Facts about Intercourse during Menstruation

         Sex during periods is a matter of personal preference and cultural beliefs. Medically, it is safe to have sex during your period as long as you don't use it as a ticket to have unprotected sex.
       Deciding to have sexual intercourse requires knowledge about both the male and female reproductive systems, STDS, and birth control. Sex can become even more complicated when it comes to deciding when and where to do the deed; in particular, you may find that you or your partner want to have sex during your menstrual period. But is sex during your period safe? Here are some answers to a few of the most common questions regarding period sex. 

Is it Safe To Have Sex During Your Period?
Many men and women worry that having sexual intercourse during a woman's period is unhealthy. Though frowned upon in many cultures and faiths, sexual intercourse during menstruation is entirely normal and completely healthy.
Worries about this act generally stem from societal misconceptions about menstrual blood: most girls are taught from a young age that their menstrual blood is unclean and "dirty," and therefore should be hidden and contained at all times. However, menstrual blood is an entirely natural bodily fluid, and does not in anyway affect a man's penis or a woman's reproductive tract. As long as you are engaging in safe and protected sexual intercourse, it is entirely alright for you and your partner to have sex during your period.

Benefits of having sex during menstruation:

• Sex may help relieve pre or post menstrual symptoms if you get an orgasm
• Endorphins released during an orgasm are natural painkillers and mood lifters, which can allay cramps, headaches, mild depression, and irritability associated with periods
• Some women also claim enjoying sex more when they are menstruating because of the feelings of fullness in the pelvic and genital areas

Can sex during periods result in pregnancy?
Chances of pregnancy during periods are minimal. However, if you strictly want to avoid pregnancy it is advisable to use an adequate birth-control method each time you have intercourse, including during periods. Though the chances of pregnancy during periods are very low, they are not entirely absent because the sperm can survive in the body for a few days and there is a small chance that an early ovulation will cause pregnancy.

Will contact with menstrual blood cause sexually-transmitted diseases (STD)?
Menstrual blood is nothing but normal human blood mixed with tissues lining the uterus. Contact with menstrual blood is not harmful in any way. If your partner has a STD, you have a high chance of contracting it and you should be using a condom during intercourse, both during periods and otherwise.

Does sex during periods cause HIV infection?
Sex during periods cannot cause HIV infection unless one of the partners is HIV infected. Unprotected intercourse with an HIV infected partner can cause HIV infection, regardless of periods. The only connection between HIV and sex during periods is that the chances of HIV transmission from an HIV infected person to his/ her partner are higher if they have sex during periods. If you have the slightest concern about HIV infection, the thumb rule is to use a condom regardless of periods.

Risks in having sex during periods:

• The likelihood of an HIV-infected woman’s passing the infection to her male partner is higher during her periods
• A woman’s chances of contracting an infection, (for e.g. herpes) from her male partner, are higher during her periods.
• Sex during menstruation puts a woman at higher risk of pelvic inflammatory disease
• A woman is also more likely to pass on other blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis- B or C to a partner during her period
• A woman is more likely to develop yeast or bacterial infections like candidiasis or bacterial vaginosis because the vagina's pH during menstruation is less acidic.

Will contact with menstrual blood harm the penis?
No, menstrual blood will not harm the penis in any way. The worries and concerns about menstrual blood stem from the fact that we have been socially conditioned to see it as a dirty fluid. Scientifically, menstrual fluid is a mix of blood and tissues that line the uterus every month to prepare it for pregnancy. If pregnancy does not occur, the tissue is shed because it is no longer required.

 Can sex during periods injure the uterus?
No, sex during periods cannot injure the uterus. There is a common perception that the mouth of the uterus opens up during periods and the penis can poke into it and hurt the uterus. This is not correct. Menstrual flood oozes out of a very small opening in the mouth of the uterus. The penis can never poke in through this opening.

Is sex during periods a perversion?
You would be happy to know that a large number of couples have sex during periods. From the medical standpoint, sex during periods is absolutely normal. So if you too indulge in it, there is absolutely no need to feel guilty or anxious.

Will sex during periods stop bleeding?
Some women do notice that their periods stop within a day or so of sexual intercourse. This does not mean that the menstrual blood has been pushed back into the uterus and is unable to flow out. It happens primarily because sexual intercourse causes uterine contractions that expel the menstrual fluids and tissue faster, thus causing the bleeding to stop sooner than usual.

Will sex during periods relieve menstrual cramps?
Yes, some women do experience a decrease in menstrual cramps if they have sexual intercourse. This can happen because of multiple factors. On one hand, orgasm causes the release of some chemicals in the body that have pain allaying properties. Some scientists also believe that this happens because excess cramp causing chemicals called prostaglandins get used up.

Is it OK to have oral sex during periods?
Yes, from the health perspective it is ok to have oral sex during periods. It is advisable to use a dental dam if you have oral sex with a menstruating female partner.

 Should I remove my tampon before having sex during periods?
Yes, always remember to remove your tampon before having sex during periods. If you do not do this there is a chance that the tampon will get pushed up in your vagina and if it is left there for a prolonged period, it can cause infection.


Source:
Healthcare Magic http://www.healthcaremagic.com/articles/Sex-during-menstruation/7408
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Have-Sex-During-Menstruation-29289186
http://www.health-niche.com/tag/sex-menstruation/
http://www.everydayhealth.com/sexual-health/sex-during-your-period.aspx
http://www.everydayhealth.com/sexual-health/101/specialist/berman/oral-sex-during-menstruation.aspx 
Oral Sex During Menstruation?  http://www.everydayhealth.com/sexual-health/101/specialist/berman/oral-sex-during-menstruation.aspx

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Causes of Amenorrhea

What is Amenorrhea?
Amenorrhea is the absence of menstrual bleeding. Amenorrhea is a normal feature in :

• prepubertal, 
• pregnant,
• postmenopausal females.

In females of reproductive age, diagnosing amenorrhea is a matter of first determining whether pregnancy is the etiology. In the absence of pregnancy, the challenge is to determine the exact cause of absent menses. This article reviews the physiologic aspects of menstruation and presents an approach for ascertaining the etiology of amenorrhea. Only the main components of amenorrhea are highlighted. Many minor components of physiology are important but are beyond the scope of this article.

Pathophysiology

The menstrual cycle is an orderly progression of hormonal events in the female body that results in the release of an egg. Menstruation occurs when an egg released by the ovary remains unfertilized; subsequently, the soggy decidua of the endometrium (which was primed to receive a fertilized egg) is sloughed in a flow of menses in preparation for another cycle.

The menstrual cycle can be divided into 3 physiologic phases: follicular, ovulatory, and luteal. Each phase has a distinct hormonal secretory milieu. When one diagnoses the disease processes responsible for amenorrhea, consideration of the target organs of these reproductive hormones (hypothalamus, pituitary, ovary, uterus) is helpful.

Primary and Secondary Amenorrhea

Primary amenorrhea is defined either as absence of menses by age 14 years with the absence of growth or development of secondary sexual characteristics (eg, breast development) or as absence of menses by age 16 years with normal development of secondary sexual characteristics.

Secondary amenorrhea is defined as the cessation of menstruation for at least 6 months or for at least 3 of the previous 3 cycle intervals. Because only 3 diagnoses are unique to primary amenorrhea and never cause secondary amenorrhea, differentiating primary from secondary amenorrhea does little to enhance the clinician's understanding of the etiology.

The causes of amenorrhea are listed below. Organize clinical evaluation on the basis of sexual development and basic developmental physiology. With such a vast differential diagnosis, one way to organize and memorize the causes of amenorrhea can be in its relationships with generalized pubertal delay, normal pubertal development, or abnormalities of the genital tract.

Causes of amenorrhea

Amenorrhea can be caused by any number of changes in the organs, glands, and hormones involved in menstruation.

Possible causes of primary amenorrhea (when a woman never gets her first period) include:

• Failure of the ovaries (female sex organs that hold eggs).
• Problems in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) or the pituitary gland (a gland in the brain that makes hormones involved in menstruation).
• Poorly formed reproductive organs.

In many cases, the cause of primary amenorrhea is not known.

Common causes of secondary amenorrhea (when a woman who has had normal periods stops getting them) include:

• Pregnancy
• Breast feeding
• Stopping the use of birth control
• Menopause
• Some birth control methods, such as Depo-Provera

Other causes of secondary amenorrhea include:

• Stress
• Poor nutrition
• Depression
• Certain drugs
• Extreme weight loss
• Over-exercising
• Ongoing illness
• Sudden weight gain or being very overweight (obesity)
• Hormonal imbalance due to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
• Thyroid gland disorders
• Tumors on the ovaries or brain (rare)

A woman who has had her uterus or ovaries removed will also stop menstruating.

 Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/amenorrhea/DS00581/DSECTION=causes 

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/953850-overview

http://www.medicinenet.com/amenorrhea/article.htm

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