Jenny and Matt are madly in love. But when they take their relationship to the next level, they discover how difficult physical intimacy can be! Jenny finds intercourse painful and wonders if love always hurts, or if eventually the pain will go away. Matt wants to make Jenny happy, but experiences his own difficulties as …
Continue ReadingOsphena — Oral medication for painful intercourse.
By far the most common cause of painful intercourse in a menopausal woman is vulvar and vaginal atrophy. During menopause estrogen levels plummet and can result in severe vulvar and vaginal dryness. Some of my patients have described intercourse as feeling like someone was rubbing sandpaper in their vagina. Another patient described her vagina as …
Continue ReadingMYTH: Wine helps painful intercourse.
I am always surprised at how many patients I see who tell me that their gynecologist recommends they have a glass of wine before intercourse. They say it’s to help them relax and that it would help with the pain they experience during intercourse. Not only does this not work, but the patient is left …
Continue ReadingSeeing vaginismus everywhere.
My husband claims I see vaginismus everywhere. Okay. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I do…it kills me. When I see a woman who is totally avoidant of relationships I suspect she is fearful of penetration. When I see a young girl fearful of tampons, I suspect she is panicked at the idea of putting something inside. …
Continue ReadingEcho: that pain in your vagina is NOT in your head!
If you search our archive, you will find a number of blogs discussing this topic. Although this subject has been touched upon, we continue to hear it from our patients each and every week, and not only are patients getting frustrated, but I am too. How can any practitioner, therapist or doctor see an ulcerated …
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