One women’s journey of menopause and vaginal atrophy. Written in a `tongue in cheek’ way to help break taboos of vaginal atrophy. Informative, serious, tear-jerking and guaranteed to make you laugh. You’ll learn the hidden secrets of menopause aimed to help you during your own experiences, informing women, men and health professionals of all ages.
Transcript
Hello my name is jane lewis and i’m here to talk today about vaginal dryness which is one of the 34 symptoms plus that we can get at menopause and i am the face behind this book me and my menopausal vagina.
I have compiled this list and put it on a poster of all the different symptoms that that bit of vaginal dryness can give you and why do we get all these symptoms that i will go through individually in a moment.
The reason we get them is because the whole body as we know from top to toe loves estrogen when eastern goes we get these myriad of problems but the pelvic floor especially loves oestrogen so that includes the entire pelvic floor it includes the vagina inside the vulva which is the external area the urethra and the bladder they all love estrogen and with its decline for potentially up to 80 percent of women and with an aging population potentially most women will get some symptoms you may only get one or two or you may get like me most of them due to the decline in oestrogen.
So as i said i’ve got this poster and i’m going to read off of it so one of the things that is very common is painful sex because the vagina has basically is thinning inside the lack of eastern has taken away all the plumpness and the insides become much thinner almost like her hands and ha and the vulva also the whole area has become much thinner and it can just have tiny tiny micro cuts that we can’t even see so painful intercourse and you can bleed when you have intercourse and you must always get all bleeding checked by your G.P.
Ii’m not a medical professional in any way and anything i’m telling you is just from a patient expert’s suffering and understanding of the condition.
- Smear tests can also become really quite painful if you’ve had smear tests in your 30s and they’re absolutely fine third is twenties and then suddenly when you get to your early forties they start to hurt this is almost a lightbulb warning that something may be going amiss and it could be the start of vaginal dryness.
- Iitching vulgar so the external area is your vulva that can become very itchy and that’s when women keep thinking they have thrush and keep treating for thrush and actually they don’t have thrush very often and you shouldn’t actually treat thrush unless you have a positive swab is highly likely due to vaginal dryness there are other skin conditions also like lichen sclerosis and it’s why you should not be self-treating and you should see your G.P.
- Clitoral pain so the clitoris has what’s called a hood over it and the clitoral hood can start to basically dry out attrafy and draw back and that can make the clitoris very tender and and sore and irritated.
- Burning and soreness with menopause we can get a condition called burning mouth syndrome so the mouth starts to burn and it can be due to dryness and it’s a mucosal membrane just the same as the vagina and vulva and the vulva externally can really start to burn and it’s almost like you’re sitting on a bonfire.
- Prolapse we’re much more prone to prolapse because as i said the pelvic floor is very estrogen dependent and it’s also collagen and everything there.
- Water discharge and this is where the term vaginal dryness is very misleading because we can get a very watery discharge that is almost a milk slightly gray color very watery and that is a sign that vaginal dryness is very much if you’re in the perimenopause menopause years one of the symptoms of menopause and again it’s assumed as thrush when very often is not is due to lack of estrogen.
- Urge urinary incontinence so that’s when you go to bed at night and you’ve just gone to bed you’ve just gone for a pee and you’re lying i think i need to go again and then you’re getting up every hour every two hours if you’re never doing that before and you’ve hit perimenopause menopause years then again you need to think of vaginal dryness.
- Can’t sit down a lot of women suddenly have to stop giving up bike riding riding their horse going to the gym jogging bottoms can really irritate with the running and the chaffing these are all symptoms of the area drying out so you’re beginning to see the vaginal dryness which you just think is dryness in the vagina has many other little friends that can come along.
- Abnormal vaginal bleeding when you have sex because the vagina has become so thin and as i said earlier always always get that checked out.
- Splitting and thinning so the vulva the external area outside as i said also suffers from dryness and the skin can become much thinner so any old episiotomy scars that you may have had they can become very painful 20 30 40 years later and they can even slightly tear at the point of where they were or at the entrance to the vagina that area can just become very thin and it can also slightly spit in that area even if you have never had any episiotomy scars.
- Stress incontinence so when you cough jump or laugh you can pee yourself and this is almost seen as something that is all really funny i need to get my pads hahaha isn’t this funny um it may be common but it’s absolutely not normal again it can be it’s due to the lack of oestrogen and if you start wearing pads that say 45 50 and you do nothing about it you could be in those pads for the next 30 years and that means it’s going to a cost you an awful lot of money and b you’re going to get constant urinary tract infections and you’ll end up basically with a very sore volva almost like nappy rash and a women’s health physiotherapist and estrogen and or local HRT can really help.
- UTIs repeated urinary tract infections that is really really quite common if you’re on that cycle of constantly getting a uti going to your gp backwards and forwards backwards and forwards and you’re in the perimenopause menopause years it is really highly likely that this is due to vaginal dryness and if you’re just having three days of antibiotics and it’s not going then local oestrogen needs to be really considered.
So that is a very quick whistle top store top of the conditions there are here on my web page www dot my menopausal vagina dot co dot uk you can print off this leaflet goes through the symptoms it shows you the vulva the external area because quite often this is where a lot of the women’s pain is it’s not actually in the vagina and here it gives you some of the treatments available.
Those treatments available are vaginal moisturizers these are non-hormonal you need to make sure you get good quality ones there are some that are much better than others but ultimately what the vagina wants needs and loves is estrogen and this is localized that goes directly into the vagina and some of us also need to put it onto the vulva this is not the same as HRT.
HRT also does help many with their vulva and vaginal problems but not everyone wants to take that and women who have had breast cancer and that includes estrogen receptive breast cancer can and do use localized oestrogen and that is a discussion you need to have with your medical professionals so I hope this has helped you and that was a very very quick overview of what vaginal dryness is. Thank you, bye bye
I’m not quite sure the exact moment when things went so drastically downhill, but I do remember one day being at the cinema and suddenly realising that I couldn't sit down. After only 20 minutes, I took myself to the back of the theatre and stood alone, swaying from side to side trying to calm the burning from my vulva and vagina. I haven’t been able to sit through a film since.
For seven years I've been suffering from vaginal atrophy and have tried pretty much everything out there to try to help me. I learnt so much from it that I decided to write a book to share my experiences so you don't ever feel as alone as I did.
- My menopausal vagina: vaginal dryness - 22nd October 2020
There is still a great taboo around vaginal dryness. Many women suffer from it, but do not always dare to talk about it. Not even with their partner or gynecologist. This is a shame, because there are many solutions for vaginal dryness. Using lubricant is a very accessible and instant way to overcome it. Choose one without chemical additives, preferably for sensitive skin. Apply the lubricant both internally and externally.