You’re in the mood and your partner is ready, so you make a beeline to the bed with plans to rock the sheets. But then you feel it—a dull ache, an itchy rash, or a searing out-of-no where jab. When you’ve always enjoyed sex and suddenly it hurts, it can be confusing and worrisome.
Medical conditions, some drugs, and your own anatomy are some of the reasons why sex hurts sometimes. The good news: all of these symptoms can be treated.
1. The outside of your vagina is crazy-irritated
Possible cause: Personal care products. This isn’t the kind of burning love anyone hopes to experience. But if irritation and redness on your outer labia or vulva are keeping you from enjoying the action, blame a bad reaction on a personal care product that made contact with the area—such as soap, body wash, massage oil, or even your toilet paper. Dyes, perfumes, and other additives in these products can trigger vaginitis, or inflammation of the skin around the vagina.
Get back in the sack: Speed healing by leaving the area alone for a day or two until the irritation subsides. (Dabbing on a lotion or cream can just make the inflammation worse.) Then, take inventory of the products you use below the belt and swap out items with chemical additives for all-natural ones
2. It itches or stings down there, and there’s discharge
Possible cause: An infection. Discharge can be a tip-off that an infection is causing the pain. The tricky part: figuring out which infection is putting the brakes on your sex life. If the discharge is white, thick, and super itchy, it’s probably a yeast infection, an overgrowth of the yeast that normally colonize the vagina.Another possibility: bacterial vaginosis, which typically has a grayish, watery discharge and a fishy odor. Then there are STDs such as gonorrhea or chlamydia, which often have zero signs but can cause pelvic pain and a greenish-yellow discharge.
Get back in the sack: Check in with your doctor.Though an over-the-counter antifungal cream can cure a yeast infection, it’s best to rule out something more serious right away. Your doc will prescribe an antibiotic for whatever ails you.
3. Your vagina is clamped shut
Possible cause: Vaginismus. If penetration has gone from painful to downright impossible because your vagina is shut tight, it may signal a little-known condition called vaginismus.Characterized by painful, involuntary contraction of the vaginal muscles, the cause is a mystery, though it may be the result of past trauma, like sexual abuseIt’s like your vagina has put up a ‘do not enter’ sign.
Ask your doctor specifically about vaginismus—otherwise, she might just blow it off as anxiety or stress. That would be a shame, because vaginismus is real, and it’s definitely treatable.
4. Your vagina feels like the Sahara
Possible causes: Stress, drugs, or hormones. Vaginal dryness is one of the most common reasons women say they aren’t feeling it during sex. Many things can cause it, such as stress, anxiety, or taking meds like antihistamines, which dry out mucus membranes.
Get back in the sack: Get things gliding again by using a silicone-based motion lotion to supplement your natural lubrication until stress lifts or estrogen production cranks back up. If it’s perimenopause- or menopause-related, the estrogen dip may be permanent. But dryness doesn’t have to be, so ask your doctor about options, like using a prescription vaginal estrogen cream
Source: Naija