Dr. Steven R. Goldstein MD
What is Dyspareunia?
Dr. Steven R. Goldstein MD is a past President of the International Menopause Society, a Certified Menopause Practitioner, and a Menopause Specialist in NYC What is Dyspareunia? It is defined as painful intercourse for women who are in menopause. This pain occurs just before, during, or after intercourse.
The cause of Dyspareunia, painful intercourse, is vaginal atrophy due to a lack of estrogen during menopause. During vaginal atrophy there is a thinning, drying, and inflammation of the vaginal walls. This not only leads to painful intercourse, but to vulvovaginal and urogenital changes and a plethora of other changes, including dyspareunia.
Symptoms of vaginal atrophy are dryness, burning, itching, discharge, burning and urgency with urination, recurrent urinary tract infections, urinary incontinence, light bleeding after intercourse, painful intercourse, discomfort during intercourse, shortening or tightening of the vaginal canal.
Don’t be embarrassed to seek help for this condition or fear that intimacy is over for you. One of the treatments Dr Goldstein, uses to help combat menopause symptoms like dyspareunia is hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
The form of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) used is SERMs (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators). Ospemifene is an oral SERM for Dyspareunia of Menopause. It was originally developed for osteoporosis and has estrogenic effects
on bone, lipids, and vaginal tissue while remaining antiestrogenic or neutral in the breast and endometrium respectively. This means that Ospemifene is like estrogen for the bones, cholesterol and vaginal tissue, providing the benefits of estrogen to them. However, it will not promote estrogen for the breast or uterus, decreasing any risk of cancer. Multiple phase 3 clinical trials resulted in FDA approval of Ospemifene for moderate to severe dyspareunia as a result of menopause.
It is important that each woman be examined individually since each patient is unique, her symptoms and health history different. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is not a one size fits all solution If you are a woman going through the menopause and one of your symptoms is painful intercourse (dyspareunia), then schedule a consultation with Dr Steven R. Goldstein MD, a Menopause Specialist in NYC.