A healthy sex life can be an important part of overall wellness, but not if the sex is painful. While any pain is most unwelcome, when it infiltrates your sex life, which should be a source of pleasure, you want answers. And solutions.
The first thing we want you to know is that you’re not alone — dyspareunia, which is the medical term for painful intercourse, affects three out of four women at some point in their life.
If you’re struggling with painful sex, Dr. Jose F. De Leon is here to help. At Kinwest OBGYN in Dallas and Irving, Texas, our team is well versed in the many roads that lead to dyspareunia, and we share five of them here.
The leading cause of painful sex in women is menopause and the aftermath of this hormonal transition out of your reproductive years. With the loss of estrogen that comes with menopause, you can experience changes in your vaginal health that lead to painful sex.
For example, more than half of postmenopausal women experience vaginal dryness. Also, many women find sex more uncomfortable due to thinning vaginal tissues.
The good news is that there are treatments that can boost your vaginal health again, such as hormone therapies.
Each year in the United States, there are about 20 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections. While the infection itself can render sex more uncomfortable, if it goes untreated, you can develop pelvic inflammatory disease, which can also cause dyspareunia.
Thankfully, this road to painful sex is a relatively easy one to remedy. We treat the infection with antibiotics.
One of the more common gynecologic conditions is endometriosis, which affects about 11% of women ages 15-44. With endometriosis, endometrial cells and tissues that normally line the inside of your uterus instead grow outside of the organ.
Over time, these misplaced tissues in your pelvic cavity, which react to your menstrual cycles, can form adhesions, or scar tissue. In many cases, these adhesions form in the cul-de-sac, which is a space behind your uterus. When this happens, intercourse can tug on these tissues and lead to deep pain during sex.
The treatment for this often involves laparoscopic surgery to remove the adhesions.
One of the more common vaginal health issues is bacterial vaginosis, which affects at least one-third of women. This bacterial infection, which comes from an imbalance of bacteria around your vagina, can lead to itching and burning around your genitalia, as well as painful sex. (For a more detailed explanation of bacterial vaginosis, check out this previous blog.)
Fortunately, this issue is simple to clear up with a course of antibiotics.
While not all that common, vaginismus is centered around painful sex. Vaginismus is a condition in which you have a strong fear of penetration and your vaginal muscles involuntarily contract. This fear often stems from trauma, and it frequently leads to women avoiding sex altogether.
As you can see, there are many issues that can lead to painful sex, and the most important step you can take is to sit down with us to discuss the issue so we can find a solution. To reclaim your sex life, we invite you to contact Kinwest OBGYN to schedule an appointment with one of our women’s health experts.
