A podcast to educate and equip women with the information and confidence they need to express, experience and enjoy their sexuality. Cindy Scharkey RN, BSN, brings her 35+ years of experience as a healthcare professional to open the doors to healthy conversations about sex. This is a community where you can listen and learn to give yourself permission for pleasure. Visit www.cindyscharkey.com for educational blogs and newsletter.
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Learn the difference between vaginal estrogen, vaginal moisturizers, and lube for sex. This quickie episode outlines what each one is, when their use is appropriate and a few frequently asked questions about each. Bite size education for everyone, but especially for those in perimenopause and the menopause transition.
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Hello and welcome to Permission for Pleasure. I'm Cindy Sharkey, your host. You're joining me for some bite-sized education for women over 40, and I am delighted you're tuning in. Well, frankly, this episode really is for everyone, no matter what age, because education around our bodies and their changes is sorely lacking. I would rather you be prepared and know how to advocate for yourself. So here we are. In this quickie episode, I want to address just a few frequently asked questions I field from women in perimenopause through the menopause transition and beyond. To be clear, perimenopause can last seven to ten years. It's a long time for women. And menopause officially starts after it has been one full year since your last menstrual cycle. I will link to some other episodes I have and resources from my website in the show notes around the menopause transition. As well, you can find the link to our amazing sponsor, Uberlube. Friends, they don't call me the lube fairy for nothing. I am all about quality lube for sex, especially Uber lube, which is hands down my favorite silicone lube that I recommend. You can use my code Cindy and the link in the show notes to try it and find out for yourself. And that's our first education bite. Lube for sex. The difference between lube for sex, like I'm talking about with Uber lube, and vaginal moisturizers and vaginal estrogen. These are three different things. And I want to tell you a little bit about each one so that you know the difference. So let's start with lubrication for sex. One of the most misunderstood parts of a woman's arousal process is related to lubrication. I wrote a whole chapter about this in my book. A whole chapter. Let me read you a quote from my book coming out in February. Imagine going down a water slide without enough water. It would not be comfortable, let alone fun. Adequate water is needed for the slide to be slippery and cut down on the friction between it and you. Lubrication is a lot like that. I have an early episode all about lube, as well as a guide to lube, a blog that's a guide to lube to educate you all about it, and those will be easy to find in the show notes, along with the pre-order link to my book. Couldn't resist adding that there. But here's the basics. Some women lubricate a lot. Some vary, some lubricate a little. Surprise, we're all different. As we get older, though, our hormones fluctuate and decline, and we need the estrogen and testosterone for lubrication. And those are the hormones that start to drop, and that can result in less lubrication by our bodies. Thus, the need to add lubricant for sex. Otherwise, there's too much friction. Too much friction can cause pain and microtears of your delicate vaginal and vulvar tissues. Adequate lubrication for sex reduces that friction. Lubricants for sex are not hormonal. They are not the same as vaginal moisturizers and vaginal estrogen. I still am just completely floored at the amount of women I talk to or interact with or just connect with anywhere who have not heard about lubrication for sex to make sex more pleasurable, not painful, especially in this stage of life. So if you want more information about that, please check out the link in the show notes. Now let's talk about vaginal moisturizers. These are also non-hormonal. Moisturizers are for maintaining vaginal health. They're sold over the counter, they help to treat the discomforts of dryness, irritation. Similar to the way you would take care of the skin on your face, they moisturize. They're not ideal for sex, and they are not the same thing as a vaginal estrogen product. Okay, so let's talk about vaginal estrogen. These are low-dose localized hormone therapy. Localized means it's not systemic. It is not the same thing as HRT or hormonal replacement therapy. It stays local to the vulva and vagina. Vaginal estrogen can be applied by a cream, via an insert of some kind, like a suppository. Vaginal estrogens do require a prescription because they contain low-dose hormones. Why would I want to use a vaginal estrogen? What does vaginal estrogen treat? Good question. Mainly it treats GSM. We've talked about this on the show. GSM stands for genitorurinary syndrome of menopause. This is a collection of symptoms that involve the vulvo vaginal area, the urethra, and the bladder. This would be things like vaginal dryness, urinary urgency, frequent urinary tract infections, loss of elasticity of the vaginal tissues, loss of collagen, thinning of the vaginal tissues, and shriveling up of the blood vessels. Okay, I could go on. Low-dose vaginal estrogen is basically the cheapest regenerative therapy for your vagina. And I would encourage you to consider it and advocate for yourself with your provider if you are experiencing any of these symptoms or similar type symptoms to GSM, whether you're 40, 50, 60, or older. A few additional questions women ask. Can I take HRT or hormonal replacement therapy and a vaginal estrogen at the same time? Yes, because vaginal and vulvar applications don't raise your hormone levels like HRT does. Some women also ask about using it with testosterone. Yes, and let's remember that the clitoris and the vulvar glands are testosterone dependent. So I think I'll leave the testosterone discussion for an old. We need a whole episode just about that. But I do want you to know that yes, you can use that in combination. Also get this feedback from women. I tried that and it didn't work. My first two questions are, how long did you try it? And let's talk about exactly how you applied it and used it and at what regularity. You may have to give vaginal estrogen a full eight to twelve weeks to see the full effect of it. You may have to adjust the frequency of use. Providers do try to begin almost any therapy with the lowest dose at the least frequent intervals and adjust from there. I know we all want a quick fix, but our bodies don't respond like that. And that is not the standard of care. As far as application, please always ask your doctor or the pharmacist for how to apply medications. I remember a young woman coming to me with an applicator for another vaginal medication saying, No one told me what to do or how it works, or I don't know what to do. Ask for the information and education you need before you walk out with a product or a medication. That's our bite-sized education around lubricant for sex, like our Uber lube, vaginal moisturizers for symptoms, and vaginal estrogen. And friends, just know that healthcare professionals get very little training in the menopause transition. You must educate yourself and advocate for yourself. Use the correct terminology and language for your body parts and what you're experiencing. I will link to my little tips to talk to a provider in the show notes if that would be helpful for you. So give yourself permission to ask for what you need, get the education you need, and certainly to give yourself permission for pleasure.
