We are all sexual beings in whichever way we see ourselves and express ourselves so as human beings we understand what a patient or a couple going through but in order to help them from a professional point of view it is very different so there is something we need to be very mindful of and be able to help them. There are the five pitfalls and it is thematically flowing so before even opening up and talking about sexual problems it is important for health professionals, reproductive medicine specialists to have an understanding let alone in that even having some basic understanding of where subfertility and sexual dysfunction sit and that is very important from a knowledge point of view.

There is a strong bidirectional relationship and let’s look into some of them.  So one in four women undergoing ART will experience changes in sexual functioning. Realistically, it has to be shared between the two people involved in the treatment it somehow feels that the woman is impacted more because somehow it feels like the whole fertility is on her head. Looking at the men’s side, now ejaculatory disorders cause a much bigger issue than erectile dysfunction, especially delayed ejaculation or an-ejaculation.  Luckily premature ejaculation is not so much of an issue in the subfertility setting if it is antipode which is severe like within seconds if they ejaculate it is not even going to go anywhere so that’s a very unique situation, but mostly it is the delayed ejaculation where they cannot reach orgasm but the good thing is if it is done in a proper cycle sexual therapy it can be achieved.

The vaginismus cycle starts with the fear of pain, involuntary spasm, that’s a very defining aspect and that’s a pitfall.  If it is a voluntary spasm, that is not vaginismus, whereas if it is involuntary that defines a very important factor in vaginismus, the pain, and then the fear to extreme post and the problem kind of. It is important to educate, empower, and give a lot of reassurance It can definitely with some basic understanding of the pitfalls and doing what is the basic requirement, vaginismus is one of the conditions that can be treated very efficiently, and the condition, when treated well, gives a lot of satisfaction to work with.

A few other questions to be answered include:

• What will the doctor think if I open up so they are having a difficult time not knowing whether to ask or not?
• What are some of the common presentations?
• Can this sexual dysfunction wait?
• What are the imminent issues?

For detailed answers to these and other questions you might have on Common pitfalls in the management of sexual dysfunction in couples with sub-fertility,enroll for live lectures by DR. VIJAYASARATHI RAMANATHAN Senior Consultant in Sexual medicine, Accredited Psychosexual Therapist and Educator and Lecturer in sexual health, The University of Sydney, Australia, here, https://docmode.org/common-pitfalls-in-the-management-of-sexual-dysfunction-in-couples-with-sub-fertility-dr-vijayasarathi-ramanathan/