Sex and the menopause [with sign language]

Dr Louise Newson discusses the impact the menopause has on a person’s sex life.

Video Transcript:

I am Dr. Louise Newson. I am a GP and Menopause Expert in West Midlands.

So libido is quite interesting as it can affect different women in different ways. Some women talk about an increase in libido just before they go through the change and this often can be…it is all how your hormones play with each other and the difference between them. So some people get a little surge of testosterone before they go through the Menopause and they have an increased libido. The vast majority of women, however, are not so lucky; they have reduced libido. And sex is very important for men and for women but especially for men…so a lot of women explain to me that they’re just not bothered…there is no light down below…nothing really works. They just go through the motions because that’s what their husbands want. And interestingly, taking oral HRT can affect something called your Sex Hormone Binding Globulin. So it can lower your libido. So sometimes a patient’s libido is just about all right and you give them an HRT and down it plummets and you don’t get that effect with transdermal estrogen.