Physical Wellness

Treatment Helps Post-Menopausal Get Their Sexy Back

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Jun 05, 2013 11:04 AM EDT

A new treatment may help post-menopausal women get their sexy back.  Experts say that menopause can rob women and their partners of sexual satisfaction. Women often experience sexual pain because of vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) or drying and thinning of tissues in and around the vagina after menopause.

A study published in the journal Menopause found that treatment with ospemifene, a recently approved oral drug that is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), vaginal lubricants, vaginal moisturizers and vaginal estrogen can all help treat vulvovaginal atrophy.

The study involved postmenopausal women aged 55 to 65 who had VVA and their male partners. The participants filled out a survey on how treatment with vaginal estrogen affected their sex lives. 

A majority or 58 percent of women said that they avoided intimacy because of pain before treatment, and 68 percent said they had lost their desire to have sex because of it.

Furthermore, 78 percent of men thought their partner's vaginal discomfort cause them to avoid intimacy, and about a third of the men and women had stopped having sex altogether.

The findings revealed that after treatment, a majority of women and men reported that sex was less painful for them and their partner and more than 40 percent of the women and men said sex was more satisfying. The study found that 29 percent of the women and 34 percent of the men said their sex life had improved.

The study also found that women had high self-esteem after treatment.  Researchers said about a third of participants felt more optimistic about the future of their sex life and a similar number felt closer to their partners.

"There is no need for a woman's quality of life to decline because of VVA," Dr. Margery L.S. Gass of The North American Menopause Society said in a news release.

The latest study was sponsored by Novo Nordisk.

Experts said that many women relieve VA using vaginal lubricants and moisturizers and regular sexual activity or the use of vaginal dilators. Women who choose not to take oral hormones often take vaginal estrogen, in the form of creams, tablets or rings, since absorption into the bloodstream is minimal.'

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