Your Vagina After 40: What's Normal, What's Not, and What to Do with Dr. Sara Reardon
5/25/202658 min
Leakage when you laugh… Dryness that makes sex uncomfortable. Your vagina is telling you something… Nobody explained to us what happens to our bodies when estrogen drops. Nobody taught us what normal actually looks like and we have accepted it. But here’s the good news. Most of it is treatable. This week I chat with Dr Sara Rearden, board certified pelvic floor floor therapist and known to many as the Vagina Whisperer, for the most honest, practical and genuinely important conversation about our vaginal and pelvic floor health. I wish I'd had this conversation ten years ago. And I want you to hear this before we start. None of this is normal. It's common. And almost all of it can be fixed. Key moments: 00:00: What pelvic floor health actually is, and why so many women are suffering in silence 3:23: Leakage, dryness, soreness… the most common pelvic floor issue and why they happen 4:49: Leaking when you laugh is not normal. It’s just common. And you can fix it 6:45: What is a fragile vagina actually is and whether you have one 8:57: The solutions for vaginal dryness that actually work 12:09: Why vaginal estrogen is not the same as HRT…and why you likely need both 18:05: Every peri-menopausal woman should be using vaginal estrogen. And this is how 20:47: What optimal pelvic floor health actually looks like 28:37: Coffee, alcohol, sugar. What to avoid to protect your bladder health 32:40: Why vaginal dryness has nothing to do with arousal 39:21: 75% who do pelvic floor training can fix their leakage… this is not just kegels 48:14: How pelvic floor health directly improves your sex life 50:13: How to keep your vagina healthy without a partner 54:12: The one thing Dr Sara wants women to know about their pelvic floor health To continue learning about pelvic floor health, you can find Dr. Sara Rearden via: Website: thevaginawhisperer.com Instagram: @thevaginawhisperer App: The V Hive. Download free for one week on Apple or Google Book: Floored: A Woman's Guide to Pelvic Floor Health at Every Age and Stage. Available wherever you buy books Follow along and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en Is it possible to feel energised, strong, light and full of life in midlife? Absolutely! Join my Science-Backed Program Thrive After 40 here to ditch sugar cravings, promote fat loss, increase energy and optimise your health in your 40's, 50's and beyond! Find out more about my other programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSarah Reardon· Guest0:00
It's not normal. It's common, but it's not normal. And I think as women, we've been given this narrative that, oh, it's normal after giving birth or menopause. When you cough or sneeze at 40 could be full-blown incontinence and bladder leakage at 70. And then we were told like, "Oh, if you leak, just do Kegels." And that's like saying, "If you have back pain, just do a bunch of crunches." As a pelvic floor therapist, having worked with vaginas for 20 years, I think 100% of women need to be on this after menopause, and even during perimenopause.
Sarah Rusbatch· Host0:29
I've got a friend's mum who went to hospital with a UTI. She never came out again.
Sarah Reardon· Guest0:32
"I feel like my vagina has closed up." She thought, "I just can never have sex with this partner. I feel like I'm broken," but we changed all of that.
Sarah Rusbatch· Host0:41
Can we reverse any issues we might have where we do find that we're weeing a bit on the trampoline or when we're coughing? Can that all be reversed? Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Stronger, Bolder, Wiser. And this week, we are talking about something that is not talked about enough, but I have got the best person in the world to come and talk about it, and we are talking about our vaginal health. And when I was thinking, "Okay, who do I need to talk to about this topic?" There was no other person than Dr. Sarah Reardon, who is also known, ladies, as the Vagina Whisperer. Don't you just love that name, the Vagina Whisperer? So, Dr. Sarah Reardon is joining us from the United States, and I am so pleased to have you here, Sarah. You are a board-certified pelvic floor physical