Experiencing painful sex after menopause? If so, it can have a serious impact on sexual health. The dryness and pain from vaginal atrophy causes vaginal pain and reduces your sex drive while affecting your relationships. There’s no reason to slide into your golden years, leaving sexual pleasure behind. In this article, we’ll explain the connection between menopause and painful sex and explore treatment options.
Hormonal Changes
Postmenopausal women know a lot about hormonal changes. In the 4-5 years before menopause, hormone levels fluctuate wildly resulting in a variety of menopausal symptoms, including: (1)
- night sweats or hot flashes
- weight gain
- vaginal dryness
- hot flashes
- low sex drive
- vaginal discharge
- dyspareunia or painful sex
- changed atrial capacity
The biggest culprit for all these menopausal symptoms is low estrogen levels. Estrogen is the key female sex hormone for many bodily functions, including the regulation of the menstrual cycle and fertility.
While it is normal for estrogen to fluctuate during a woman’s menstrual cycle, prolonged low levels push a woman into menopause. Gynecologists and doctors consider a woman to enter menopause after not having a period for 12 months. Some women undergo hormone therapy using topical estrogen cream to balance levels.
Low estrogen levels and painful intercourse
Low estrogen levels reduce the amount of vaginal moisturizer produced. Without natural lubrication, penetration can be painful, possibly tearing the delicate vaginal tissue. Also, a lack of estrogen can change the shape and size of the vagina. Hormones are critical messengers in the body and any change has an effect on physical and mental health.
A woman may find sex painful after menopause, but there may be a lack of real sexual desire. Since estrogen, along with another key female hormone progesterone, regulates fertility, optimal levels naturally lead to the desire for sex. Without the necessary vaginal estrogen, many women may find it physically painful as well as undesirable.
Dyspareunia and menopause
Dyspareunia is the medical term for painful sex. According to Harvard Medical School, dyspareunia is pain before, during or after sex. The cause may be known or unknown and the sexual dysfunction intermittent or continuous. (2)
It’s also not common for women to go long without chronic pain afterward experience a painful flare-up. When the cause of dyspareunia is menopause, the good news is that it is treatable.
Ways to stay sexually healthy
If you’ve stopped having sex after menopause, you’re not alone. But that doesn’t mean you can’t continue healthy sexual activity. The following treatments are available to treat painful sex and menopause. (3)
Vaginal lubricants
Most of the time, sex hurts because of insufficient vaginal lubrication. The most obvious choice is to apply a high quality lubricant. It is recommended that you choose a water-based lubricant to ensure that your body does not react to the ingredients. Lubricants ease the pain of penetration, leading to pleasurable intimacy. Slippery Stuff Brand Lubricants are the number one choice of pelvic floor physical therapists for women with pelvic pain and atrophy.
Vaginal moisturizers
Vaginal moisturizers differ from lubricants in that you use them when you are not engaging in sexual activity. They are vaginal inserts that inject moisture into the sensitive tissue of the vulva and vagina. You put them in your vaginal cavity two or three times a week before bed.
Vaginal therapy with estrogen
ERT adds back the naturally missing hormone. The most common form of supplementation is applying topical estrogen cream or taking an estrogen tablet. Although there is some controversy surrounding ERT due to some evidence suggesting it puts older women at higher risk for blood clots, cancer and other health conditions.
However, a further scientific review showed that the slightly increased risk for postmenopausal women depended on their age. For some, ERT provides more benefits than risks. (4) Before starting estrogen therapy, talk to your health care professional.
Engage in extensive foreplay
Without penetration, it may feel like you’re not having sex. Perhaps, it is time to reconsider sexual intimacy. Foreplay can be just as exciting and end happily for both people. Sometimes we rush to climax when taking the time to enjoy each other makes all the difference.
As you get older, a long kiss may be just what you need. Or proceed to sex by cuddling first. The possibilities for sexual foreplay are endless.
Commit to regular sex
When you don’t have regular sex, especially after menopause, your vagina can change shape. It can become smaller, making penetration painful even if you are aroused. One way of effective treatment is regular sex. Although this may not seem logical, you will begin to see that your vaginal lining has become more elastic and you can handle longer and deeper thrusting. If you’re not in a sexual relationship, vaginal dilation can help keep things casual.
Try vaginal dilators
A proven treatment for treating dyspareunia or painful sex is the use of vaginal dilators. Health professionals have long prescribed pelvic floor physical therapy to help women overcome painful sex.
Vaginal dilators look like sex toys, but they are medical therapy devices that naturally stretch and strengthen the pelvic muscles in the vagina and the vulva area, which includes the external genitalia. Vaginal dilators are sometimes called vaginal trainers because you use them to “train” your vaginal tissue back into great shape.
Vaginal physical therapy increases blood flow to the tissues to rejuvenate and soften them until they become supple and strong. Like any type of treatment, it may take weeks or months before your vagina is ready for pain-free penetration.
One of the frequently asked questions about expanders is: they work? In a clinical trial, all participants reported an 80% reduction in pain after using VuVa™ magnetic vaginal dilators. Vaginal dilators improve sexual function with little to no side effects. Each set comes in graduated sizes, making it easy to start treatment at your comfort level in the privacy of your own home.
Enjoyable sex after menopause is possible for every woman. You can overcome painful intercourse and have a healthy and fulfilling sex life. The first step is to talk to your doctor to find out if vaginal dilators are right for you.
Useful VuVa Links:
7 reasons for a tight vagina and how to relax
How to use vaginal dilators
How to relax vaginal muscles, vagina and sex
Vaginal Stretching – Keeping in shape with dilators
Do dilators really work? Yes, and they can improve your sex life!
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