Health: Put the love 支援する into lovemaking
It’s been a year since my last period and sex is so painful my partner and I have nearly given up. My doctor isn’t very helpful. What can I do?
Your problem is most likely 予定 to vaginal atrophy (VA), which means the thinning and inflammation of the vaginal 塀で囲む 原因（となる）d by a 減少（する） in oestrogen levels. Up to 45 per cent of postmenopausal women を煩う VA, によれば a 最近の large-規模 多国籍の 熟考する／考慮する. It also 設立する that 70 per cent of British women with VA 避けるd intimacy and over half said it had put them off sex altogether. Although it is so ありふれた, many women 簡単に don’t know about VA and how it can be 扱う／治療するd.
Symptoms of VA 含む vaginal dryness, soreness, itching and painful intercourse. ‘This is a 抱擁する problem that 原因（となる）s so much 苦しめる,’ says
顧問 gynaecologist Michael Dooley (thepoundburyclinic.co.uk). ‘The 厳しい 不快 with intercourse can 原因（となる） 関係 problems.’
VA is also a ありふれた 原因（となる） of postmenopausal bleeding, but this should be 調査／捜査するd as, in rare instances, it may be the first 調印する of uterin
e 癌.
An 正確な diagnosis is 必須の. Some women and even doctors think the problem is 予定 to thrush or lichen sclerosus (a vulval 肌 disorder, which 原因（となる）s itching and soreness).
効果的な 治療 is 利用できる ‘地元の oestrogen can make all the difference to a woman’s sex life,’ says Mr Dooley. After 実験（する）ing to 除外する candida or bacterial 感染, he 定める／命ずるs a course of Vagifem, a vaginal tablet that 解放（する）s a low dose of oestradiol into the vagina to 若返らせる it. (HRT can help if women are happy to take it.) Many women then only need to use 地元の oestrogen (under 医療の 監督) twice a week, and some just need a lubricant. A reader emailed recently recommending Yes 有機の lubricant, £10.30, from Victoria Health (tel: 0800 3898 195, victoriahealth.com). Sex is good for the vagina because it helps keep the muscles in 形態／調整.
Other 治療s may help. Another reader, now 60, who had VA in her 早期に 50s and had given up sex, 設立する that taking a 製品 含む／封じ込めるing Peruvian maca, 加える a new partner and 正規の／正選手 sex, had 逆転するd the 条件. Maca (Lepidium meyenii) has been associated with 改善するing fertility and 性の problems for centuries and some 熟考する／考慮するs support this. Although 専門家s agree that, on the basis of 2,000 years of 伝統的な use, maca is probably 安全な, it is 決定的な to check with your doctor first and take a good-質 補足（する）. Femergy by Better You 含む／封じ込めるs Peruvian maca, Brazilian ginseng and ginkgo biloba, £10.25 for 60 vegicaps (from Victoria Health, as above).
A call for safer childbirth
Group B strep (GBS), a normal bacterium carried by up to
30 per cent of adults, can be passed from mother to baby during 労働. While it 原因（となる）s no problems for most babies, for others it can be deadly, resulting in 血 感染, 肺炎 and meningitis. The charity Group B Strep Support is calling for all 妊娠している women in the UK to be given （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about GBS and 申し込む／申し出d a 実験（する）, and for mothers whose babies are at higher 危険 to be 申し込む／申し出d 抗生物質s in 労働, as they are in most Western countries. The charity also gives （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） and support, 加える 詳細（に述べる）s of 私的な 実験（する）s, which cost about £35 (tel: 0144 441 6176, gbss.org.uk).
The smarty pants diet
Were you to catch me doing my morning chores at home, your jaw might 減少（する） at the sight of my lower half 覆う？ in shocking pink ‘hot pants’ from waist to 膝. Mock not! Come the party season, my LBD could be 意味ありげに smaller 予定 to Zaggora HotPants, which are made with a fabric that raises your 核心 団体／死体 気温 by up to 18 per cent.
That means your 団体／死体 uses more energy, 燃やすs more calories and loses 負わせる. 同僚s who wear them to the gym evangelise about their slimming 力／強力にする. Zaggora HotPants 2.0 範囲, 利用できる in
above- or below-the-膝 or capri lengths, from £44.99, zaggora.com.
Website of the week: spabreaks.com
A day or two of pampering at a spa can be a wonderful 扱う／治療する, 特に for people going through 治療 for 癌. But （弁護士の）依頼人s with 癌 need 極度の慎重さを要する and tailored programmes, and some spa 施設s, 含むing Jacuzzis, saunas and steam rooms, are not appropriate. Abi Wright, director of spabreaks.com, has worked with spas 含むing Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa in Surrey, 権利, to create 回復 退却／保養地s, which 申し込む／申し出 luxurious and good-value 一括s 特に designed to 控訴 people at different 行う／開催する／段階s of 癌 治療.
Tel: 0800 043 6600.
Email your questions to s.stacey@you.co.uk
Always 協議する your doctor if you have a 医療の problem.
Pictures: rex features
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