6 Reasons Your Vagina Hurts

Your lady parts will thank you for reading this.

There’s the kind of down-there pain that follows over-zealous sex—but then there are other types that are a bit more serious. And unlike diagnosing, say, high cholesterol, identifying what's causing your hoo-ha to hurt isn't always easy. Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., clinical professor of obstestrics and gynecology at Yale School of Medicine, explains six of the most common causes of below-the-belt pain—and what to do if you experience these symptoms.

1.  Herpes
No one wants to believe they've contracted an STI, but according to the Center for Disease Control, about one out of every six American adults will get it in their lifetime. "Patients will call me at 1 in the morning and say, 'I found a lump on my bottom,'" says Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., clinical professor of obstestrics and gynecology at Yale School of Medicine. "My first question—after I groggily wake up—is, 'Does it hurt like a son of a bitch?' If the answer is yes, it's likely herpes. And if the answer is no, it can't be herpes." Visible blisters and intense pain accompany the STD. If you spot a bump or blister down below that doesn't belong, contact your ob-gyn immediately. While there's no cure for herpes, your doctor can start you on medications that will reduce your frequency of outbreaks and help you manage your pain.

2. Yeast Infections
"While these don't usually give you pain, per se, they can make you feel dry and itchy in the vagina, which some people will interpret as pain," says Minkin. Chances are good—three in four, in fact—that you'll experience a yeast infection in your lifetime. While you can treat a yeast infection with OTC medications (and may choose to if you've experienced this type of infection before), it's best to seek a doctor's opinion if this is your first time dealing with the condition. Your ob-gyn will perform a pelvic exam and prescribe you an anti-fungal cream to use until your symptoms are gone.

3. Vaginal Dryness
You may think this is only a problem for post-menopausal women, but you’d be wrong. Thanks to low-estrogen birth control pills, many young women experience vaginal dryness, too, which can make sex uncomfortable and even painful. "Estrogen is a moisturizer," says Minkin. "So if a birth control pill is low in estrogen, your vagina's moisture will also be low." If you feel like your va-jay-jay doesn't lubricate the way it used to, it might be time to check in with your doctor. "It's an easy fix because we can treat you with topical estrogen or put you on a higher-estrogen birth control pill," says Minkin.
RELATED: How Your Vagina Changes in Your 20s, 30s, and 40s

4. His Penis
While you may be inclined to blame your own anatomy, Minkin would encourage you to look at your partner, too. "Is it really pain in your vagina that you're experiencing, or is it pain during penetration—something you feel inside your belly?" asks Minkin. "It can be very hard to differentiate." Larger men can be, er, difficult to take in—and it may be time to switch positions to something more comfortable. If you're confident this isn't the issue, read on …
RELATED: Your Vagina On Sex

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5.  Endometriosis or Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
If you have pain during penetration and your period, your symptoms may be pointing you toward endometriosis (when the tissue that lines your uterus grows in other spots) or pelvic inflammatory disease (an infection of the female reproductive organs). "For both of these, a patient might say that she has pain in her vagina, but when I examine her, I'll press my abdominal hand down and mash on her ovaries, and that's when she'll say she feels pain," says Minkin. Another symptom of these conditions? Excessive bleeding when Aunt Flo is in town. (So fun, right?) After a pelvic exam and ultrasound to determine whether you're suffering from one of these conditions, your doctor will likely put you on a course of painkillers and hormone therapy.

6. Vulvodynia
"About nine percent of women will have this kind of pain in their lives," says Minkin, describing the discomfort as occurring during penetration or even when you're inserting a tampon. For some women, pings of pain are spontaneous and unrelated to sex or touching the area in any way. "It's mysterious in that it can come and go," says Minkin. Doctors who diagnose vulvodynia will often treat it with topical medications such as lidocaine, which are also used for fibromyalgia.

Bottom line? "If everything's okay, it should be better in a day or two," says Minkin. "Almost anything, as long as it's not extraordinarily painful and it goes away, I'm not worried about. Anything else [that lasts longer], see your doctor."
RELATED: 11 Ways to Keep Your Vagina Happy and Healthy

By Jillian Kramer

Original Post Found Here:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/vagina-pain?icid=OBtrafficMH_TBD_SB4

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Your Vagina On Sex

From the first sexy thought to that ultra-satisfying orgasm, here's what's happening below the belt.

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Women’s Health and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) teamed up on an exclusive survey that revealed how much women know about their own anatomy. The answer, sadly: Not a whole lot. To help you better understand your nether regions, we created an all-inclusive guide to your private parts in our November 2014 issue. This article is part of that package. 
When something sexy piques a man's interest, he gets a boner. What happens to you is less outwardly obvious but just as stimulating...

• The second your brain senses some potential action, your blood vessels expand and direct extra flow south. The increased circulation spurs vaginal secretions—natural lube made up of proteins and amino acids—and a plumping of the vulva. Thousands of nerve endings in the vagina's most sensitive areas light up.
   
• Tissues in your clitoris swell and stiffen. Yes, we're talking mini hard-on. If you're, like, totally turned on, your clit can triple in size. (It takes a while post-nooky for it to shrink back down, though; during this interim, it can be difficult for some women to urinate.)
   
• Your cervix softens and, if it or a major surrounding nerve is stroked by a penis or toy during sex, it may light up the same pleasure areas in your brain that are activated by foreplay.
   
• In about 10 percent of women, pelvic floor muscle contractions during orgasm can propel a few drops of clear fluid out of the urethra. Don't sweat it: "Female ejaculation" is not pee; it's made up of natural sugars and prostatic acid phosphatase, a chemical also found in semen. Odds are, your partner thinks it's superhot.

By Malia Jacobson 

Original Post Found Here:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/your-vagina-on-sex?icid=OBtrafficMH_TBD_SB4

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How Your Food Impacts Your Vagina

Get ready for seriously surprising intel.

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Ever nosh on asparagus to have your hoo-ha—and we're not just talking your pee—smell funny? Well, that's one way to think about that whole "you are what you eat" connection. And it turns out, for women, it's a pretty important one.

Healthy vaginas have a naturally acidic pH, as well as a host of healthy bacteria that ward off infections and keep everything humming along as designed, says Mary Rosser, M.D., Ph.D., ob-gyn at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

But the foods you eat can influence that pH, changing the way your nether region smells (and even tastes). For instance, spices, onions, garlic, red meat, dairy, asparagus, broccoli, and alcohol can all affect the natural balance you’ve got going on, while fruits and fruit juices may turn things especially sweet, Rosser says. But whatever the effect, it will only last for two to three days after you eat your fill.

MORE: This Is What Happens When Women Look At Their Vaginas for the First Time

So when it comes to eating for two (you and your vagina, that is), she suggests filling up on fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains, and plenty of water. And if you like Greek yogurt, all the better. "Yogurt with live and active cultures are probiotics and may be involved in helping the vagina maintain a healthy acidic pH and balance," she says.

MORE: 10 Wonderful Things You Should Know About Your Vagina

And finally, you may want to cut back on sugar for your vagina's sake: Women with uncontrolled high blood sugar due to diabetes may be at an increased risk for yeast infections, says Rosser.

MORE:  What Do You Think a "Normal" Woman Looks Like Down There?

By K. Aleisha Fetters

Original Post Found Here:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/vaginal-ph-levels-and-food?icid=OBtrafficMH_TBD_SB4 

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What Do You Think a “Normal” Woman Looks Like Down There?

THIS crazy factor will probably affect your answer

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Well, this is disturbing: Seeing images of surgically altered vaginas can impact what women view as “normal” and “ideal” down there, according to a new study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

MORE: What’s Your Vagina IQ?
For the study, a group of 97 women ages 18-30 were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a group that looked at pictures of surgically modified vaginas, a group that looked at pictures of vaginas that hadn’t undergone surgery, or a group that didn’t look at any images at all. After that, all three groups were asked to look at 20 images of vaginas (half of which had been surgically altered) and rate how closely they resembled  “normal” female genitalia, as well as “society’s ideal.”

Turns out, the group that had seen the surgically altered privates were more likely to rate them as “normal” (whereas the control group tended to rate them “less normal”). What’s more, all three groups said that the lady parts that had undergone plastic surgery were closer to “society’s ideal” (although the effect was strongest in the group that had first seen the post-surgery photos).

MORE: Female Anatomy: Your Ultimate Guide
This could help explain why labiaplasty (a procedure where the labia are reduced in size and made symmetrical) is the most popular cosmetic surgery women get for their nether-regions, say the study authors. Plastic surgeons performed five times as many labiaplasties in 2010 as they did in 2001.

Of course, you can’t know for sure whether you’ve seen a surgically-altered vagina or not and how it may have affected your idea of what your nether region is supposed to look like. But what you can know: The definition of “normal” down there encompasses a huge range of different looks—and plastic surgery comes with the potential for scary side effects like bleeding and wound infections. All the more reason to embrace your lady parts as-is.
MORE: Troubleshooting Your Vagina

By Robin Hilmantel

 

Original Post Found Here:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/sex-and-relationships/normal-vagina

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7 Ways to Keep Your Vagina Young

(Photo: Getty Images)

Just as your face starts sagging, so your lady parts will inevitably age over time. One critical difference: There are a million products to help keep your face looking supple, but your vagina is kind of left to fend for itself. “Gynecologists don’t tell women these things are going to happen, and then women come in shocked that their vagina and vulva have completely changed over the course of a couple years,” says Karen Boyle, M.D., an expert in female sexual health and vaginal rejuvenation.

Beginning as early as your 20s, you may lose fat in your outer labia and mons pubis (the mound of fatty tissue above your lips). “Those areas can start to sag—it’s volume loss, just like you’d have in your breasts or face as you age,” says Boyle. That’s often followed by changes inside your vagina (hello, stretching!), and as you approach menopause, the lining of your vagina starts to thin, blood flow decreases, and your pelvic floor muscles weaken, says cosmetic gynecologist Marco Pelosi, III, M.D.

And a sagging hoo-ha can be a confidence killer in the bedroom. A recent study in Psychology of Women Quarterly found that women who were dissatisfied with the appearance of their genitals had lower sexual self-esteem and satisfaction. “Not only do things look different, but things feel different,” says Boyle. 

That may explain why vaginal rejuvenation is becoming increasingly popular—the number of procedures performed in the U.S. jumped 64 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. But you don’t have to seek plastic surgery to keep your lady parts looking and feeling young. Instead, try these simple strategies. (And be sure to steer clear of these 10 Things to Never Put Near Your Vagina.)

Avoid the Yo-Yo
If you gain and lose, you can expect your vulva to flop. “The more swings in the size of an area, the more stretching,” says Pelosi. Equally important is maintaining a healthy weight. If you’re super skinny, your private parts can start to look as gaunt as your face as soon as aging sets in. “We see women who are 35 years old, but look much older because they have no fat in their face,” says Boyle. “Similarly, the labia majora can take on a saggy appearance—and once you lose that fat, you’re not going to gain it back.”

Kick up Your Kegels
You’ve probably read about the merits of Kegels a million times: tighter vagina! Better sex!—but there’s a good chance you’re still doing them wrong. “Women don’t do enough of them, and they don’t hold them for long enough,” says Pelosi. The routine he suggests: Contract your pelvic floor muscle five seconds, relax, and repeat 100 times, three times a day. Sound daunting? You can make Kegels fun by squeezing a few reps in during sex. You can imagine pinching your partner’s penis with those muscles, which helps you target the right spot (and gives your guy an extra, pleasurable sensation), Boyle says. (Also, keep in mind these 8 Things Men Wish Women Knew About Sex.)

Ditch Your Office Chair
For a little extra workout—for your vaginal muscles, that is—trade your desk chair for a Swiss ball for 15 minutes a day. This forces the muscles of your pelvic floor to contract, without doing a single squeeze, says Pelosi. “It feels like nothing is happening, but it’s a very efficient way to keep the pelvic floor toned,” he says.

Stay Sexually Active
The whole “use or lose it” idea applies to your vag, ladies. “If you’re not getting stimulation and increased blood flow to that area, the tissue and muscle can change,” says Boyle. Blood flow is critical for lubrication (and orgasm)—which you naturally start to lose as you age. Plus, if you and your guy aren’t worried about pregnancy, his semen may have an anti-aging effect, thanks to the hormones, fatty acids, and anti-inflammatory compounds, say Spanish scientists. (And speaking of sexual satisfaction, here are 7 Tips for a Better Orgasm.)

Re-Think Long Bike Rides
Training for a triathlon? Know this: The constant friction of crotch-to-seat contact can pull and stretch your labia, especially if you have naturally pronounced outer lips, says Christine Hamori, M.D., director of Cosmetic Surgery + Skin Spa in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Stick to Mild Cleansers
Scrubbing the living daylights out of your labia is not only unnecessary—a gentle cleansing will do, really!—but harsh soaps can leave you dry and irritated below the belt. “The labial tissue is so sensitive,” says Boyle. “You see women with very dry facial skin because they overuse products that suck water out of the cells. That can happen down there too.” (Ew! Learn more on The Down Low on Down-There Grooming here.)

Switch Things up in the Sack
Take the reins and climb on top: “Being on bottom can sometimes cause stretching,” says Boyle. Why? Because your partner—not you—is usually controlling the pace and intensity of the thrusting, which means he may accidentally push past what’s physically comfortable for you. By contrast, when you’re on top, you’re in control—and “it’s much easier to contract those muscles when you’re on top,” says Boyle.

By Laura Tedesco

Original Post Found Here:

https://www.yahoo.com/health/7-ways-to-keep-your-vagina-young-105445586798.html

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