Many people have surgery and don’t understand when it will be safe for them to resume love making. For most minor procedures, patients can resume love making within days or weeks.
The time frame depends on the type of surgery and baseline health. It can take weeks or months for heart surgery, for example.
Hysterectomy
A hysterectomy is surgery to remove your uterus (womb). It can help relieve pain and other symptoms caused by conditions like fibroids or severe endometriosis, and it can prevent cancer from spreading to the rest of your body. But it will also mean that you can no longer have children.
Some women find that their sex drive decreases after a hysterectomy, although this is usually temporary. Your libido may return once your wounds heal and you’ve recovered from the stress of the operation – This resource is provided by the service’s editorial team Velvet Seductions. If not, hormone replacement therapy may increase sexual desire.
The type of hysterectomy you have will impact your sexual pleasure, so discuss it with your doctor. A total hysterectomy will remove your uterus and cervix, while a partial hysterectomy will leave behind your ovaries and fallopian tubes.
If your ovaries are removed, you will enter menopause and that may cause vaginal dryness. A vaginal lubricant can help. Your doctor can also recommend other ways to boost sex drive, such as hormone therapy or the Mirena IUD. Your doctor may also recommend Kegel exercises to strengthen your pelvic muscles.
Miscarriage
The miscarriage can cause severe emotional distress, which may lower a woman’s sex drive. For this reason, women should consult a doctor about the timing of sexual activity after having a miscarriage. A physician can help them determine if the sex is safe and can also recommend methods to prevent pain or discomfort.
Most doctors advise avoiding sexual activity until the bleeding stops after a miscarriage. This is particularly important if the miscarriage was late in the pregnancy. In such cases, the fetus may not have died outright, but it could be trapped inside the uterus. This situation is known as a missed or incomplete miscarriage and may require medical intervention like the dilation and curettage procedure.
The timeline for sex after a miscarriage can vary depending on the severity of the case, which body part was operated on and the type of surgery performed. Some surgeries won’t affect a person’s ability to engage in sexual activities and others may require several weeks to months of abstinence. For example, open-heart surgery may prevent a patient from engaging in sex for several months.
Abdominal surgery
After gynecological surgeries, women may need extra lubrication because vaginal dryness can develop due to hormone changes. This can make sex uncomfortable, but lubricants are available over-the-counter or by prescription. Women who have had pelvic radiotherapy might also want to use a lubricant. Pelvic radiotherapy can cause a tightness in the vagina, which can make sex painful for both partners. However, if the woman tries a different position or uses a lubricant, it might be pain-free.
Depending on the type of surgery, the doctor will recommend a certain amount of time before sex. This will usually vary, as some procedures require more healing time than others. Typically, outpatient surgery has a shorter recovery time than inpatient operations. However, some surgeons may not specify a time frame and just advise patients to wait until they feel well enough to do so. Regardless, if something feels off after the procedure, a patient should call their doctor to ask for more guidance. This can prevent complications, such as stretched scars or wound breakdown, haematoma and fluid collections (seroma) developing under the skin.
Open-heart surgery
Depending on your surgery, doctors may recommend abstaining from sex for a period of time, ranging from weeks to months. This is often the case with surgeries such as open-heart surgery or a joint replacement.
When you are ready to have sex, it is important that you and your partner communicate about how you will manage pain or discomfort. Some tips include using a wedge pillow or switching sexual positions. If pain or discomfort arises, it is a good indicator that you are doing too much too soon and you should stop the activity immediately.
It is also important that both partners remember to use effective contraception post-surgery. It is recommended that women take oral birth control for at least 6 weeks after a C-section.
C-section
If you had a cesarean delivery, you’ll want to give your body time to heal. If you don’t, it may be more painful and difficult to have sex later on.
Although it can be tempting to jump back into the bedroom, it’s important to wait until your doctor says you can. It can take weeks for your uterus to return to its normal size and for your incision to heal. And resuming sexual activity too soon can cause infection.
Even with a condom, having sex too early can introduce bacteria into the vagina and cause an infection, which can lead to internal bleeding. So wait four to six weeks before having protected sex.
If you’re ready to get back in the bedroom before then, be sure to use a lubricant and experiment with positions that don’t put pressure on your incision site. Missionary might irritate your C-section scar, and it’s best to avoid having your partner’s body rub up against it until it feels stronger. That way, you won’t have to worry about accidentally tearing the incision.
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