Most Women Are Too Embarrassed To Discuss Vaginal Dryness And Pain With Their Physician

From RedOrbit.com

The majority of post-menopausal women are uncomfortable talking about vaginal dryness and pain and are reluctant to seek medical help, according to results from a new international survey presented today at the European Congress on Menopause in London. Results from the survey show that over a third (39 percent) of post-menopausal women experience these symptoms of vaginal atrophy and 40 percent of women who have recently experienced vaginal dryness and pain said it interferes with their sex life, yet seven out of ten would not discuss the problem with their physician (only 30 percent of women would consider talking to a gynaecologist, and only 29 percent would consider talking to a GP). Read the rest of the article by clicking here.

This survery was done in Europe, but my guess is a similar survery in the US would produce similar, if not worse results. So many women are afraid to speak with their doctors, even females, about sexual health issues. I've been there on being afraid to talk to a doctor openly, although I have been lucky and nearly always had a doctor I could talk to about sexual issues. I had a bunch of different physicians after a severe car accident, and some of them were absolutely unapproachable. I think so many of us still feel we are taking up the doctor's valuable time, that he/she will think we're crazy, or that we will come across as looking stupid.

My best advice is to always write down questions to ask your doctor, you won't get as flustered, and to not be afraid to tell the doctor to just wait a minute, you have something to ask him and it's important. You (or your insurance) are paying for his services. In their defense, doctors who are part of most insurance plans have a very limited amount of time to spend with patients because of the low reimbursements, and therefore jam their schedulese every day. This is why so many doctors who specialize in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy refuse to take insurance, they want (and need) to be able to spend an hour with a patient, listening to symptoms, and individualizing treatment.