FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Answers About Women's Sex Problems From Dr. Marjorie Green

Marjorie Green, MD, directs the Mount Auburn Menopause and Female Sexual Medicine Center and is a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Q: Why does it hurt when I have intercourse?

A: Painful intercourse can have a wide range of physical or psychological causes, from bacterial infection to anxiety to hormonal changes due to menopause. If sex hurts, see your gynecologist and discuss the pain in as much detail as you can. Jot down basics such as:

• When the pain began
• Where you feel it (at the opening of your vagina? deep inside?)
• The nature of the pain (is it sharp? dull?)
• Whether the pain starts and stops with penetration
• If you've noticed any unusual vaginal discharge

Q: I told my physician that sex hurts and she told me that I should just try to relax. Should I get a second opinion?

A: Absolutely! Sex should not hurt. Discuss the pain with a gynecologist as soon as possible, and if he or she can't help you, ask for a referral to a doctor who specializes in sexual pain.

Q: I've been treated repeatedly for the same vaginal infection, but sex still hurts. Could there be another reason for my pain?

A: Ask your gynecologist to examine you more thoroughly to ensure that you're being treated for the right problem. For instance, what may resemble a garden-variety yeast infection could be trichomoniasis, noninfectious vaginitis, or even an allergic reaction to yeast medications, a skin condition, or a reaction to your birth control. If your gynecologist can't find the source of your pain—or insists on the original diagnosis—make an appointment with a sexual pain specialist.

Next: My vagina clenches up during intercourse and it's really painful. What should I do?

Q: My vagina clenches up during intercourse and it's really painful. What should I do?

A: You may have vaginismus, a reflexive tightening of vaginal and pelvic floor muscles. Vaginismus is thought to be the body's way of bracing itself against sexual pain. Women who suffer vaginismus shouldn't force themselves to endure intercourse; further anxiety, stress, and genital pain can cause the body to intensify its protective response. Your gynecologist can investigate the underlying cause of your muscle spasms and, if necessary, refer you to a sex therapist.


Q: My vagina itches, burns, and hurts constantly. What's going on?

A: You may have vulvodynia, a widely unrecognized chronic pain condition that affects an estimated six million American women. The cause of vulvodynia is still a mystery, but what sufferers have in common is periodic or constant burning, stinging, itching, and irritation of the vulva, clitoris, perineum, pubic area, inner thighs, and/or the outer rim of the vagina (the vestibule). Few gynecologists know about vulvodynia, so you may want to see a sex therapist, pelvic floor specialist, or neurologist. For more information, go to the National Vulvodynia Association's website, NVA.org.


Q: How do doctors diagnose and treat vulvodynia?

A: Before a doctor diagnoses you with this chronic pain condition, other causes need to be ruled out—such as vaginal infections, dermatologic diseases, vaginal atrophy, and fibromyalgia. Your gynecologist should ask a battery of questions about your sexual health and history, examine different areas of your vagina, and ask you to rate the pain with each touch. There's no FDA-approved treatment, but your doctor may recommend one among a range of vulvodynia solutions.

Next: It hurts deep in my abdomen when I have intercourse. What could be the problem?

Q: It hurts deep in my abdomen when I have intercourse. What could be the problem?

A: A wide range of health conditions can cause deep abdominal pain during sex. It could be a urinary tract infection, and other causes could destroy fertility if they go unchecked (such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis). Deep abdominal pain requires immediate medical attention, especially if accompanied by fever, nausea, and vomiting.


Q: How can birth control pills affect my sex life?

A: Birth control pills can reduce your capacity for lubrication and cause vaginal atrophy, a thinning of the vaginal walls that can make sex painful. The culprits are usually the newer formulations of oral contraceptives that contain low doses of estrogen and testosterone-reducing progestin, which can also decrease your libido.


Q: How can menopause affect my sex life?

A: Dramatic hormonal changes can lead to a decline in sexual desire, an inability to become aroused, and difficulty having orgasms. Menopause can also lead to vaginal atrophy and dryness, which can both lead to pain.


Q: How can chemotherapy affect my sex life?

A: Chemotherapy—a type of treatment that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells—has been associated with changes in menstrual cycle and in ovarian reserve (the number of eggs in your ovaries), which can lead to temporary or permanent menopause symptoms and negative body image. But some women may experience none of those effects.

Next: Could my blood pressure medication affect my ability to have an orgasm?

Q: Could my blood pressure medication affect my ability to have an orgasm?

A: Yes. It can cut the blood flow to your vagina. Talk to your gynecologist about ways to maintain your ability to have an orgasm without sacrificing your cardiovascular health. This may include reducing alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, and getting regular exercise.


Q: I don't have orgasms anymore. What can I do?

A: Orgasms are a complicated mix of physical, emotional, and environmental factors. With the help of your gynecologist or sex therapist, you should examine what has changed about your emotional health, physical condition, and relationship. Keep in mind that many women don't have orgasms without clitoral stimulation. Don't be shy about experimenting with foreplay, oral sex, mutual masturbation, and sex toys.

Last Updated: April 27, 2008

If You Can't Have an Orgasm, Maybe You Just Don't Know What Turns You On

While there may be a medical explanation for your inability to have an orgasm, chances are the cause is in some way cultural or psychological. You may be unable to climax because somewhere along the way you concluded that sex is a shameful topic, or (because you've had a negative sexual experience in the past), you're uncomfortable with your body or you're just not familiar yet with what turns you on.

Who to talk to
Your first stop should probably be a sexual health doctor or sex therapist, who will likely encourage you to explore your own sexual response. "Have you tried a vibrator?" asks sexual medicine specialist Andrew Goldstein, MD, an associate professor at George Washington University. "I tell women they need to masturbate!" says Hilda Hutcherson, MD, an ob-gyn professor at Columbia University.

What to find out about your own sexual response
Do you prefer a light touch or a firmer one? Do you want your clitoris to be stimulated or your vagina to be penetrated, or do you need both at the same time? Despite the impression you may have gotten from romance novels, many women don't have orgasms from vaginal penetration alone. A 2003 German study found that 70% need direct clitoral stimulation in order to achieve orgasm.

Once you figure out what makes you climax, the next step is communicating that to your partner. Working with a certified sex therapist can be helpful, in order to talk through any fears or shame you might have regarding your sexuality.

Medical explanations
While most cases of anorgasmia (the medical term for not being able to have an orgasm) are psychologically or culturally based, there can be medical reasons for the problem, too, so it's important to consult a doctor, especially if you used to have orgasms. Anorgasmia can happen for all the same reasons as low libido: reduced blood flow to the genitals due to disease or medication, hormone imbalances, or the use of medications that dull sexual response.

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: April 09, 2008

Approaching Menopause, She Stopped Wanting Sex

Sue W. Goldstein always enjoyed sex until perimenopause came along. "Around the time I was 50, sex was pretty lousy," says the 58-year-old coauthor of When Sex Isn't Good.

At first, Goldstein thought the problem lay with her husband, but her own dropping hormone levels were muting her desire and her ability to have an orgasm. Blood tests showed "unrecordable androgens"—i.e., zilch testosterone, the hormone that affects sex drive in both men and women. "I wanted it fixed," she says. "I wanted to have an enjoyable sex life."

Hormones did the trick
The treatment Goldstein settled on involved bioidentical hormones, which are hormones manufactured to be chemically identical to the ones in your body (some doctors believe these are safer; others disagree). Bioidentical testosterone gel was prescribed to bring her levels up.

(Note: Testosterone is not an FDA-approved treatment for women.)

The results came quickly: Goldstein's night sweats disappeared, her energy came back, and bone density tests showed good results. A few months later, her libido returned.

When sex problems are medical
Her success inspired the book, which includes the stories of 16 women with sexual dysfunction as well as medical facts and a listing of relevant studies—to educate women that their sexual problems may sometimes be biologically based.

"All the sex therapy in the world isn't going to fix a sex problem if the biology is bad," she says. She also urges women to treat sexual health like any other health issue. "Nobody's embarrassed if you have a broken arm," she points out. "So why should you be embarrassed if you have broken sexual function?"

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: April 02, 2008

Woman Discovers Cause of Sexual Pain: A Uniquely Shaped Hymen

Deborah (not her real name) finally found an explanation for years of sexual pain when she learned from her doctor that an abnormal hymen was probably to blame. The 41-year-old New York City lawyer was relieved to have a diagnosis; she has had problems inserting anything in her vagina for as long as she can remember. Tampons are hard enough, but a speculum? "It's like I see stars," she says. "It really hurts!"

Deborah is a lesbian, so her problem hasn't affected her sex life as much as it might have. "If I were straight, it would be a huge problem," she says. It has certainly affected her health care, though. "I actually avoided getting Pap smears," she admits. "I would let years go by because it hurt so much."

It was a fertility doctor who theorized, at long last, that the pain might be caused by something different about her genitals. She had never been told she had a physical abnormality; he described it as an extra band of tissue in her vagina, perhaps an especially thick hymen.

"It was a relief to find out there was some physical weirdness that caused it," Deborah says. "People were saying that I was too sensitive."

For now, Deborah says she is not pursuing treatment, which typically involves surgery. If you receive a similar diagnosis, experts say to get a second opinion from a sexual medicine doctor before pursuing surgical treatment; your pain might be caused by other issues that cannot be resolved with surgery.

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: July 14, 2008

Relationship Problems Caused My Vaginal Pain

Jamie, 26, of Santa Cruz, Calif., experienced vaginismus—involuntary, painful tightening of the vaginal muscles—the very first time she had sex at age 15. "I knew it would hurt to lose my virginity, but the pain was ridiculous," she says. "After about five minutes I was like, 'Ow—OK, neat, we're done now.'" Still, she continued to try sex. For the first couple of minutes it would feel fine, she says, but then she'd start to feel like she was "getting ripped in half."

At first Jamie thought these feelings were normal. "I figured, 'A foreign object is in my body. My body is rejecting it,'" she says. She didn't realize just how big her problem was until, on her 18th birthday, she had sex with her boyfriend and the pain was beyond excruciating: "regular, gentle, 20-minute sex that left me so swollen and in so much pain that I could barely walk."

This time she went to a doctor who, Jamie says, "was afraid to touch anything, because she didn't know what caused it. Had I been stabbed in the vagina? Was the sex violent? She said she'd never seen anything like it, except with women who had just given birth."

The doctor told Jamie not to have sex and to come back in two weeks, after the swelling went down. When Jamie returned with a normal-looking vagina, the doctor said nothing was wrong and sent her home. Jamie talked to friends about it from time to time, but it was embarrassing, and everyone assumed it was just a problem with Jamie's sex skills. "'Try lube,' they'd say, or 'You just need more

Could it be psychological?
At last Jamie found her diagnosis in a sex manual she'd owned for some time. "I would look at the pictures, read about foreplay, the fun stuff," she says. "One day my cousin was visiting me and she started reading the articles in the back, the boring ones about STDs and sexual disorders. She found a paragraph about vaginismus. It felt like she was reading my life story."

The book gave a name to Jamie's problem, but the cause and cure were still a mystery. "The articles I read said that vaginismus was caused by repressed guilt, and was most common in women who had been raised religious. My parents were liberal hippies who spoke openly with me about sex since I was very young."

The explanation didn't make any sense to Jamie, but she tried to apply it to her situation anyway. "Based on the articles, I was worried that I was unsure about my boyfriends," Jamie says. "Had I never been in love? Had I really never been sure?"

Then one day, her pain finally went away
Confused, Jamie started having casual sex with strangers—and the vaginismus disappeared. After several incidents like that, she felt she'd found a pretty solid theory for what was causing her problem: She has been so afraid of falling in love with one of her boyfriends that her body rejected having sex with them.

Jamie explains the logic: "As a child of freewheeling hippie parents, I related sex to love; as a free-spirited child of the eighties, I was afraid of love. Ironic, eh?" She felt she had the answer, especially as the vaginismus did come back whenever she had a sex partner she cared about.

Falling in love for real (perhaps with a little maturity under her belt?) has finally done the trick for Jamie, however. "I decided—sex aside—that I was going to treat this one like a junior high romance: innocent, wholehearted, idealistic, sappy, smitten," says Jamie, who has been with her boyfriend six months. "I never felt pain with him, and never have since."

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: May 11, 2008

Why Women’s Sexual Pain Is So Commonly Misdiagnosed as a Yeast Infection

Sexual pain problems tend to go on for a lot longer than necessary because they are so commonly misdiagnosed as vaginal infections. And some experts say the situation is made worse by a more general trend toward overdiagnosing yeast infections.

Doctors frequently diagnose yeast infections without using a microscope, but an infection that looks like yeast with the naked eye could be desquamative vaginitis (a severe and rare form of vaginitis) or trichomoniasis. And doctors aren’t the only ones to blame. "Seventy percent of women who treat themselves for yeast infections don’t have them," says Marjorie Green, MD, director of the Mount Auburn Female Sexual Medicine Center in Cambridge, Mass., and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Another theory holds that a major cause of vulvodynia is excessive and improper use of anti-yeast medications.

If you have sexual pain, it’s important to consult your primary care physician or gynecologist first; if that doesn’t get you anywhere after a few visits, ask for a referral to a sexual medicine specialist. Or find one yourself by contacting the National Vulvodynia Association or a university hospital in your area.

Sexual health problems can be difficult to diagnose—even for the experts. "If it was easy, I wouldn’t need to spend an hour and 15 minutes [with new patients]," says Andrew Goldstein, MD, an associate professor at George Washington University. "This stuff is hard!"

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: July 17, 2008

5 Reasons for Women's Sexual Pain, If It's Not Vulvodynia or Menopause

An estimated 6-14% of women suffer from sexual pain and many more postmenopausal women do. It may be menopause-related or it may be vulvodynia, but there are many other potential causes, from dermatological diseases to bladder conditions. Deep (abdominal) pain with penetration could be due to endometriosis, fibroids, or previous pelvic surgery.

Here are a few other causes you and your doctor may want to consider:

1. The Pill
Hormonal birth control can cause the same kind of sexual pain due to lack of lubrication and vaginal atrophy that is normally seen in postmenopausal women, says Andrew Goldstein, MD, an associate professor at George Washington University and a specialist in vulvar pain. He says he's been seeing "a ton of it" in the newer birth-control-pill formulations that have very low estrogen and a type of progestin that can lower testosterone. "I'm seeing 25-year-old women who have low desire and need lubricants, which is ridiculous!" he says.

That doesn't mean the pills are bad—"for a large percentage of women, they're great," Dr. Goldstein says. But it does mean that women should be aware that there may be sexual side effects to hormonal birth control methods, which they can discuss with their doctor.

2. Cancer treatment
"For women who have cervical or vaginal cancer and radiation, the whole vagina can become a rock-hard scar," says Irwin Goldstein, MD (no relation to Andrew), director of San Diego Sexual Medicine and the editor in chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Also, "tamoxifen stops estrogen from working," Dr. Goldstein adds, so breast cancer patients can have issues with vaginal dryness and atrophy, same as postmenopausal women and some birth control pill users. It's a tough situation, because systemic hormone replacement is not an option, as it may encourage the cancer. Some doctors, meanwhile, say local estrogen is relatively safe. Other treatments may include physical therapy and sex therapy.

Next: Skin problems

3. Skin problems
Problems with the skin in the genital area may be another reason for sexual pain. Common issues include childbirth lacerations or episiotomy scars, as well as dermatological diseases such as lichen sclerosus, or sexually transmitted infections such as herpes. One of Dr. Irwin Goldstein's patients came in with pain that ended up being traceable to a simple ingrown hair: "One of the pubic hairs grew into the skin and she had an infection of the clitoris," he says.

4. Physical abnormalities
Dr. Andrew Goldstein says there are women who have imperforate hymens, but counsels a second opinion from a vulvar specialist before getting surgery. Many women who go in for hymenectomies actually have vulvar vestibulitis syndrome (VVS), which is often diagnosed by touching the area lightly with a Q-Tip. "If the hymen is too tight, the vestibule shouldn't hurt," he says. Women with VVS feel excruciating pain when specific areas are touched.

5. Vaginismus
This is an involuntary tightening of the vaginal and pelvic floor muscles that makes penetration painful or even impossible. Some women experience pain with any sort of penetration, including medical; for others, only sexual penetration hurts.

Vaginismus can be a result of rape or other sexual abuse, but it can also develop as an aversive reaction to physical pain. "If you keep trying to have sex or insert a tampon and it's painful every time, eventually you tense your muscles; you're gonna flinch," says Christin Veasley, 32.

The source of the pain must first be identified, and then the vaginismus can be treated with sex therapy, biofeedback (so the patient learns what her body is doing and can better control it), and dilator therapy.

Is it in your head or your body?
Doctors used to believe that women's complaints of sexual dysfunction were 90% psychological, 10% biological. "Now the thinking is 90% psychological, 75% organic," says Irwin Goldstein.

What he means is that most sexual pain has a biological cause, but it usually also causes psychological issues. It makes sense: If sex hurts, you learn to fear it and avoid it. That's why the ideal is for sexual medicine doctors to work hand-in-hand with sex therapists.

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: April 05, 2008

First She Lost Interest in Sex, Then After Menopause It Just Plain Hurt

The sexual pain that menopause can cause in some women hit Lillian Arleque especially hard because her sex life had been in disarray for some time. After the birth of her first child in 1975, Arleque stopped being interested in sex. "Everything was fine, I had a baby, and the switch went off," she recalls.

Arleque, now 62 and a motivational speaker based in Andover, Mass., sought help for her sex drive problem from 10 different doctors over the years. "I wouldn't stop asking," says Arleque—even though it was often an embarrassing topic for her to bring up.

She made do. "Fortunately I'm married to a wonderful man who was very understanding," says Arleque. "We managed in our 30s and 40s by using lubricants, and we didn't have sex as often as my husband would have wanted."

But in her 50s, during the hormonal changes of menopause, sex began to hurt. That progressed to "vulval burning, 24/7, like I was on fire. I didn't want to move; it was torture."

Finally, a diagnosis
Arleque had her hormones tested, and it turned out she had a severe androgen insufficiency, plus some tissue changes from having too little hormones for so many years.

As treatment, Arleque and her doctor considered hormone replacement therapy (HRT). But her mother had had breast cancer, so she was genetically at risk herself, and she knew HRT would further increase her likelihood of breast cancer. So Arleque started taking small amounts of carefully prescribed bioidentical hormones, which can be monitored through periodic blood tests unlike other forms of HRT.

Her groove is back
The treatment seemed to do the trick. "If I didn't have the hormones, I'd be in chronic pain," she says. Arleque is also happy to report that her sexual pleasure has returned, completely intact. "I'm definitely 100% happier. We're best friends," she says of her husband, "but you want to have that intimacy. There's a lightheartedness that comes with intimacy."

Now Arleque, coauthor of When Sex Isn't Good, counsels women to be persistent, and to seek the help of a specialist if they are not getting the help they need. "There's a core belief: I deserve to have good health, I deserve to have a good relationship. It's self-esteem."

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: April 08, 2008

Dealing With Sexual Pain After Menopause

For many women, menopause brings with it the onset of sexual pain. This wasn't much of an issue in the past when women didn’t live so long. "In 1900, the average woman died at 51 years of age," says sexual medicine specialist Andrew Goldstein, MD, an associate professor at George Washington University.

Treat it with estrogen?
The natural drop in estrogen causes the vagina to become drier and the tissues to become thinner, a situation that can cause pain during penetration. Using lubricants can help, but estrogen helps some women more.

Many women are concerned about taking estrogen orally—hormone replacement therapy or HRT—after a 2002 study suggested a strong link to breast cancer, but doctors have widely divergent opinions about that. Some found the study was flawed and believe that with the proper variety and dosage of hormones, the risk should be small. But a study published in 2007 suggests the decline in breast cancer since 2003 correlates to a decline in oral HRT prescriptions.

Creams versus HRT
The consensus is, however, that formulations that deliver the hormones directly to the vulva or vagina are safer. Local estrogen treatment won’t help with hot flashes and other menopause symptoms, but "you can achieve vaginal health without using systemic estrogen," says Irwin Goldstein, MD (no relation to Andrew), director of San Diego Sexual Medicine and the editor in chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. If this treatment does begin to affect menopausal symptoms, Dr. Goldstein suggests checking in with your doctor, because the estrogen may be entering your bloodstream.

A Longtime Vulvodynia Patient Finally Gets Help From a Pain Specialist

Phyllis Mate, 58, the cofounder and executive director of the National Vulvodynia Association, has generalized vulvodynia—the kind where the vulva hurts all the time. It started in her 20s with a very mild burning, she says. Doctors prescribed topical cortisone, which didn’t help. Then at 41, her condition "exploded," she says. "It was excruciating, knife-like pain all the time, day and night."

Mate was lucky enough to end up in the office of a neurologist who was familiar with vulvodynia and had several other patients with the condition. Simply having a diagnosis was a huge relief for her. "For the first time since my 20s, I wasn’t this weird person who had something that no one else had," Mate says.

Mate was bedridden for six months and used Percocet to treat the pain, but it became less effective as her body adjusted to the medication. "It was the worst thing that I can ever imagine having, in terms of the pain," she says. The only plus? "Very few of my doctors ever suggested that it was in my mind."

Finally, she tried two pudendal nerve blocks—anesthetic injections—administered five days apart by a pain specialist. "My pain went from a 10 out of 10 to a 6 or a 5," Mate says, "which, for me, was heaven." Since then she has used the anticonvulsants Tegretol and Trileptal to manage the pain, and she also avoids sitting for more than an hour at a time.

Mate’s condition has not been cured, but it has become manageable. "Most days, it’s at a 3," she says. "There are actually days when I don’t realize I have it."

Phyllis’s advice for women with her subtype of vulvodynia? "Get to a pain specialist," she says. "Pain specialists will treat pain much more aggressively than other types of doctors."

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: September 11, 2008

How to Treat Vulvodynia

It's hard to treat vulvodynia, the otherwise unexplained pain, itching, and burning of a woman's exterior genitals. What works for one woman may not work for another, and there are no FDA-approved therapies.

Hope K. Haefner, MD, director of the University of Michigan Center for Vulvar Diseases, says very conservative treatment would include avoiding soap in the vulvar area, wearing cotton underpants, and using water-based vaginal lubricants and cool gel packs to ease the pain.

Or your doctor may recommend a topical numbing preparation, a tricyclic antidepressant ("not to manage depression," says Dr. Haefner, "to manage pain"), anticonvulsants (which can also manage pain), or nerve blocks. Other approaches include physical therapy and biofeedback, both aimed at correcting potential issues with pelvic floor muscles that may be causing or adding to the problem.

Surgery is most commonly considered for women who have pain specifically in the vestibule area at the entrance to the vagina (vulvar vestibulitis syndrome, also called vestibulodynia)—and who have not responded to other treatments.

For those women, the surgical removal of the tissue that apparently has an overgrowth of nerves is the most effective treatment, says Irwin Goldstein, MD, director of San Diego Sexual Medicine and the editor in chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: May 18, 2008

A Surgical Solution for Sexual Pain That Felt Like "Shards of Glass"

Christin Veasley got lucky and found treatment for her vulvodynia—pain in her vulva that she likens to "shards of glass" or "acid being poured into an open cut." Most sufferers don't find anything close to a cure.

Veasley's problem started after a vaginal infection when she was 18, her freshman year in college. The infection—cervicitis—was treated, but the pain wouldn't go away. Months later, a new doctor told her she had a rampant bacterial infection. During that time, she had gone from having a burning pain on penetration to having pain all the time.

Finally, Veasley couldn't take it anymore: "I was in the middle of a physics exam and I couldn't sit still, and I left my exam half-complete and drove straight to my doctor's office."

After a nurse practitioner told her there was no treatment for vulvodynia, Veasley did her own research, found herself a specialist, and began a long path to recovery. With treatment for her infection and a combination of a tricyclic antidepressant, estrogen cream, and biofeedback, the pain went away over the next few years—at least when she wasn't having sex. She was able to go off the medicine but says she was left with "very severe insertional pain."

Then in 2000, Veasley had surgery to remove tissue from her vestibule (the entrance to the vagina) and was able to have intercourse with her husband, a college sweetheart, for the very first time. (They had been sexually active without having penetration.) She had her first of two children in 2001.

Veasley, now 32 and the associate executive director of the National Vulvodynia Association, these days reports just a slight sensitivity right before her period.

Lead writer: Louise Sloan
Last Updated: April 09, 2008