Wednesday Bubble: no glove, no…
[Credit: enigmafashions.com]
… love. Seems silly, right? However, sadly, advanced reproductive age has nothing to do with whether or not a woman should use contraception. In fact, according to a literature review published several decades ago, the likelihood of reproductive sterility at age 40 is 40%, and at age 45, 80%. This means that the monthly risk of pregnancy, although declining with less frequent ovulation, may still be as high as 60%, depending on your age.
In a more recent review, published this month in the Advanced Access edition of Human Reproduction Update, investigators report that the decline in fertility among women in their 50s remains insufficient to prevent pregnancy. With the exception of hysterectomy, they point to copper and hormonal IUDs, both of which have failure rates of less than 1%.
Additional considerations when choosing a contraceptive method in midlife include:
- Menopausal stage, i.e. how frequent or infrequent are your menstrual periods?
- Menopausal symptoms
- Sexual issues, e.g., desire, lubrication or lack thereof
Although I am not a fan of hormones, selecting a hormonally-based contraception may help to address these particular issues.
So, how long do you need to wear protection? The investigators suggest that contraception should be continued until women become postmenopausal and attain a natural state of sterility. I’d add that if you are having intercourse with more than one partner, that you add another layer of protection — e.g. a condom — to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
It may be inconvenient, but surely, not as inconvenient (or traumatic) as midlife pregnancy.
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: Promises, promises
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Q83DPZy6E&feature=related&ytsession=U6iu6oMyA8zzSJOJpqptbdAFIqnHkFeau0XEbwt77-y-azlCWoIylQdcirYPt4bQHHpMLHLhLOt1q54_niIJu-1-EGX8deGguSUklWefvo9Z0ZjK6JcAZprwAuWqnHxZiLG7iCAgOj6zXfatZzoFCYw563-hyhuE-lJNHvafs4lF2AeKDRNYFYu1MmC8apCdCpyNQS3PDH4L2XlUUR0pJcLFlLSwjE8579v0qVqeE7CsrUyMm6h7oGQPBc59qRqu5xzMfRU5eWSIE4_SRm6vHMm72qvfnuN_4bBjim57Sa4_bqjs3N9MzLWBR1032VMH]
Have you heard of Lyriana?
Billing itself as ‘The World’s Most Powerful Sexual Enhancement Product Designed Specifically for Women,” Lyriana promises to:
- Make sex a lot better
- Increase your desire to have sex
- Increase sensitivity, lubrication and…”that rip his clothes off feeling.”
All with a money-back guarantee.
Lyriana is an over-the-counter product containing extracts from the Amm Visnaga plant Visnadine, which evidently was used in ancient Egypt to widen the blood vessels and promote blood flow. Theoretically, the use of visnadine in this matter will improve blood flow to the labia and clitoris to enhance sensitivity, promote lubrication and improve th overall sexual experience.
According to the product website, clinical studies demonstrated the Lyriana effectively improved vaginal dryness in postmenopausal women and did so without irritation or other adverse reactions. Notably, only 27 women were enrolled in their key outcomes study.
So, what do you think? Can Lyriana effectively address sexual issues associated with menopause, including declining desire and lubrication? Or is it just a bunch of promises, promises; another bubble waiting to be popped?
Anyone?!
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: We Ain’t No April Fool’s
Jane Brody. You disappoint me. I wonder why you would lend your name and esteemed reputation to a rather narrow treatise on diminishing sexual desire during menopause and treatments half-answers to an issue that is not just physical but also emotional.
In all fairness, in an article published yesterday’s New York Times Health section Brody provides a thorough introduction to the “why’s” underlying changes in sexual desire. Indeed, I encourage readers of this blog to check it out as the personal anecdotes coupled with scientific information are nteresting and informative. But that’s where the article stops to inform and turns to the old paradigm “menopause as a disease.”
Brody suggests that Estrotest (a drug containing estrogen and testosterone) and transdermal (through the skin) estrogen formulations may help. She also recommends lubricants, and use of the antidepressant Wellbutrin. And she does give self-stimulation a blip, even though that’s where she stops.
So in the most respectful way possible, I’d like to suggest that we ain’t no fools. In fact, with regards to testosterone, data have been anything but favorable as of late. So, ladies, let’s take a look at a positive, empowering non-therapeutic approach that encompasses wellness and self-esteem.
The following was written last November. I am reposting it today to lend another perspective on the issue of hormones and sexual desire.
I’ve written several posts about the use of testosterone for sexual dysfunction in menopausal women and its less than pleasant side effects, such as unwanted hair growth and development of the metabolic syndrome.
Fortunately, Dr. Christiane Northrup has a different and much healthier perspective about sexual dysfunction during the transition.
One of the first things she writes, in her newly published “The Secret Pleasures of Menopause,” is that an important key to achieving health and healthy sex during and after the menopause is to boost one’s nitric oxide levels. Nitric oxide, she explains, is a free radical produced in the lining of blood vessels, by lung and white blood cells, and nerve cells in the brain, that “resets your power grid and reboots your body, a secret weapon for optimal health.”
In order to produce more nitric oxide, you need to engage your mind, body an spirit in positive activities, such as:
- associating with positive people
- eating healthily and exercising
- being kind/taking pride in yourself
- realizing you are what you believe
- letting go of the past and embracing the present
- understanding that health and sex go hand-in-hand
Dr. Northrup suggests that we become “ardent explorers” of our own pleasure, in essence, become our own partners in sex. Turn ourselves on and tell ourselves often that a turned on woman is irresistible. Recognize and release anger as much as we can. Commit to regularly exploring our pleasure potential and live our lives in ways that “excite, motivate, and turns on” other people in our lives.
A few additional tidbits:
- Think heartwarming, sexy, uplifting, kind, loving and positive thoughts about yourself and others EVERY DAY
- Strive for commitment, trust and vulnerability with your partner
- Do things that keep you in touch with your life force…cultivate your inner pleasure and exchange it for stress, and decide that this half of your life is really the best
- Get out of your head and into your body….regularly
Desire pleasure, know that you deserve it, believe you can bring it into your life, overcome your resistance to accepting it, and embrace it.
Honestly, I’m not usually into this touchy feely stuff. But I encourage you to read Dr. Northup’s book and start to practice some of these positive, life affirming, love affirming steps. Pleasure truly starts within by changing our mindsets about our limitations, we can fine tune our bodies in ways that make us and others feel great.
As Dr. Northrup says, our bodies were made to experience unlimited pleasure.
And of course, pleasure begets pleasure….
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: two thumbs down!
[photo credit: Kristian Olsen, photo.net]
There’s a whole lotta buzz going on around testosterone these days…testosterone patches, that is.
The March online edition of the British Medical Journal’s Drug Therapeutics Bulletin has given two thumbs down to Intrinsa, a testosterone patch developed to boost sex drive in women with hypoactive sexual disorder (i.e. who enter menopause due to removal of their wombs and ovaries). Interestingly, the US Food and Drug Administration had enough questions about Intrinsa to refuse marketing approval. However, the European Union gave it’s safety approval rating in 2006, paving the way for launch in the UK last March.
So, what are the concerns?
According to the article’s authors, testosterone patches should not be recommended to address low sex drive in women. Although research has indicated a slight increase in sexual desire/drive among women using the patch, the patches have primarily been tested in a small group of women who are taking HRT and not in other populations. What’s more, questions have been raised about study methodology; e.g. diagnosis was made on short, unvalidated questionnaires and some participants were already having sex regularly at the time they entered the trial, which begs the question – where was the improvement?
Concerns have also been raised about the long-term safety of the patches, which researchers say is unknown. Two pivotal trials demonstrated side effects rates in about 75% of women, mostly relating to sites on the body where the patches were applied. But 1% of women also experienced acne, excess hair growth, hair loss, breast pain, weight gain, insomnia, voice deepening and migraine headaches. Testosterone can also increase cholesterol levels, which potentially prevents their use in women who have an increased risk of heart disease.
Although no firm conclusions have been made, the researchers do say that they “cannot recommend Intriansa for use in women with sexual dysfunction.”
So, the jury’s out. Avoid testosterone patches. And focus on other methods to improve sexual desire and drive if it becomes problematic as hormone levels drop. Personally, I like Dr. Christina Northrup’s approach to boost nitric oxide levels — natural, empowering, pleasurable!
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: Hot stuff
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwtiPwW3npo]
Those of you who regularly read this blog know that I’ve spent quite a bit of time this Fall writing about sex. Sexual desire, sexual dysfunction, testosterone and sex, self respect, happiness….sex.
However, when a friend of mine recently mentioned that it is commonly believed amongst men is that women going through menopause are insatiable, I had to jump on him (figuratively, of course) and the topic.
This statement blows all the data proving otherwise, well, right out the window.
Women going through menopause are insatiable.
So ladies and gentlemen, the soapbox is yours’ today on Flashfree. Let’s burst the bubble and put the myth and misconceptions about midlife and sex to rest, once and for all (okay, I can’t really promise not to write about this topic again but once and for all this week….):
What are your experiences? Take the poll or comment. Let’s talk!
[polldaddy poll=”1223610″]
Relax…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyl5DlrsU90]
The mind is a powerful thing when it comes to….sex during menopause.
Dr. Christian Northrup suggests that the mind plays as much a role in the ability or inability to experience pleasurable sex during the transition as estrogen and other hormones.
Indeed, a study recently published in Menopause Journal supports this supposition.
Researchers asked 200 Brazilian women between the ages of 40 and 65 to fill out a questionnaire on social/demographic factors, symptoms, behavior, reproduction and partner-related factors with the goal of determining things that influence painful intercourse (dyspareunia).
Overall, almost 40% of women surveyed experienced pain during intercourse, with study findings demonstrating that this was much more common in women who reported nervousness or depression. Conversely, factors that offered some protection against painful intercourse included the frequency of sexual activity.
The findings support Dr. Northrup’s contention that more is, well, more — that it is essential to incorporate healthy, sexual thoughts into our lives and engage in self- and partner-exploration often. Most importantly, we need to do things that keep us in touch with our life force, and cultivate inner pleasure in exchange for stress and emotions that accompany it.
Clearly, our minds and bodies are well connected. Take good care of both and that should help take are of any pain.
Read MoreArchives
Tags
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.