Intercourse should not hurt. I am surprised at how many patients I see who have been suffering for years with painful intercourse of some kind. There are many reasons why someone might be suffering from painful intercourse. For example, lack of lubrication, vaginal muscle tension, endometriosis, vaginal infections, and structural abnormalities are all possible reasons for painful intercourse. Whether you experience pain with penetration, throughout the vagina or deep in your pelvis, it should be taken seriously and addressed by a medical professional.
Some health professionals may suggest that these problems are psychological and require longer term psychological counseling to fix the problem. This may be true in some cases, but while those issues are being unraveled in therapy, a woman can actually treat her symptoms and , in many cases, see tangible and rewarding results in a matter of months.
The women we see at The Medical Center for Female Sexuality tell us heartbreaking stories about how painful intercourse effects their romantic relationships, and how the inability to have rewarding sex with someone they care about feeds insecurity and loss of self-esteem. Perhaps these feelings send women for psychological counseling. Working on what’s going on emotionally while exploring what’s happening to the body is a good recipe for success.
In fact, in my line of work I have evidence that one might want to start with the physical and add the psychological to enhance understanding and accelerate results! Either way, painful sex needs to be purged from the sex life of every woman, in any way possible. (And there are numerous possible ways!)