When Sex Hurts : A Woman's Guide to Banishing Sexual Pain

by Goldstein, Andrew; Pukall, Caroline; Goldstein, Irwin

• ISBN13: 9780738213989
• ISBN10: 0738213985
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-01-11
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

While dyspareunia (or, painful sex) is estimated to affect millions of women, it is a condition that causes embarrassment and silence--often going undiscussed or undiagnosed. And while more doctors are beginning to recognize sexual pain as a physiological, not a psychological, condition, most are still quick to prescribe antidepressants and numbing agents to mask the pain instead of treating its cause. Now, Director of the Centers for Vulvovaginal Disorders Dr. Andrew Goldstein and leading researcher Dr. Caroline Pukall tackle the stereotypes, myths, and realities of dyspareunia, addressing its more than twenty different causes and offering the most up-to-date research. This book provides the long-awaited answers to so many women's questions.Frank, authoritative, and accessible,When Sex Hurtshelps women understand why they hurt and what can be done about it.

Author Biography

Andrew Goldstein, MD, is a national medical expert on sexual pain and dysfunction. He is the President-elect of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and is on faculty at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He lives in Maryland.

Caroline Pukall, PhD, is a leading researcher of women’s sexual function and dysfunction and an associate professor at Queen’s University. She lives in Ontario.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. xv
Essential Background Information: Getting Started on Your Road to Recovery
Painful Sex: An Overview	p. 3
It Really, Really Hurts: Understanding the Phenomenon of Pain	p. 21
Listen to Me, Doctor!	p. 33
Containing the Damage to Your Relationship	p. 51
The Root of the Problem: Causes and Treatments of Sexual Pain
Generalized Vulvodynia: When It Hurts All the Time	p. 65
When Every Touch Hurts: Provoked Vestibulodynia (Vulvar Vestibulitis Syndrome)	p. 78
Could It Be an Infection?	p. 101
Getting on Your Nerves: Pudendal Neuralgia	p. 117
Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Symptom in Search of a Cause	p. 127
When the Pain Is Skin Deep	p. 147
Delving into the Past: The Role of Trauma and Abuse in Sexual Pain	p. 159
And Baby Makes Three: The Role of Childbirth in Sexual Pain	p. 164
Physical Therapy: The Universal Treatment	p. 174
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Working It Out in Your Head	p. 184
When the Pain is Gone
Rebuilding Your Life	p. 197
When Sex Is Good	p. 203
Looking Toward the Future	p. 215
Appendix: Pain Diary	p. 223
Notes	p. 225
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.