Vaginal Anatomy The vagina is an amazing part of the body that changes with aging just as the rest of your body changes. During reproductive life, the walls of the vagina are lush, moist, and corrugated. That means they have lots of stretchy folds made from elastic tissues. Think of the sleeves of a sweater …
I was walking through the operating room one day when a cardiac surgeon stopped me and asked for help. “I’m about to do surgery on an older woman and we cannot get a urinary catheter into her bladder. Could you lend us a hand.” The woman had a problem called pelvic organ prolapse. …
It’s common. It’s painful. But nobody wants to talk about it – vaginal dryness and painful sex. But if you do have it, you’re not alone. Roughly half of women after menopause will have vaginal dryness or painful sex. Doctors call it Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause or GSM. Why Does it Happen? The lower …
Feeling your internal organs dropping is an embarrassing and worrisome problem. The medical term is pelvic prolapse. Or you may have loss of urine when you cough, sneeze, or exercise. This is called stress incontinence. Many women will not share these problems with her doctor because they worry it will require surgery or they are …
Menopause always comes with challenges. When you are 50ish, the symptoms come on gradually. But when you are younger and still have normal or relatively normal hormone levels, treatment causes an abrupt drop in those hormones, and that causes you to be catapulted into menopause. That large, sudden change in hormones causes large, sudden changes …
There’s a new medical term for an old and too familiar problem. It’s called Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause or GSM and it is the medical term for a group of symptoms that include dryness of the vagina and skin area outside the vagina, burning, and irritation. It also includes painful sex, urinary symptoms, and recurring urinary …
Ever go to the doctor and feel too embarrassed to ask your question? One very common question that DOESN’T get asked is, “Are you feeling dry or feeling pain with sex?” You’re not alone. About half of women in perimenopause and menopause share your frustration. The bad news is that only about 7% ever …
