It is more common than you might think for women to experience painful sex. Approximately 75 percent of women experience pain during or after sex at some point in their lives1. Because of the stigma around this issue, your partner might be hesitant to approach you about this.   Painful sex may be related to a condition called vaginismus, which is the involuntary tightening of vaginal muscles. While the tightening of the muscles itself might not be painful, ...

If you think it’s all in your head that your doctor isn’t listening to you when you ask for help with symptoms and health issues, it’s not. Three years ago, TODAY did a study about how women felt doctors didn’t truly hear them or listen to them in office visits and emergency rooms.     The survey’s findings included many personal stories from women who had had their serious conditions dismissed by doctors, but also some shocking statistics. Twenty ...

It seems ironic that while we have access to more information than ever before, some doctors seem to listen to us less and dismiss us more. Even though it was many years ago, I have strong memories of doctors dismissing my pain. My first ovarian cyst ruptured when I was just 14 years old. The unbearable pain landed me and my parents in an emergency room where a doctor gave me a rather uncomfortable exam, then misdiagnosed me with ...