Halle Berry was recently featured in People Magazine about perimenopause and the pain and vaginal dryness that she experiences with intercourse. Her primary doctor mistook her symptoms as herpes! Halle Berry Recalls Her Doctor Saying She Had the ‘Worst Case of Herpes’ He Had Ever Seen — but It Was Perimenopause (msn.com)   As women transition from regular periods to postmenopausal, 50-90% (!) develop genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). GSM is caused by decreasing estrogen levels in the vulvovaginal region. This decrease in estrogen can cause vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse ..read more

During perimenopause and through menopause, estrogen levels begin to go down. Once you have not had a period for a full year, you are officially menopausal. It is pertinent to understand how the lack of estrogen affects your health.  The decrease in estrogen has a huge impact on the pelvic floor. Estrogen plays an important role in the making and breaking down of collagen.  As collagen decreases, there is an increased risk of pelvic organ prolapse.   Creating more stress and strain on the pelvic floor. The decrease in estrogen also plays a role in the function of ..read more

Lichens…What??? I thought that grows on rocks, not my vagina. Lichen sclerosus is a skin condition that comes from the term lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA), which literally means white-spot disease. It is diagnosed by visual inspection of the skin of the vulvar area (genitals) and/or a biopsy if indicated. This is often diagnosed by a Gynecologist or Dermatologist. But can many times be found by your pelvic floor physical therapist. Lichens sclerosus causes painful and itchy patches of thinning skin. It can present with white shiny patches. Most commonly It affects the genital and an ..read more

We know exercise is important for our mental, heart, muscle, and bone health throughout our lives.  Exercise is the most powerful non-medication prevention of fractures in women.  This is especially important for women after menopause.  As estrogen goes down, our bones become less dense, and the chances of osteopenia and osteoporosis increases making the risks for fractures go up. It is known that weight-bearing exercise improves bone health prior to menopause.  More research is now being done with postmenopausal women and the results are exciting. Dynamic resistance traini ..read more

A recent flood of patients with the same complaint: “I went through menopause 3 or 4 years ago, and since then sex is so painful we cannot do it at all.  I have always enjoyed sex and have never had any pain with it before menopause.”  Let’s talk about sex so we can have more awareness, as many women have had pain for years, despite discussing it with their doctor.  This is a frustrating condition for women at this stage in life because for many, their healthcare provider has shrugged them off after a failed attempt at topical hormones.  While hormones (or lack thereof) can ..read more

The decrease in estrogen during menopause and into post-menopause includes many of the symptoms we discussed in the last blog post about the stages of menopause.  One of the most common things that we see as pelvic floor physical therapists in our menopausal patients is called Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM). The symptoms of GSM include: vaginal dryness atrophy of the vulvar tissue painful intercourse stress or urge incontinence increased risk of urinary tract infections (UTI).  As the vaginal tissue becomes less elastic during menopause, women may experience discomfort ..read more

As women, we often talk about all that happens with pregnancy and post-partum.  What we do not hear about is what our bodies go through during menopause.  I want to spend some time discussing menopause and the changes and transitions that occur during this time.  Before we do that, let’s begin to understand what menopause is and what happens during this time in our lives.  There are three stages of menopause: perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause. Perimenopause usually starts in our mid-40s but can start as early as our late-30s or as late as early-50s. This transiti ..read more

There are a lot of things that happen to women as we age. As you go through menopause there are some simple tips for keeping your pelvis healthy and happy during this phase. Because we no longer have the levels of estrogen that our bodies are used to, the tissues and structures in the pelvis go through some changes. Let’s touch on some of these and what you can do to manage. Vulvar Tissue Health With less estrogen, the tissues in your vulva (external genitals) become more pale, dry and thin. This can cause discomfort with wiping, clothes and intercourse. If left un cared for it can result in t ..read more

As we begin a new year, it may be time for a good closet, nightstand, and medicine cabinet clean out. Now, if you catch yourself holding onto an old bottle of lube from many years ago whose advertising swore that you’d be feeling fire and ice, smelling like the queen’s rose garden, or experiencing the lovely tastes of tropical fruits, and you’re contemplating keeping it… This is your sign. Throw it out! Simple and clean is the new sexy. 2023: The year that we treat our vaginas with some TLC! Let’s breakdown lubrication: When a woman becomes aroused, the body naturally produces lubricant throug ..read more

Urinary leaking during exercise is common, but we should not treat it as normal.  Female athletes experience leaking 2-3 times more often than non-athletes.  Sports that require higher impact, such as basketball, volleyball, and running have higher risk of leaking.  An average of 30% of female athletes report leaking with their sport.  This ranges from 0% with low impact sports like golf up to 80% with high impact sports like jumping on a trampoline.  Physical activity is important in our general health and with decreasing the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes ..read more