You want Charge of Your Sex Life?

OK, thus here we tend to are: ladies of an exact age World Health Organization, by now, ar wise enough to understand a factor or 2 regarding recognizing life’s challenges and taking watch out of ourselves. I’m pretty assured that I will reckon the very fact that the bulk folks have seasoned, discussed, suffered through, place up with, perfect one or additional of the following: hot flashes, mood swings, difficult people, challenging circumstances, empty nest, death, divorce, downsizing, weight gain, bloat, illness, pain, health scares, health threats, having “work” done, becoming an in-law, losing a pet, losing your waistline, losing your keys. Feel free to add to the list.

Think about it. There ar such a lot of challenges that occur in an exceedingly short time, sometimes round the biological time years.

But there is one thing that several ladies ne’er expected, and, if they did, they are not quite sure how to confront it: painful sex. I had the pleasure of interviewing 2 specialists I met one evening at an academic event in the big apple town on this subject that several ladies ar hesitant to debate.

If you wish to require charge of (and enjoy) your sex life, here ar some insights from Donnica Moore, MD, a highly regarded woman’s health expert and advocate and president of the Sapphire Women’s Health Group with an impressive bio too exhaustive to list here, and Shannon Chavez, PhD, a dynamic and brilliant sexual health expert with a private practice in metropolis, California, specializing in wedding and group psychotherapy.

SK: What ar some physical issues ladies face throughout and when climacteric that have an effect on their sexual drive yet because the actual act of sex?

DM: the foremost disreputable symptoms of climacteric ar hot flashes and their nighttime counterpart, night sweats. These may be unquiet to a woman’s sleep, as well as her libido. But the biological time symptom presumably to interfere with a woman’s sex drive? That’s vaginal dryness. The condition is called vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) …  which results from a lack of estrogen and the resultant thinning in the tissues of the vagina.

SK: What are the implications of VVA?

SC: The epithelial duct tissues go from plump, lubricated and unpainful to dry, smaller in size and more prone to irritation and infection. When a girl loses epithelial duct secretion, it takes even longer to lubricate once sexually aroused. She may expertise reduced erectile organ sensitivity, less orgasmic intensity or even the loss of ability to orgasm. Intercourse becomes associated with pain—not pleasure. Women describe the feeling from these changes as “sharp, stabbing pain” and irritation within the tissue, both internally and externally.

SK: however long will ladies expect these issues to last? I’m sure it’s different for everyone, after all.

DM: In around eighty % of biological time ladies, hot flashes sometimes resolve among 5 years. However, VVA only worsens over time—unless it’s treated.

SC: each girl expertises climacteric differently; some experience changes step by step, some all at once, and others, not at all. Unfortunately, there’s no menopause manual and time clock that can predict what will happen when. We even have to require into consideration the roles of nutrition, stress, health issues, family history,chronic illness and premenopausal health when considering the duration of menopausal changes.

SK: OK, it’s solution time. Vaginal dryness and changes seem inevitable. Are there ways that to affect them or even even slow progression?

DM: Lubricants [and epithelial duct moisturizers] will give some symptomatic relief (but do not truly treat the underlying problem). There are various forms of estrogen therapy, both systemic, like pills, patches or gels, and in vaginal cream form. And now, there is a new non-estrogen oral medical care to treat moderate to severe painful sex because of climacteric, known as Osphena [ospemifene tablets].

SC: the most treatment for many years was associate oestrogen replacement medical care known as Premarin [also, Prempro and Premphase], which was marketed to women as a way to “preserve your femininity” and ease everything from hot flashes to anxiety. But once research found that long-term estrogen replacement therapy increased a woman’s risk of breast cancer and affected libido (many women reported loss of sex drive and desire), there was a push for more holistic and hormone-free treatments for menopause, like Chinese herbs, acupunctureand bioidentical hormone therapy. Other treatments embrace DHEA suppositories (inserted within the epithelial duct daily) associated an all-organic cream known as Sex Butter, which can naturally moisturize, coat and heighten sensation; it reduces pain and works to address vaginal atrophy.

SK: With all the changes—and options—it looks that there is a chance for ladies to require charge or their sex lives and switch things around. But first, we have to relearn the “language of sex” and find the best professionals to talk to.

DM: for several ladies, menopause may be the first time they’ve had to discuss sexual problems or symptoms with their partners or physicians. But aside from being unprepared for having these symptoms, many women are unprepared for the conversation. In general the simplest MD is that the one with whom a girl has the nighest relationship; fairly often that is her medical specialist. But it could also be her family physician or her internist. Here ar a number of the foremost common terms biological time ladies ought to learn:

• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Vaginal dryness
• Vulvovaginal atrophy
• Lubrication
• Libido
• Incontinence
• Erectile dysfunction
• Anorgasia (inability to achieve orgasm)

SC: In my opinion, the best type of physician is one trained in sexual health and human sexuality. They’re additional seemingly to be ready to answer queries ladies have around completely different stages of their sexual generation. An integrated team will embrace gynecologists, sex therapists, naturopaths and pelvic floor physical therapists. As a girl ages, her pelvic floor tone naturally decreases and can reduce the intensity of orgasms and arousal. Kegel exercises will strengthen the girdle floor and increase blood flow to the reproductive organ tissue to boost orgasms.