Infertility and Sex: Reconcilable Enemies?
- Knowing the sexual health of the couple will help the best diagnosis of infertility
- Infertility can be experienced as an individual failure and this has a very negative impact on the couple’s relationship
Fertility encompasses many aspects of life. In the month dedicated to Fertility, we wanted to address a topic that is rarely talked about: sex in couples and / or women who have fertility problems. One of the aspects that suffers the most in the context of a couple with infertility problems, is undoubtedly related to sex as a couple, their sexuality. We wanted to ask the Dr. Susana Rabadán of IVI Madrid about the relationship between sex and infertility and we have collected in this post everything related to both. We hope you like it and especially, you find it useful.
The sexual well-being of a couple who wants pregnancy can be greatly interfered when the goal is not achieved and infertility threatens the comfort in the couple’s sexual life. The sexual encounter loses spontaneity, focusing its purpose on achieving pregnancy. This results in relationships being circumscribed and premeditated in the ovulation period, reducing the naturalness and emotionality of the sexual encounter.
Infertility: Difficult erections and decreased libido
The frustration that accompanies failure for not achieving the goal entails, in most cases, a collateral effect in the sexual encounter, generating discomfort and even avoidance behaviors. All of this results in a complicated loop that can lead to sexual dysfunction. Interesting studies in this field refer to the impact of infertility on the sexuality of the couple and point out that it is greater in younger women and after 6 months of frustrated search.
In men, the most frequent form of presentation of sexual dysfunction would be difficulty in erection and in women, anosgarmia and decreased libido.
Infertility and sexual health
Once the couple comes to consult for their infertility, knowing the state of sexual health, allows planning a multidisciplinary approach with psychologists and therapists that normalize what happens and thus be able to restructure the intimate facet of the couple, detaching it from the reproductive purpose of the herself.
There is no doubt that sometimes the order is different and it is the existing sexual dysfunction, which entails the difficulty to achieve pregnancy.
It is estimated that in the general population they present sexual dysfunction 43% of women Y 31% of men, according published studies.
In the male The most frequent problem, which translates into higher rates of infertility, is erectile dysfunction (which can be secondary to a systemic disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, taking medications or depression). Other initial dysfunctions would be difficulty in ejaculation.
Conversely, in women, sexual dysfunction can manifest itself with a decrease in libido, difficulty with arousal or anorgasmia. This can be a symptom caused by different medical or psychological pathologies as well as by taking medications.
It should be noted two situations that limit intercourse and make pregnancy difficult, What dyspareunia, which would imply pain in intercourse, and which can sometimes translate gynecological pathology such as endometriosis Y vaginismus that makes penetration impossible. These two dysfunctions necessarily entail a significant decrease in the pregnancy rate.
In this case, when the cause of infertility is secondary to sexual dysfunction, a careful anamnesis can guide us to recognize the origin of the difficulty and guide the treatment.
In any of the situations an attitude of empathetic listening by the gynecologist, limiting interference in those aspects that are most painful for the couple, facilitate the doctor-patient relationship helping to normalize the situation and the gradual recovery of sexual health.
Infertility and partner failure
A very important aspect in the reproduction consultation will be the diagnostic approach, different studies show that the cause of infertility can be experienced as an individual failure and this affects in a very negative way in the marital relationship. The fact of the duality in the difficulty of procreating must be reflected in order to mitigate this individual burden that can cause a lot of sexual distancing in the couple.
It is important to anticipate to the patients, that reproduction therapies are going to invade this sexual terrain in different ways, either by decreased desire or by alteration in sexual response, mediated by the medication or by the physical changes that you will notice, in this case the patient, and by the mechanization of the process.
In this video, the psychologist Pilar Dolz, from IVI Valencia, talks to us about how to face sexual life in an infertile environment
To finish highlighting that the success of reproduction techniques is measured in pregnancy rates, but we must assume that around 30% couples will not achieve it and in those cases it will also be part of the success that all the accompaniment carried out to the couple Do not bring more collateral damage to your relationship.
Dr. Susana Rabadán Sevilla
Gynecologist
IVI Madrid
