Sex definitely shouldn’t mean “pain.”
Unfortunately, up to 50% of women experience pain during sex at least once in their life. Pain during sex can result in pregnancy difficulty, for it can be a sign of an underlying condition, which can be detrimental for your fertility.
There’s also the issue of not being able to tolerate having sex. If this is the case, then you might avoid intercourse even during ovulation, thus killing your chances of getting pregnant.
Luckily, this is often harmless, so as long as you can gather patience and treat it, it shouldn’t be a problem.
What is dyspareunia?
Dyspareunia is the name given to the medical condition describing pain either during or after having sex; it can also occur in both times.
You can feel the pain around your vulva, at the same time or separately. This includes the area around the clitoris and the labia. Also, it can extend to the general area of the vulva and even the pelvic region.
It can affect both men and women, but it’s more prevalent in the latter since they have more features that can cause dyspareunia.
Can ovulation cause dyspareunia?
For some women, ovulation is an uncomfortable or painful period. This process can be mildly painful or quite uncomfortable, and this sensation can last as little as a few minutes or as long as hours.
The follicular fluid surrounds women’s eggs on the ovaries. When they ovulate, both the egg and fluid release and descend, which can irritate the linings on the abdominal cavity. This is the cause of dyspareunia only during ovulation.
When this is the reason, the pain can only show for short periods, and you can simply wait for it to disappear and resume your sex life.
This type of dyspareunia rarely requires treatment, and if the pain isn’t too intense, you can make it go away by taking a warm bath or getting a massage from your partner.
Dyspareunia causes that can affect fertility
There are many possible causes of dyspareunia. However, neither the condition nor these causes pose any risk for your ability to get pregnant.
With that in mind, other factors can affect your fertility and cause dyspareunia during ovulation.
Dyspareunia from these conditions can be treated with medication, surgery, or even lifestyle changes. However, fertility issues may or may not be corrected depending on the cause.
• Dryness
Vaginal dryness is the inability to moisturize your vagina during sex, and this can occur due to a lack of sexual arousal or hormonal shifts.
Pain from dryness ranges from just discomfort to sharp pain, which is more likely when your estrogen levels are low. This pain shows during penetration, and they can signal imbalances in your hormones or side effects from medication.
• Endometriosis
Endometriosis is an abnormal growth of tissue from your uterus forming outside the area. This can make ovulation and menstruation a lot more painful and having sex during these periods can awaken lots of pain as well.
If this is the case, you feel a deeper pain when penetration occurs. If you experience pain when urinating, strong cramps during your period, and general pain around the pelvis, then it’s likely you have endometriosis.
• PID
Pelvic inflammatory disease is another common cause of pain during sex, and this pain is felt deeply instead of during entry. The general symptoms for PID are similar to endometriosis. However, PID is caused by a bacterial infection.
• Cysts
Ovarian cysts aren’t necessarily a problem for a woman’s fertility, but they can originate from conditions that do affect a woman’s fertility, like endometriosis.
These cysts don’t always cause pain during sex, but the more troublesome ones can make sex painful. They can also require surgery, but this is rare, and most cysts will simply go away with time.
• Adhesion
These are tissue bands that form within or between different organs, thus adhering them. These growths can cause both dyspareunia and pregnancy complications, including infertility and even chronic miscarriages.
Adhesions are formally known as Asherman’s syndrome. They can originate from procedures inside the uterus, like D&C’s after a miscarriage or hysteroscopic myomectomies.
That means you should see your doctor if you start experiencing pain after these types of surgery.
• Fibroids
Fibroids are benign tumors growing both inside or on the walls of women’s uterus. They can result in pain during sex.
While they can grow anywhere around your uterus, the most problematic ones locate around the cervix, and they’re more likely to cause pain during sex.
Another symptom of fibroids is spotting both during and after intercourse.
• Agenesis
Vaginal agenesis refers to an undeveloped vagina. It’s an extremely rare condition, with just about 0.2% of women presenting it; of course, it results in pain during sex.
Surgery is possible to correct the issue and permit a regular sex life. However, many women who suffer from vaginal agenesis also sport similar malformations on the uterus, or it could be completely absent.
If they have ovaries, surrogacy is an option, but these women can’t get pregnant.
• Over-tight or intact hymen
The hymen has a small hole, which keeps stretching with time. However, the hymen sometimes fails to stretch naturally, or it could be thicker than it should be.
If this happens, intercourse can be very painful and having a baby can be more difficult. Luckily, surgery can fix the issue and leave your future fertility unaffected.
How do You Make Sex Easy?
You need to look for better lubrication when having sex. However, it’s not a good idea to take a look at every product. You would want a natural aphrodisiac like Spanish Fly Pro that comes with no side effects. It increases the libido levels in your body and brings you in the mood for it. Also, with natural vaginal lubrication, you don’t have to worry about the pain.
