DEAR DR. K: I have recently entered menopause. Can you discuss how menopause might affect my sex life?
DEAR READER: As a woman approaches and enters menopause, her ovaries gradually make less and less of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. The drop in these hormones — of estrogen in particular — can affect how a woman experiences sex.
The decline and eventual end to estrogen production provokes a host of symptoms. These include hot flashes, fatigue, vaginal dryness and loss of libido. Many of these changes can have unwanted effects on a woman’s sex life.
Other physical changes also take place, to varying degrees, as a woman enters menopause. For example, as a woman gets older, blood flow to her genitals decreases. She will experience a thinning of the vaginal lining. Her vagina will lose muscle tone and become less elastic. These changes can make sex more painful and less enjoyable.
A woman may have less sexual desire, or fewer sexual thoughts and fantasies. It may take longer to become aroused. She may have less vaginal lubrication and less expansion of the vagina during arousal. Orgasm may become less certain.