Improving Sex Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis can have a negative effect on nearly every aspect of life. From social events to even lying in bed, RA can cause pain and discomfort.

One of these aspects regards an active sex life. Society has made great strides in bringing sexual dysfunction to light, and dealing with the issue with open communication and help instead of mockery or hiding the problem under the bed.

Today, we will discuss rheumatoid arthritis, sexual function, and you. If your sex life has been disrupted by RA, we would like to help.

Some people with RA can have lowered sex drive. The pain may be to such an extent that during intercourse the act seems to be almost impossible. But there can be other non-intercourse related pain too. An important aspect of your relationship is intimacy.  Certain issues between your partners can be sorted out by clearly communicating that due to RA you have sexual dysfunction.  But you can improve your relation by restoring the ability to have sex. It will be helpful to focus more on the relationship if you feel that RA diagnosis is affecting your relationship. You can express intimacy in other different ways too. Some pain can be mitigated by sex since it releases endorphins which will help bring about increased physical intimacy.

Medications of RA have side effects. In other ways these medicines may affect your sexual life. It might indirectly decrease your libido. Talk to your doctor if you feel that the medications are negatively affecting your sexual life although many researchers claim that there are no side effects. May be you and your doctor can think of a solution.

Sexual function can be increased by making changes in lifestyle. This is simplest but hardest for some. Your sexual health can improve by increasing the amount of exercise and practicing a healthy diet. They not only improve sexual life but also ease RA symptoms.

With your partner improve on communication. You can explain your mood to have sex or not with the help of measure scale from 0 to 10. Then will not feel turned down if you quantify in this way. When you are low on your pain scale practice timing your physical escapades. Some night you might feel 3 and some you might feel 8. You and your partner can wait till the scale goes down and both of you can try. This can help in many ways.  When you feel relatively low amounts of pain this is the way you focus on sexual intimacy.  This will help you to be more successful. A failing sex life can be due to a sexual rut. Sometimes your’ll both may not get time to have sex since the timing of doing it does not fit into your societal expectation. This will increase the excitement which will further boost the intimacy level.

The position that once you used to enjoy, you may no longer enjoy due to RA. To have better sex find a new position. Talk to your partner and explore what you both want. Be open about your desires. This will improve physical intimacy. Thus the damage caused by RA can be counteracted. Strain on aching joints can be eased by rolling up towel in the right spot. Consider during sex using some help to help your partner or yourself.

With your partner take a warm shower or bath. Also use heated blankets. Stress can be reduced by a gentle caress and can reduce pain too.  More often touch each other. It is even better to massage. Intimacy can be provided by physical touch. RA negative effects can be counteracted by being comfortable with your partner.