there anything that could be causing this pain? Is it possible that I'm bruising myself when using tampons? The issues do seem to be milder when I use light tampons (which are getting increasingly difficult to find).