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 …
Continue ReadingHow long is too long: the average time for intercourse.
Okay ladies (and the men who may be looking over their shoulder.) The average time for intercourse is 3-5 minutes. So if your partner is thrusting inside of you for 25 minutes and your vagina hurts or gets sore, there is nothing wrong with your vagina. There is something wrong with your timing! Now…lets respond …
Continue Reading“IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD!” and other myths about painful intercourse.
I’m tired of doctors telling patients “it’s all in your head,” a quick response to a problem because they do not know what to say or how to help. Although this may be true in some circumstances, shouldn’t doctors acknowledge what a patient tells you? How do you know what they are feeling, emotionally or …
Continue ReadingMaintaining cervical health.
We happened upon this easy-to-read article on maintaining cervical health and found it to be a reasonable answer to the question of how often should a woman get a Pap smear. This is particularly relevant given the report in the September 2009 Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggesting some women can wait three years in …
Continue ReadingIs sex therapy psychological or physical? Yes!
Often sexual problems are the result of both physical obstacles and emotional issues. Before committing to sex therapy to uncover the causes and stresses connected to sexual dysfunction, you may want to rule out any physical conditions that can be treated with relative ease and in a short time period. In recent years, research into …
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