... AND IS HRT THE WAY TO RELIGHT THAT FIRE?

Dr Louise newson is a GP and menopause expert.

ONE thing I’ve learned through my work with menopausal women is that there are a great many more of them wanting sex than there are who are actually having it.

Menopause impacts female libido in various ways, but with all roads leading back to one fundamental issue: the inevitable hormonal changes that happen in middle age.

Sometimes it’s the libido-wrecking emotional problems they create. Low oestrogen levels often cause anxiety and sleep problems, which can be extremely damaging to a woman’s self-esteem, meaning she no longer feels desirable even if she does crave intimacy with her partner.

There are those wretched hot flushes and night sweats to deal with. Then there are testosterone levels, which play the same important role in a woman’s libido as they do for men. Those, too, can dip in middle age, reducing desire. Meanwhile, low oestrogen levels can also cause dryness, making sex terribly painful. No wonder enjoying sex starts to feel impossible for so many women.

Shockingly, this issue affects eight out of ten women in menopause, yet only 7 per cent receive appropriate treatment.

What a travesty that is. Sex is so incredibly important to us as human beings — and middle age is surely the time that women should be free to enjoy more of it. The fear of pregnancy is gone, so there’s no need to worry about contraception. The kids are likely to have moved out, so you’ve got plenty of privacy, too.

The solution comes down to replacing those hormones — whether locally to make sex more comfortable, which is safe even for women who have had breast cancer, or through HRT in the form of gels, patches or tablets.

There’s rarely a week that passes without a patient telling me that they’d forgotten how much joy sex gave them and how thrilled they are to have it back.

Menopause shouldn’t rob a woman of anything — least of all her sex life.

■ Dr Louise newson recently launched a free app for women to download, covering all things menopause: balance-app.com