(Jazz music plays).
Bless my mother's heart, she talked to me about the birds and
the bees, but not about menopause.
I mean it's just one of those things, that, did
you guys?
My mother never, ever said a word about it.
She never warned me about it.
And I had to kind of figure it out on my own
and some of my friends are a little older than me, started
complaining about it and I said, so what's the deal with
menopause?
And they start telling me their symptoms, I'm
like oh no I'm not doing that, I'm not going through it and
here we are.
I don't understand why it's not talked
about and why, like you get prepared for your menstrual
cycle, they, your mother talks to you about it, tells you
what's going to happen.
How your body's going to change
but they don't talk to you about how it's going to change
again, later in life.
Right!
It's a taboo subject.
That's crazy.
It is, there's like a stigma attached to it and it
even younger women when you mention menopause, they're
kind of like, ugh, you know they don't want to discuss it.
Exactly!
My mom never, never talked to me about it.
I only noticed when all of sudden she
changed.
(laughter).
And she was having hot flashes and acting
crazy.
Wow.
So that's the only thing I knew about menopause was
that you're going get crazy and hot.
(laughter.)
Yeah!
Hot mess!
(laughter).
(Jazz music.)
But you know, those days are gone!
And we're going to have an open discussion on The
Balancing Act because the doctor is in the house.
He's my friend at this point.
Rejoining us now on the show for a series
of reports "Taking Back the Bedroom" is our resident
sexuality expert, board certified gynecologist, doctor
Michael Krychman, a renowned doctor of sexual medicine and
co-author of The Sexual Spark.
Welcome back!
Great to be here!
Great to have you!
Alright, this is something that I think is
huge to talk about.
You heard those ladies, you know, it's,
we've gotten better, but we're not there.
It's still a taboo.
Well I think you're right.
You know so many women think that menopause is like
their grandmothers menopause.
You know, an old rickety old lady sitting on a bench rocking
her life away.
But it's not like that.
You know, as women age, their vibrant, their sexy,
they may be running corporations or hosting TV shows, you know
they may be doing a variety of wonderful things and they want
their sexy back, they want to be active, vibrant and really
menopause should't hold them back.
It should not, and and, it should not hold them back from
talking about it because it's a reality, you've taught me so
much, it's going to happen to me.
It's going to happen to every women out there.
So let's talk again about
menopause and what kind of happens in that intimate area.
Oh come on say it!
Say the word!
We've been here for so long, what is the word.
What happens to the vagina?
There!
Wasn't the worst thing in the world
right?
No it wasn't, after so many segments with you I should
be okay with it but even i still shutter.
Well I think, that says something really important.
We're now breaking the conspiracy of silence as we get
more comfortable, as people are volunteering information and it
becomes to the forefront of concerns, I think we're becoming
more comfortable, both the clinician, the doctor as well as
the patient so we have to ask and we have to tell patients
that they need to tell, it's important to know that the
vagina and vulva - we can say that word too, right?
We can, we can.
I'm glad you said it.
Say it!
Vulva.
There you go.
Okay, so those things change, the hormones decline and they
become irritated, red, they can become really painful.
Right.
Really, you know, it's not the way a women should be spending
forty percent of her life.
So what to do to alleviate that
issue.
To alleviate the dryness, the pain, the changes that are
happening.
To alleviate the fact that many women as you've
taught me, are having sex with their husbands and enduring that
pain.
What can we do to help that?
Well I think there's quick, easy simple solutions.
You know, it starts from the very beginning of how you take
care of your skin.
We take care of our face, we use special
products, natural cleansing, we have a protective oil barrier on
our skin and it's the same thing for the vulva and the
vagina.
So we need to choose products that have excellent
ingredients, like Lubrigyn cleansing lotion, it's not
foamy, it doesn't have Lauryl sulfate that foamy harsh
detergent that Which makes it worse Right!
And it strips away the natural protective oils.
So we have to really be careful of
the ingredients that are in and the ingredients that are not in
as well.
And how, how would I and other ladies out there use
these two products?
Well Lubrigyn is really I think is
part of a system.
There is the cleansing lotion for the
outside, it helps with the moisturizing, it helps with the
elasticity, it cleanses as well.
And then you also have the cream which can go inside and helps
maintain the supple quality of the vagina.
And you know every woman really wants a supple
vagina.
Yes!
Absolutely.
I do.
All though I am not going through it yet.
I do.
So the reality is - it is a sensitive
area.
It is an area that no matter what will be effected and
we need to use something sensitive to take care of the
issue.
Right and I think women, need to be empowered to make
good decisions.
They need to read labels, they need to take
the time to take concern for special products that are going
in the intimate area and also to the vagina.
Yes.
In the vulva area as well, very important.
And something else I find, very important as well is I do think
they also need to communicate with their husbands or their
partners they need to show them what they are using, they need
to explain what's happening and at that point it becomes a
duel.
Husbands, partners want to maintain that intimacy.
They can understand.
And they can understand.
And then it gets even better in the bedroom.
Right.
Thank you so much as always.
I've had so much fun with you.
Alright I'm going to say the word one more time.
Ready?
Okay we'll say it together.
Vagina!
(laughter).
I love you!
Alright, by the way real quick for information on
Lubrigyn Cleansing Lotion - where do we go doctor?
You can go to Lubrigyn USA dot com
Alright, you can also go our website the balancing act dot
com my grandmother in her grave oh my gosh!