Dyspareunia is the medical term for painful intercourse. It is a type of recurrent or persistent pain in the genital areas. This pain can occur during or after sexual intercourse. There are different reasons behind this, ranging from structural problems to psychological concerns. The problem can lessen on having proper treatment, which targets the cause.
Symptoms
There can be the following symptoms if you have dyspareunia.
- You may have pain only during penetration.
- You may have pain with every penetration.
- You may have deep pain during thrusting.
- You may have an aching pain or burning pain.
- You may also have a throbbing pain that lasts for many hours even after intercourse is over.
It is better to consult the best sexologist in Kolkata if you have recurrent pain during sex. If you don’t undergo proper treatment, there can be adverse effects on your sex life, your emotional intimacy and your self-image.
Causes
Whether the pain occurs at entry or with deep thrusting is the factor based on which there is a difference in the physical causes of painful intercourse. There are also different emotional causes for many types of painful intercourse.
Entry Pain
The causes of pain during penetration include:
- Lack of proper lubrication.
Not having enough foreplay can lead to this. In some cases, it may also happen due to a drop in estrogen levels due to menopause, childbirth or breast-feeding. Some medicines including high blood pressure medicines, sedatives, antidepressants, antihistamines and certain birth control pills can affect sexual desire or arousal. This makes sex painful by decreasing lubrication.
- Skin disorder, infection or inflammation.
You can have pain during intercourse due to an infection in your urinary tract or genital area. The reasons for the pain may also be eczema or other skin problems.
- Injury, trauma or irritation. If you face any injury or irritation from an accident, female circumcision, pelvic surgery or episiotomy (the enlargement of the birth canal during childbirth by making a cut), it can also lead to this condition.
- Congenital abnormality. If there is any problem present at birth, dyspareunia can happen.
- Vaginismus. The penetration can be painful if there are involuntary spasms of the vaginal wall muscles.
Deep Pain
If the penetration is deep, there can be deep pain. The causes behind these are:
- Surgeries or medical treatments.
There can be pain during intercourse because of scarring from pelvic surgery including hysterectomy. Some medical treatments may lead to changes, which make sex painful.
- Certain illnesses and conditions.
Some of these are uterine prolapsed, uterine fibroids, irritable bowel syndrome and endometriosis.
Dyspareunia can also happen due to some emotional factors including stress, psychological issues and any history of sexual abuse.
Treatment
The sexology doctors in Kolkata decide the treatment option for dyspareunia based on the cause. It is often found that treating the cause helps to resolve the problem if there is an infection or medical condition behind the problem. There are some medicines that help in the treatment of dyspareunia in women. A few other treatment options are counselling or sex therapy, desensitization therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. Changes in lifestyle and home remedies can also help.