Back toUpdated on October 23, 2024
Pain and the many other possible symptoms that can result from having endometriosis can make sex challenging. Watch Kevin Windom, MD, discuss how endometriosis impacts sex, and what couples can do.
Medically reviewed in January 2020.
Transcript
[SOFT ROCK MUSIC] Oftentimes, women have pain with intercourse.
And there's not much of a communication with their partner over the pain, because that can ruin intimacy.
And so sometimes, I'm the first person they say that they have pain with intercourse, and their partners don't know this.
Most patients with endometriosis have pain with intercourse. Now, there's many a patients who are just having pain,
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.
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.
It's that they have more pain with intercourse the week before their period. Some patients have pain the entire cycle,
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
concerning for endometriosis. Other patients can have pain with bowel movements, especially on their period, and some people can have pain
in certain positions, especially on their period, and those are also worrisome signs of endometriosis.
