Julianne Hough says that endometriosis sometimes keeps her from getting busy
Julianne Hough has been open about the fact that she has endometriosis. This has earned her a job shilling for a pharmaceutical company, but to be fair she talked about it before she landed that gig. Mostly she’s discussed how debilitating it is, and how it can leave her doubled over in pain. In a recent interview with Women’s Health, Julianne said that if affects her sex life too. I didn’t know about this!
“It can definitely cut things short,” says Julianne. “Sometimes we’re in the middle and I’m just like ‘AH, stop!’ Other times, she needs to tell her husband, professional hockey player Brooks Laich, to just forget it that night.
Agarwal says pain during intercourse is a top concern among his patients. “It can cause pain with penetration, so women won’t engage in intercourse or they’ll terminate it early because of the pain,” says Agarwal. It can affect intimacy in other ways, too: “Long-term pain can have psychological consequences like depression, anxiety, or other emotional issues.”
It can be really frustrating,” says Julianne. But Brooks is supportive and understanding of her condition. “He only wants to love on me and make me feel good.” And, according to Julianne, the couple doesn’t necessarily need penetration to keep their relationship hot and heavy. Their secret? Foreplay (along with open and honest communication and creativity, of course).
“There’s so much intimacy without actually having sex,” says Julianne. “There are some cool things we’ve learned and it’s literally been awesome.”
Agarwal offers some additional tips, like pelvic physical therapy or, doctor permitting, a new FDA-approved drug called Orilissa, which improves pain with intercourse. He also advises seeking psychological help when necessary to get past any non-physical barriers.
Now, Julianne says she’s learned to listen to her body throughout the day.
“My body is very precious to me, I didn’t think of it that way before,” says Julianne. “If I don’t feel like working out that day, then I don’t do it. If I want to sleep in, then I will.”
Julianne also takes a mindful approach to her condition. She keeps her body moving, even if some days call for just simply standing or walking around.
“If I feel stagnant, then my body’s stagnant, and then my insides feel stagnant,” she says. “Even if I don’t want to move or exercise, I just stand with my hands on my abdomen, move my hips, and send love to my pelvic area.”
It sounds like woo woo to send love to your pelvic area, but mindfulness exercises like that really work. I was using an app called Curable for a while (not a plug I really used it) and I learned a lot about the mind body connection. Pain isn’t in your head but your head is wired to make it worse by focusing on it. By doing those type of exercises you can rewire your brain and reduce your pain response.
I’m so glad this isn’t an issue for me. I can’t imagine what that’s like to not even be able to have sex. I do get recurrent UTIs. (This has been a problem throughout my life but a urologist recently put me on a low dose daily antibiotic and it helps.) During the actual freaky time I don’t feel bad though. Like wouldn’t that make you reluctant to even do it as that doctor talks about? It sounds like Julianne is hinting at workarounds. My mind just went to some creative places but I’ll spare you. I already had to take the ads off this post.
These people surely got paid to take this vacation. I can’t.
This sponcon thing is probably how they make a living. Damn.
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