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Why Is Vaginal Dryness Common Among Women in Menopause?
As women age, they go into menopause. However, what you may not know is that during menopause, your vagina may not be able to produce vaginal lubricant and eventually becomes dry. This is common after menopause and may also happen in the years that lead up to menopause.
As you become older, your body produces less estrogen, a hormone that helps maintain vaginal lubrication and flexibility. According to a study, the prevalence of vaginal dryness increased from 19.4% among all women from ages 42–53 years to 34.0% at the thirteenth visit of ages 57–69 years.
Of course, there are several ways to relieve the discomfort that comes with vaginal dryness during the menopausal period. In this article, we will be looking at these ways as well as some of the best vitamins to increase female lubrication.
What Causes Vaginal Dryness?
So many factors can cause vaginal dryness, but estrogen is a major hormonal influence on the health of your vulva and vagina. Your ovaries produce estrogen, which regulates the development of your body’s traits and also plays a major role in keeping the tissues lining the vagina thick, moisturized, and healthy. As estrogen levels drop, the lining gets thin, dries, and loses elasticity, a condition known as vaginal atrophy.
Estrogen levels can also fall for reasons such as surgical removal of the ovaries to trigger menopause, childbirth and breastfeeding, chemotherapy and radiation for cancer treatment, and anti-estrogen drugs for treating endometriosis.
Other factors that can dry out vaginal tissue are cold and allergy medications and some antidepressants. Douching and applying some creams and lotions to the vaginal area may also cause both dryness and irritation.
Certain illnesses, like Sjogren syndrome, can also lead to vaginal dryness. You should also be aware that women who smoke may experience menopause sooner than those who do not, resulting in vaginal dryness at an earlier age.
Effects of Vaginal Dryness
Vaginal dryness can cause vaginal burning, stinging, itching, or abnormal discharge that is thin, white, or foul-smelling. However, these signs may also point to a vaginal infection and should be handled by a healthcare professional.
If the dryness is due to low estrogen levels, you may experience a tightening of the vaginal opening and a narrowing of the vagina. In such cases, vaginal dryness can lead to symptoms like pain during sex, which leads to less satisfying sex and no sexual intimacy.
Vaginal dryness could also relate to urinary symptoms like increased urinary frequency or repeated urinary tract infections (UTIs). When these symptoms happen during menopause, ob-gyns usually call it the genitourinary syndrome of menopause. This symptom can cause discomfort during physical activities like sports, causing embarrassment and increasing any chances of vaginal infections.
The dryness of the vagina may not always happen inside the vaginal canal. Yes, low estrogen means low natural vaginal moisture, but this can also affect the external female genital area. Women with dry vulva usually notice irritation whenever they put on their underwear.
When to Seek Medical Attention
Vaginal dryness is a health issue and should be treated as one. The right healthcare professional will provide you with the best treatment options to end your discomfort. Women who should get medical attention are those who experience serious symptoms or extreme changes in their vaginal health. The symptoms may be vaginal itching or burning, irritation around the vulva, pain during sex, and frequent urination infections.
If these symptoms are not treated on time, vaginal dryness can cause sores or cracking around the vagina walls. Moreover, if you experience severe vaginal bleeding, seek immediate medical attention.
During the medical examination, your doctor may ask about vaginal and other symptoms, and your menstrual changes, and may even take a swab for a lab test. Although these tests may not diagnose vaginal atrophy or any form of vaginal dryness, your doctor may base the diagnosis on signs like lacerations on the vaginal walls or thin skin around the vulva.
Some of these symptoms will require you to take the best supplements for menopause symptoms for treatment. However, let’s find out more about these treatments below.
How is Vaginal Dryness Treated?
There are lubricants you can apply to your vaginal area to reduce dryness and discomfort. Lubricants and moisturizing creams increase lubrication, change the vagina’s pH, and reduce the chances of getting any infection.
Some lubricants are water-based and may contain perfumes, herbal extracts, or artificial colors, which can irritate your vaginal walls. Others, like mineral oil and petroleum jelly, can damage latex condoms and diaphragms used for birth control.
Alternative treatment options will require a healthcare professional to prescribe hormone therapy. This therapy treatment may come in the form of pills, creams, or rings to release the female hormone, estrogen. The creams and rings work by releasing estrogen directly to your vaginal tissues, while the pills or supplements work systemically to balance your homone levels. You just need to swallow or chew (if chewable) the right dosage to bring relief.
As always, you should not use any of these products or treatments without speaking to a doctor and getting a proper examination. Some of these products can irritate your delicate vaginal skin and may even worsen the problem over time. The best vitamins to increase female lubrication will be listed below in this article.
How Can I Prevent Vaginal Dryness?
You may want to start by avoiding certain products or overwashing the vagina. The organ cleans itself through discharges and secretions but water dehydrates the vagina, causing it to gradually dry out. Some products like laundry detergents, soaps, and body wash that contain fragrances and dyes can cause skin irritation and vaginal dryness
During sex, avoid using condoms that contain nonoxynol-9. Apart from reducing the quality of your condoms, nonoxynol-9, an active ingredient in spermicides, can cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction in and around the vagina.
Vitamins to Increase Female Lubrication
The following are some supplements and vitamins to increase female lubrication:
Vitamin E
You may notice that vitamin E is a major ingredient in many lotions and moisturizers. It contains eight fat-soluble antioxidant-rich components, with some of them ensuring vaginal lubrication in women. A study with postmenopausal women showed that vitamin E vaginal supplements helped to ease the symptoms of vaginal dryness during menopause.
Sea Buckthorn Oil
May not be popular, but sea buckthorn oil is a natural supplement you can get from the seeds and leaves of the sea buckthorn plant. It contains a good amount of important fatty acids, such as linoleic acid, which strengthen and protect your vaginal skin from water loss. Research with menopausal women who reported vaginal dryness and ingested 3 grams of sea buckthorn oil daily found improvements in vaginal tissue integrity.
Vitamin D
This vitamin is quite known for keeping strong bones. However, it has qualities that can protect your vagina from dryness in postmenopausal women. A study with 200 older women showed that an increase in vitamin D levels in the blood can boost vaginal moisture. Studies also show that high intakes of vitamin D and calcium supplements may help reduce the chances of early menopause.
Hyaluronic acid
Whenever you hear of hyaluronic acid, you hear of its benefits for the skin, including fighting against dryness and aging. Beyond the walls of cosmetics, a study showed that supplements containing both hyaluronic acid and other ingredients like glucosamine sulfate, alpha-lipoic acid, and vitamins A and E improved vaginal lubrication.
DHEA
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a hormone that naturally produces estrogen in the body. Although DHEA production reduces as you age, it can be taken as a supplement to balance hormone levels as well as ease some menopause symptoms. Taking DHEA can boost your vaginal lubrication, reducing dryness, and improving estrogen levels in postmenopausal women.
Fish Oil
Menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats, can be managed using dietary supplements. Always consult your physician before adding new supplements to your diet, changing the dosages, or combining them with other medications.
Probiotics
Probiotics play various roles that benefit your vagina’s health and improve a few vaginal conditions. Probiotics can help restore the Lactobacillus in your vaginal canal. Lactobacillus helps boost the vaginal cell lining that disappears with menopause, which can in turn reduce symptoms such as vaginal dryness. Lactobacillus probiotics also help reduce symptoms of certain vaginal infections and menopause.
Vitamin B
As a woman, proper immune function is important when it comes to your vaginal health, and vitamin B is a perfect option. Vitamin B supplements contain B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7,B9,9 and B12, which will help manage vaginal dryness during menopause. However, it is important to see a doctor if you choose to apply these vitamins topically.
Boron
Over the years, some studies have shown that the mineral called boron is connected to sex hormones. In other words, women who took boron supplements had an increase in blood estradiol levels, which is good for vaginal lubrication during menopause. Low levels of estradiol can cause vaginal irritation and itching.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is important in the development of the lining of the vagina, which affects its moisture and collagen content. However, when taken in excess, it can damage your liver.
Vitamin C
One of the vitamins to increase female lubrication naturally is vitamin C. However, further research is needed to prove this claim. Additionally, vitamin C is acidic in its pH scale, preventing harmful vaginal bacteria from growing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fruits like berries, apples, and avocados are very healthy fruits to naturally moisten and lubricate the vagina.
You can infuse your water with slices of citrus fruit, cucumber slices, mint leaves, or berries to improve vaginal lubrication. Moreover, studies show that drinking supplements containing cannabis oil, vitamins E and D, hyaluronic acid, fish oil, and DHEA can help with lubrication. Always remember to drink lots of water daily.
Potent herbs that can help you to reduce vaginal dryness are black cohosh, red clover, damiana, ginseng, dong quai, and aloe vera.
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