Always a word that gets attention. Let’s talk about sex and menopause. A recent patient had gone through menopause 5 years ago. She wondered why she had no sex drive. Many women in the same situation are puzzled when they have been sexually active years ago and had a healthy sex drive. Where did it go and why? The answer to the question has to do with biology and biochemistry. If you stop to think about it, you would not ask why a car cannot drive if it does not have any gas or electricity to fuel it. How can you expect sexual organs to function without the hormones that make it happen? Well, you can’t. Women are being told that the only problem associated with menopause is having hot flashes. That is the tip of the iceberg! They are also given the impression that the only problem with hot flashes is being uncomfortable. Women are not being told that their brain is being squeezed and the hot flashes may compromise future brain ability. They are not told that their FSH will shoot up when there is not enough estrogen. This directly stimulates bone cells that break down bone. This is why young women have bone loss when they first start decreasing estrogen production and they are only in perimenopause.
Back to sex. So we learn that allowing hormone production to drop, “starves” our sexual organs and they don’t work so well anymore. What a lightbulb moment! The tissues become dry and sex hurts. Who wants pain? Women are also more prone to urinary tract infections because those tissues become dry and are less able to protect themselves from bacteria. Having a libido for women requires estrogen and testosterone. It is not a thought process apart from the body. Here is the good news. Much like a car that “comes to life” after gas or electricity is provided to it; our tissues and brain centers will also come to life if given the hormones they require. Vaginal tissues will revert to their previous healthy condition. The tissues will be more elastic and sex will not hurt! Also the brain centers will be stimulated to work. Orgasm itself is dependent on tissue response, and that will come back too.
If you are struggling with your libido or want to learn more about perimenopause/menopause, please call our office to make an appointment. There is no need to suffer! We can help. 🙂 Click here to book an appointment.