BabyBearsMom
12-13-2010, 01:12 PM
Hi Ladies,
I wanted to share my story so that maybe some other women going through something similar might take comfort in it or be able to do what I have done. After DD was born, DH and I were completely unable to have intercourse. Every time we tried, I was in agony. Not discomfort, agony. Like screaming, crying, worst pain of my life kind of pain. I thought it was just because I was nursing. It didn't get better. I tried all the advice from this board, nothing worked. I thought that I was a freak, something was wrong with me and would cry thinking that we would never be able to try for another baby or that DH would finally get fed up with his "broken" wife (my term, never his, he was always patient and understanding) and leave me. Finally, at my OB-GYN appointment, they were asking me the standard new mom questions and asked "are you and your husband able to have some alone time." I just burst into tears and the midwife, somewhat shocked because I don't tend to be an emotional person, asked what was going on. When I told her, she took a look and said that I had vaginal atrophy. She prescribed an estrogen cream that I had to use every day for a week and then 3x/week for the following 5 weeks. I was hesitant to use it because I don't take medication, and am particularly weary about hormonal therapy due to concerns about cancer (breast and cervical cancer run in my family). But, I was desperate, since the lack of intimacy was making DH and I snappish at each other. So I used the cream as directed. After the first week, he was able to penetrate but we couldn't complete. It took a few weeks, but now we are on week 4 and everything is completely back to normal...in fact, better than normal. I realized how much I missed that intimacy and DH and I have been like teenagers ever since :p
Anyway, I just wanted to write this in case someone else is having pain from intercourse and is just assuming that the cause is breast feeding. It can be something else and there is a way to fix it. So please don't be embarassed to talk to your doctor about it.
-BBM
I wanted to share my story so that maybe some other women going through something similar might take comfort in it or be able to do what I have done. After DD was born, DH and I were completely unable to have intercourse. Every time we tried, I was in agony. Not discomfort, agony. Like screaming, crying, worst pain of my life kind of pain. I thought it was just because I was nursing. It didn't get better. I tried all the advice from this board, nothing worked. I thought that I was a freak, something was wrong with me and would cry thinking that we would never be able to try for another baby or that DH would finally get fed up with his "broken" wife (my term, never his, he was always patient and understanding) and leave me. Finally, at my OB-GYN appointment, they were asking me the standard new mom questions and asked "are you and your husband able to have some alone time." I just burst into tears and the midwife, somewhat shocked because I don't tend to be an emotional person, asked what was going on. When I told her, she took a look and said that I had vaginal atrophy. She prescribed an estrogen cream that I had to use every day for a week and then 3x/week for the following 5 weeks. I was hesitant to use it because I don't take medication, and am particularly weary about hormonal therapy due to concerns about cancer (breast and cervical cancer run in my family). But, I was desperate, since the lack of intimacy was making DH and I snappish at each other. So I used the cream as directed. After the first week, he was able to penetrate but we couldn't complete. It took a few weeks, but now we are on week 4 and everything is completely back to normal...in fact, better than normal. I realized how much I missed that intimacy and DH and I have been like teenagers ever since :p
Anyway, I just wanted to write this in case someone else is having pain from intercourse and is just assuming that the cause is breast feeding. It can be something else and there is a way to fix it. So please don't be embarassed to talk to your doctor about it.
-BBM