Hormone Replacement Therapy
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can balance female hormones, but at significant physical risks to women’s health — such as increased risks of cancer and heart disease. Many women also experience side effects or further risks of HRT, such as depression or mood swings.Additionally, artificially introduced hormones — including birth control and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) — can actually exacerbate hormonal imbalances by disrupting the body’s natural testosterone balance. Because these hormones are ingested orally, the liver must metabolize them, creating proteins which bind to — and consequently lower the levels of — testosterone.
Natural Menopause Dietary Supplements
There’s no shortage of menopause herbal supplements to select from — but unfortunately, there’s a shortage of ingredients involved. Most menopause dietary supplement brands offer a blend of black cohosh, red clover and soy — wonderful natural aids that often do little to restore libido in menopausal women.While such natural remedies can offer a safer alternative to HRT, they cannot resolve the underlying problem of hormonal imbalance — and often can do very little to put the verve back in your sex life.
When a woman faces her perimenopause and menopause stage, she goes through a major change in her lifestyle and she feels that life has become a roller-coaster ride. If she enjoyed a happy and vigorous sex drive then she will be depressed to note that she is not able to initiate sex anymore. She feels guilty, anxious, stressed and you know what happens next – she will begin to feel unloved and unwanted. This lack of sex drive is called loss of libido and it is an unavoidable fact of life. So if you are going through a perimenopause stage understand that this loss of libido is something every woman experiences at some point of time in her life.
The impact of lack of sex drive can be attributed to a number of factors. Before your partner tries to find fault with you for loss of libido, it is important for you to identify the real cause of loss of libido and discover methods to cope with it. Each person’s sex drive is unique and if one woman suffers through it in some way, it doesn’t mean that the woman next door will suffer in the same pattern. You have to recognize your own pattern of loss of libido to find a solution for it and when you find a solution you can enjoy a better relationship with your partner. It could even save your marriage.
It has been found out that loss of libido due to the hormonal changes in the body happens during perimenopause stage. So treating the problem at the source will help combat the situation. The estrogens, progestrones and androgens are the hormones produced by the ovaries and the corpus luteum. When the hormonal levels come down you will have problems during intercourse. You will suffer lack of sex drive, sexual frustration, vaginal dryness and soreness and pain in the vaginal area. Many people still go ahead with the dangerous option of hormone replacement therapy to combat this problem and to liven up their sex drive. Serious repercussions of the therapy – imbalance of the body, breast and ovarian cancer, heart diseases and blood clots later turned the others away.
There are some other alternative treatments that you can try – safe ones. This article deals with 3 major treatment options for you. You can go through all of them and decide which one is less risky for you. The first option is something you an easily do. No side effects.
Change in Lifestyle
You can first try a little bit of change in your lifestyle and incorporate a lot of healthy foods and regular exercises before you think of other treatment options. True, it is hard but greatly rewarding in the long run. You will have to be really persistent to be successful with it. The change will naturally depend from person to person. You can make subtle changes or drastic changes in your lifestyle and watch the difference. Generally you will see the positive effects within a few days itself; it will also show how much self-discipline you have. You can start eating lots of fruits, vegetables and other health foods to curb the hunger.Never compromise on your exercise regime however busy you are. When you eat healthy foods it will reflect in your total look and you will feel better. You will feel confident about yourself and you will begin to satisfy your partner. One major drawback of menopause is that the woman feels unattractive and the vaginal dryness contributes a lot when she feels stressed and depressed. It is not easy to make a change in your lifestyle after you have been used to a certain pattern for so many number of years. But with little compromises here and there you can make it work.
Cut down on processed and refined food and start on estrogenic food like soy products, wheat, cherries, rice, nuts, dairy products, lean meats, fish, oysters, kidney beans, tofu and so on. You can get involved in yoga and meditation to find peace within yourself. These are great stress busters and you will begin to feel happy and refreshed at all times. Apart from that, do a lot of kegel exercises, aerobics, walking and running to strengthen the muscles in the vagina, abdomen, hips and the rest of your body.
Alternative Medicine
Sometimes making lifestyle changes may not be fully enough. You will have to go for alternative options. This is the step that you can try if you feel that a change in your lifestyle did not give any relief to loss of libido. Herbal supplements are a great choice because they are both natural and safe. Damiana is a herb that will improve the sexual drive not just for women, but for men too. It works as a stimulant and will induce feelings of sex. Non-estrogenic herbs and Phytoestrogenic herbs are good for treating sexual problems in women.Drugs and Surgery
The final step that you will have to take if you want to increase your sex drive during the perimenopause period. The idea is to perform hormone replacement treatment and it should be performed only by experienced medical professionals. Lots of side effects are involved in surgeries and there is this risk of several types of cancer among women if not performed without foresight.Some doctors will advice a combination of these methods to achieve full results. It will depend on each person’s level of loss of libido. You can try a variation of these methods to know which one actually works for you. See other loss of libido treatment options and FAQ's.
