Many women experience pain in their stomach during sex or afterwards, and there are a lot of mundane reasons that cause it. The medical name of this condition is dyspareunia and it is actually quite common. There is usually no reason to worry about it, but if you understand what causes it, your mind can be put at ease, and you can potentially avoid it later.
Can deep penetration cause stomachache after sex?
In case you only experience a brief and temporary pain and it does not happen very often, the most likely reason is deep penetration. It helps to change your positions; instead of missionary or doggy style (which allow for deep thrusting), go for face off or cowgirl (which let you control penetration).
Does the position of the uterus play a role?
Relating to deep penetration, one of the reasons it can cause pain is due to 20‐30% of women having a tipped uterus. It is nothing you should be worried about. But, during sex, it does increase the possibility of uterus being touched. Usually related to rear‐entry positions, pain after or during sex can be caused by it.
Can gas cause stomachache after sex?
Since sex normally includes many in‐and‐outs and movements, certain amount of air is pushed into the anus or vagina and it becomes trapped. Air trapped in this way results in the completely same feeling of cramps like you would get from the usual trapped wind, but luckily it goes away quite quickly.
Also, there is the social aspect that causes trapped wind during sex (if you don’t pass what needs to be passed but rather hold it in). However, this pain will also go away when the gas passes.
What could orgasms have to do with stomach pain?
During a woman’s orgasm, the muscles of her pelvic contract. Just as the contractions of uterus muscles result in period cramps, contractions during orgasm also result in this kind of pain in the pelvis and lower abdomen.
There are factors that can increase the possibility of experiencing pain following orgasm, and these can be some contraceptive pills, pregnancy and underlying medical conditions.
Can an infection be the culprit?
Although it brings joy and fun, sex also comes with certain infection risks (particularly for women). Urinary tract infections (UTI), are on the average 14 times more common in women. Sex can be a be a trigger for these, and the usual symptoms are pain when urinating and abdominal pain, bloody or cloudy urine and increased urinary frequency.
Infections that are sexually transmitted are another factor of risk, and they include Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia, but also many others. These are usually not followed by any symptoms, but if symptoms do appear, the most common ones are a burning feeling while urinating, unusual discharge or stomach pain.
In case you’re worried about having an STI, you can use a simple at‐home kit to test yourself and then proceed with appropriate treatment.
The emotional aspect
Our physical and emotional responses are linked extremely closely and the strongest relationship is between our gut and our brain. They share a lot of neurotransmitters, and the enteric nervous system, which is the very own nervous system of our digestive system, has more than 100 million nerve endings.
As a result, what happens in your brain can affect your gut. Since sex stirs up many different emotions and thoughts, it can cause performance anxiety, relationship questions or issues, love, embarrassment, and many more. So, in case you experience stomach pain following sex, you might want to think about what’s lingering in your mind.
Underlying medical conditions
A lot of medical conditions which are female‐specific can cause pain after or during sex. Endometriosis, ovarian cysts and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) are the leading causes. Even if you don’t suffer from any of these but you continually experience pain, it is recommended to see a doctor.
Although the reasons behind stomach pain during or after sex are usually not hazardous, it’s necessary to relieve the pain and get everything checked, just to make sure it’s nothing more serious.
