The numbers dance: between 50 and 90% of women will suffer it at some point.
Why the inaccuracy? Why not all hablan abiertando de esto. Sometimes, I don’t even consult a doctor despite suffering symptoms that are both annoying and painful during sexual activity.
“Before, it was thought that few women had it. Now we see that it is something very frequent and that a very high percentage of women is symptomaticit is said, that in the soil there will be a bell that appears in an annoying way”, explains Laura Cámara, matron, sexologist and expert in sexual and reproductive health.
It is about vaginal atrophy, a disease that has physical consequences but, no doubt, also psychological ones.
But there are ways to remedy your symptoms when you already suffer and, also, an interesting way to prevent them.
Estrogen questioning
Although commonly known as vaginal atrophy, the medical term is genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GMS) because it includes changes both in the genitals and in the urethra and the vegija.
In addition, it is produced with greater frequency during this period of the woman’s life.
Ocurre al haber una drop in the level of estrogens. This group of hormones is present in both sexes and is important for the health of the heart, bones and brain, in addition to being a key factor in female reproductive health.
Es con los cambios de la menopause when you go down your number. But not only at that moment.
El stress can also be an important factor to keep in mind, because this “affects the hormones and the normal functioning of the cycle”.
“There may also be a fall in estrogen during lactation, in taking contraceptives and in patients who have had some type of gynecological cancer or other tumor with treatments that affect the fall of estrogens. But in the menopause it was always going to happen… It’s going to happen to us all, it’s physiological”, explains Cámara.
A very underrated symptom
The sexologist explains to us that the most frequent symptoms are there vaginal dryness and pain during sexual activity. Indeed, the professional explains that 90% of women with vaginal atrophy that she sees in consultation talk about pain.
“The problem is that the pain during sex is very undervalued and hidden. There are many women having painful sex and unable to ask for help because, as we said, it is a very taboo topic ”, she sustains.
Other symptoms like this may also appear insufficient lubrication during sexual activity, itching, irritation or postcoital bleeding and, among the symptoms that affect the urinary system, dysuria, is to say, the difficult, painful and incomplete expulsion of the orine, as well as urinary urgency and repeated urinary infections, according to the Sociedad Española de Ginecologia y Obstetricia (SEGO) .
Another symptom is there decrease in sexual desire. And this is understood from the feelings that can appear in women with vaginal atrophy.
“It comes accompanied by frustration and anticipatory anxiety and this generates problems with the couple. When there is pain in sexual relations, the anxiety of the encounter is activated, he thinks ‘this is going to hurt me’. It’s hard to go from pleasure to pain”, says Cámara.
The sexologist reiterates that, although it is a taboo topic, This pain takes a long time to address: “Sometimes women come to the consultation who say they have been in pain for years”.
A healthy life and… blood flow to the genitals
The fall in estrogen is something that, late in the day, happens to every woman. By ello, the experts recommend some guidelines that can help alleviate the symptoms of vaginal atrophy.
The SEGO recommends, first, changes in lifestyle years before menopause to prevent and avoid this disease, which includes maintaining an adequate weight, practicing exercise regularly and take a healthy diet.
Also, if you do it, it’s important quit smoking, since tobacco “increases estrogenic metabolism”, keep SEGO. It says, “if you smoke it is very possible that the atrophy will eventually appear sooner and symptomatic”, says Cámara.
There is something else we can do to prevent and it is about increase the blood flow of our genitals.
How is that achieved?
La SEGO responds: with sexual activity.
“It is decir, with self-stimulation, sex in pairs, use of costumes, use of sexual toys… Sexuality in the broadest and most diverse sense”, describe Laura Cámara.
This, in addition to increasing the vaginal blood flow, provides oxygen and improves the elasticity and lubrication of the area.
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As a sexologist, Cámara points out that it is also important review the type of sexual relationships we are having.
“It’s not the same to have a relationship with someone who understands me well and I’m able to talk about the difficulties, the pain that can appear, who has a more complacent sexuality, dedicated to the other, without pleasure”.
when you’re here
As we have said from the beginning, few women are aware of this and, therefore, when the first symptoms appear few seek treatment.
This is supposed to live with him physical and psychological discomfort when there is a whole therapeutic scale that can alleviate them.
Los vaginal lubricants and specific moisturizing creams for the genital area son, according to SEGO, the first line of treatment when mild and moderate symptoms appear. They are products without hormones, capable of accumulating water to then release it slowly and are innocuous and safe for health.
“We can start using them when a slight dryness appears If we are in an age where we can start to feel like this. In addition, it is something free to access, like a normal moisturizing cream for the skin”, says Laura Cámara.
The second step implies the hormonal treatment and under medical prescription. could be since creams with estrogens to vaginal tablets or rings that are inserted into the vagina and release this hormone.
These more traditional methods have recently been added to laser technology, the application of carbon dioxide, hyaluronic acid and radiofrequency to activate collagen and elasticity in the area.
But SEGO points out that both with vulvovaginal elláser and radiofrequency, although there have been satisfactory results in several studies, there is a lack of data on its effectiveness and safety in the long term. Therefore, support need more evidence before recommending it.
Laura Cámara is reactive in this regard, not only because there is not enough evidence, but because, at her discretion, “it has a lot of marketing elements and vaginal rejuvenation chirría (shocks me). It seems that we always have to be young, beautiful and ‘fit’ for intercourse”.
Instead, I recommend a multidisciplinary approach that involves sexological support:
“We arrive at the menopause and we have deficiencies in this aspect, when even we remain years behind to enjoy sexuality. There is still a lack of sex education. It is something basic”. (I)
