What do to for best vaginal health

hey therese:

i'm just starting to look into these -- have done them for the first time last night and the night before. besides the fact that i found the experience EXTREMELY calming, afterwards, i have the sensation that the vaginal tissues feel more lubricated somehow. now, this could ALL be in my mind -- the power of the mind over the body! -- but regardless, the tissue feels that way to me, firmer somehow.

by the way, i also have rectocele (the primary issue for me) as well as cystocele.

oh -- also, i find it hilarious tht you were diagnosed most menopausal and then got pregnant. incredible. reminds us the limitations of doctors "pronouncements" i guess, which isn't a bad thing.

i'm very interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this -- thanks for starting this topic. it's interesting.

xsusan

hey therese:

here are the directions i followed.

i got castor oil from the health food store. i took 1/4 cup of it and spread/massaged it into my lower abdomen and all over the pubic area. then i took an old piece of towel and laid it over the oil and then put a hot water bottle on that. also put another towel over the hot water bottle to keep in the heat. that's it! i relaxed for a half an hour and then just put another 1/4 cup of oil over the same place and repeated. it was amazing to me how the oil so thoroughly absorbed.

i was told to do this 4 nights in a row so tonight will be night 3. i am under the impression that there is therapeutic value to doing 4 nights on, 3 nights off for a number of consecutive weeks. as it feels so non-invasive and soothing, i'm going to give it a try and see what happens. i also tend to have extremely heavy periods and have read that this can also help that. (though, apparently, you shouldn't do these packs when you are bleeding heavily or if you are pregnant.)

yeah, the rectocele. i'm still so new to this and working on what makes things feel better, what worse. i suspect, though, that what might even be useful today or tomorrow might not hold true in a year from now, you know? i think our bodies are pretty fluid and always changing. and so i'm hoping i can cultivate some flexibility within myself. perhaps this rectocele will teach me that! because right now, i'm finding that i'm being fairly rigid with food, for example. i mean, having just been some through some extreme constipation, i don't want to veer away from what i've been eating. ah...my nature. always been challenging to find middle ground.

anyways, sorry to have hijacked this thread a bit. not my intention. apologies. vaginal health. that's where we were.

let me know if you decide to try these at some point and what your response was, if you do. i'd love to hear about it!

xsusan

Hi Therese

Well, as I understand it, dry vagina is a thing that comes from lowered oestrogen levels, and high lutenising hormone levels which happens when periods cease for non-pregnant reasons, ie menopause and beyond. From all the posts I have read here there are a lot of women who find the lack of lubrication in the vagina and vulva to be a real problem, both with everyday movement, prolapse management, and of course sexual activity. It is also one of those signals that tells you that life will never be the same again!

One of the solutions I have found (being close to menopause) is sexual arousal. That really gets the juices flowing, and I hope it still will when my periods stop, and my adrenal gland and stored body fat are the only remaining source of oestrogen for my body.

Somebody post-menopausal, please tell me. What happens after menopause??

Now, I would imagine that one of those castor oil packs with the associated lovely extensive massage and warmth in that area would just about send me off the planet if I had somebody doing it for me for long enough in a loving way. Perhaps it is the arousal and lovely sensual massage that lubricates the vagina?

I am sure that I would turn into Pavlov's dog if I had enough of those massages!! I could go juicy at the drop of a hat!! It makes me go all funny just thinking about it.

But seriously, I find that any good massage oil or culinary oil such as olive oil, used as a lubricant, after showering, before and/or during sex, will prevent irritation and make any friction pain free and rash free, and so prevent a lot of opportunistic infections such as thrush. I know that the castor oil plant is poisonous; not sure whether or not the oil is, though I know it tastes foul. Might not be a good idea if sex is in the air?

If I do get any irritation I use a high potency vitamin E cream which settles any irritated skin quite quickly, ie in 12 hours or so.

I have found that water based lubricant dries out very quickly and needs reapplication. Also it keeps the whole area kind of soggy, which makes it more vulnerable to injury. I am not keen to go the direction of the gels that are recommended for use with a pessary (see Christine's blog entry, "Not good enough for cows..."), nor am I keen to try the oestrogen creams that seem to have questions over serious long term risks.

So my answer is lovely massages and plenty of sex, with lots of foreplay, and often. We all deserve it.

Any other ideas out there?

Cheers

Louise

I think diet plays a large part in tissue regeneration - and so do hormones- and blood flow-

these are very interesting responses. Alemamma, which dietary items, particularly. I assume you mean estrogen by 'hormones'.

None of the responses, however, seem to be geared to menopausal women, especially menopausal women who are abstinent due to lack of a partner.

My vaginal tissues have been diagnosed as very thin, and I understand that that is not only a risk but also a contributor to the prolapse worsening. The doctor prescribed estrogen cream. I did question the safety of it (after getting the prescription and reading the ingredients, which contain propylene glycol and sodium laureth sulfate), but was given the standardized response by the nurse who spoke with me. The response is that they had a number of women who were long term users and had not had an adverse reaction. I finally got the nurse to promise to question the DR and get back to me (HMO) but don't expect much difference in reply. The Dr, however sympathetic she might be, is still an advocate of surgery, the "official" solution.

I am using the estrogen cream for now because I don't want further thinning or tearing or ulceration of the vaginal tissue, and I don't know what else to do. I still have concerns about the medicine, however. I would appreciate any information and/or experience about thinning vaginal tissue in menopausal women.

hi bertilsgirl:

though i don't have a specific answer to your question as i'm not menopausal yet, i was thinking there is a site where you might want to query the women there and ask about this specifically. it's:

http://www.susunweed.com/weedforum/index.php

it's a great great source of information and there's both a menopause forum as well as a more general wellness one. i think that might be a terrific place to start.

xxsusan

Thanks, Susan. I'll try that website as soon as I can.

Hi, again! I tried the website, and it seems to be a shopping website including finding people to date. I couldn't find anything informational on menopausal women or on vaginal health. Thanks for trying. I'll keep on asking and listening. Hope the snow isn't getting to you. :):):) Bertilsgirl

really? weird! maybe the link got screwed up.

the link was SUPPOSED to get you to the susun weed forum site -- which has NOTHING to do with shopping OR dating -- but herbs and alternative, gentle, non-invasive ways for handling pretty much everything. maybe just put susun weed into google and get it from there?

kooky!

oh...and as to accepting e-mail via this site...i most certainly am, so give that another go too, okay?

ah, technology...i certainly can't figure it out.

xxsusan

Hi Susan

It worked for me. http://www.susunweed.com/weedforum/viewtopic.php?t=15369

Cheers

Louise

This time the website worked! I copied and pasted the address, so must have been entering it wrong last time. Haven't had time to really explore it, but did find it - thanks.

For the second time I clicked on your user name and then on contact and the computer told me again you are not accepting emails; I don't know the way around the computer's opinion. Will try again later. :)