Menopause can change your sex life. Treatments can ease dryness, pain, and low desire.
How can menopause affect your sex life?
Lower estrogen can make vaginal tissue thinner and drier. This is part of genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). It can make sex painful.
You may also have less interest in sex or need more time to feel aroused.
What helps vaginal dryness and painful sex?
- Vaginal estrogen or vaginal dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA; prasterone)
- Ospemifene, a daily prescription pill that acts like estrogen on vaginal tissue
- Vaginal moisturizers every few days and/or water-based personal lubricants during sex
Avoid energy-based vaginal treatments. They have not been shown to work, and they can cause vaginal pain and scarring.
What helps low sexual desire?
If you are experiencing low sexual desire, talk with your health care provider to explore treatment options.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a medicine called flibanserin for women younger than 65, before or after menopause, for treatment of low sexual desire. Talk with your provider about the benefits and risks.
How can you talk with your partner?
Share what feels good and what does not. Ask for more time to feel aroused. Consider talking with your health care provider or sex therapist.
Do you still need to practice safe sex?
Yes. Menopause does not protect you from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Thinner vaginal tissue can tear during sex, which raises your risk of infections. Use a condom or dental dam unless you and your partner have sex only with each other and have both tested negative for STIs.