Endometriosis and sex

Endometriosis is characterized by the abnormal growth of endometrial cells outside of the uterus, often resulting in pelvic pain. Kevin Windom, MD, explains ways the disease affects intercourse, and why open communication is important.

Transcript

00:00

[SOFT ROCK MUSIC] Oftentimes, women have pain with intercourse.

00:08

And there's not much of a communication with their partner over the pain, because that can ruin intimacy.

00:15

And so sometimes, I'm the first person they say that they have pain with intercourse, and their partners don't know this.

00:26

Most patients with endometriosis have pain with intercourse. Now, there's many a patients who are just having pain,

00:32

and they don't have intercourse, and they're-- you know, they're not sexually active, they've never been sexually active. They're just having pain.

00:39

But for the patient who is sexually active, 90% of those patients do have pain with intercourse. And the pain that they usually have is cyclical in nature.

00:48

It's that they have more pain with intercourse the week before their period. Some patients have pain the entire cycle,

00:55

and those are oftentimes patients with a little bit more advanced endometriosis. But the patients who have pain, especially pain with deep penetration, that's the one that's most

01:03

concerning for endometriosis. Other patients can have pain with bowel movements, especially on their period, and some people can have pain

01:12

in certain positions, especially on their period, and those are also worrisome signs of endometriosis.