Painful Intercourse And Female Sexual Health Specialist

What causes painful intercourse?

Painful intercourse has more potential causes than you may realize, including gynecologic conditions, medications that affect your sex drive, and problems with your sexual response, such as lack of lubrication.

The gynecologic conditions that cause pain during intercourse include:

• Hormonal changes: during perimenopause and menopause, loss of estrogen can cause vaginal dryness and vaginal atrophy
• Vaginitis: inflammation of the vagina caused by a yeast or bacterial infection
• Pelvic inflammatory disease: infection of reproductive organs, often caused by a sexually transmitted disease
• Endometriosis: tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus on the fallopian tubes, ovaries, bladder, and throughout the abdomen
• Uterine fibroids: noncancerous growths in the uterus made of muscle tissue
• Ovarian cysts: fluid-filled sacs that grow inside or on the outside of the ovaries
• Vulvodynia: pain disorder that affects the vulva (external genitalia)
• Vaginismus: involuntary tightening of pelvic floor muscles, including the vagina

What are the symptoms of painful intercourse?

It’s important to know that the pain caused during intercourse is different for each woman. It may occur under varying circumstances and be felt in unexpected parts of the body. You may feel the pain in your external genitalia, inside your vagina, in your lower back, or anywhere in the pelvic region.

You may experience pain only at sexual penetration, or you may feel pain every time you use a tampon. The pain may even go away and return another time. Women describe the pain in various ways, including deep, burning, sharp, and aching. Sometimes the pain lasts for hours after intercourse.

How is painful intercourse treated?

After Dr. Mahller identifies the exact cause of the problem, he recommends a treatment plan tailored to your specific health needs. Treatment options include:

• Minimally invasive surgery: removes fibroids, cysts, and excess uterine tissues
• Medication: to treat an infection
• Pelvic muscle relaxation exercises
• Hormone replacement therapy: raises levels of estrogen, which improves vaginal health, relieves vaginal dryness, and subsequently eliminates painful intercourse
• MonaLisa Touch®: a CO2 laser that safely and effectively improves vaginal tissue by stimulating production of collagen and new blood vessels in the vagina, and reduces symptoms of dryness and atrophy