Aside from some rare autoimmune and chronic skin diseases, many post-menopauseal women deal with excessive vaginal dryness and general thinning of skin, muscles and feminine tissues.
They wish for the more moisture days of their youth. The wrath of time, lack of youthful ovarian hormones and frankly underuse, leads to less lubricating secretions as well.
Months or years in this environment can lead to itchy discomfort, rashes, inflammation, pain with intercourse and even more yeast and bladder infections.
Sometimes this is rolled into a condition called atrophic vaginitis.
These symptoms can be delayed or minimized by the following 5 points-
1. Use those pelvic muscles- do kegel’s exercises daily and enjoy sex!
2. Allow more time for foreplay so your “juices can flow” to put it bluntly and don’t be shy about using water based lubricants.
3. Don’t shave or wax the already thinning hair-you need all the barrier , warming and protective benefits you can get.
4. Drink plenty of water and review medications to see if you are taking anything that has the side effects of drying out mucus membranes like antihistamines like Benadryl. Urine incontinence pills and diuretics are some other common examples.
5. Check with your doctor if your signs and symptoms are severe enough to warrant hormonal therapies.
Not post-menopauseal yet. I’ll pass this on to my older family members though.
Here’s to hoping I never need these tips, but if I do I will remember them. Thank you for sharing!
great tips ~ ty
Great tips.Did not realize antihistimes could make it dry down there.
I can pass this onto my wife, so when its her time she knows whats going on.
I agree with your suggestions. Dryness isn’t an issue for me at age 60 but I know that many of the women I work with do have less lubrication than in the past. I particularly think it’s important for women to get aroused, which means more foreplay and emphasis on her body…and often a mental state of desire. For women who are not in a sexual relationship it’s still important to experience arousal so self-pleasuring is a good tool!
I would add that other lubricants, silicon-based and oils ( like organic coconut oil) are good and will last longer and feel slicker. There are times when water-based is preferred-particularly with condoms or silicone toys.
Love the idea of using coconut oil. What can’t coconut oil do these days?
Another reminder to do my kegel’s! It seems kegel talk is everywhere lately. Although I had no clue they were for anything other than firming up your muscles.
I never knew kegels were for anything else either! You learn something new each day.
I am in the late stages of menopause and I have had to address dryness. The only thing I have found to help is using Vitamin E soft gels as a vaginal suppository. Use them every night and no more dryness problem. Just my two cents… 🙂
What a brilliant idea! Thanks for the tip Cheryl.