It is amazing – it seems that I cannot go anywhere without women secretly sharing their vaginal health woes, mainly vaginal dryness. I was at a party recently when a woman asked me what I did for a living; I explained the work I do in women’s health like treating prolapse, vaginal dryness/vaginal atrophy, bladder health and more. I jokingly said that I was known as the Vagina Whisperer.
She told me about her friend in Montreal who was very much in love with her husband of 20 years. She described her friend’s troubles as experiencing a sensation of vaginal “bristling” during intercourse. She said this was very painful for her and it had basically ended their sex life. She also told me that her friend sought help but the doctors she saw did not know what to do. I suggested that her friend email me or visit my website and/or blog to read about this very common women’s health issue.
Lara, a forty something friend told me she was taking hormones from the inside out! Not only was she using systemic estrogen for her hot flashes, night sweats and shoulder pain, she was also using a low dose localized estrogen tablet for her vaginal atrophy.
And finally, as I was bidding my farewell, the hostess told me that she was a very sexual woman but was suddenly (pretty well overnight) finding sex to be painful which has led to low sexual desire. She described her discomfort as feeling like sandpaper.
I explained that vaginal dryness, the hallmark symptom of vaginal atrophy, happens when estrogen decreases in the vagina. There are many treatment and management options available such as:
- Coconut oil preparations like JoyGel
- Tea tree creams like DrUAqua
- Gels like Gynatrof®,
- Personal mositurizers (ovule) with tissue healing properties like RepaGyn®
- And some women need low dose localized estrogen in the form of a tablet, ring or cream
After explaining the options, I told her that I would drop off some samples in her mailbox so that she could choose what was right for her. She was delighted and said it would be the best gift ever if she could go back to being the sexual woman she always was and get back to the bedroom once again!
