- 3 years ago
Virtua Health Andrea C. Martin, APN Sexual Wellness & Pelvic Health
Category
š
FunTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Nicole from 92.5 XTU.
00:03Hi, I'm Marissa from The Preston and Steve Show on 93.3 WMMR.
00:06And we'd love for you to be back with us here with Virtua, and we want to introduce Andrea
00:12Martin, APM, which is Virtua Sexual Wellness and Pelvic Health.
00:18So we're getting into it today.
00:20We are very excited.
00:22These are topics that every woman needs to talk about.
00:24Everyone needs to talk about.
00:26There's no reason to not talk about them.
00:28And Andrea, we're here to disperse some myths that are plaguing everybody, right?
00:33Yeah.
00:34And, you know, myths are really, really, really normal talking about sexual well-being.
00:38In fact, many women go it alone, right?
00:41They're afraid to talk about it.
00:42They're afraid to ask questions when it comes with pain for sex, pelvic pain, and other symptoms,
00:48like even low libido, right?
00:50Women do not feel comfortable talking about it.
00:53You know what?
00:53And if you do ask around, you'll find out that this is so common.
00:56So we're really fortunate that Virtua has this incredible program that you specialize
01:00in it.
01:01And we're here to talk about some of those myths and help educate and make women feel
01:04more comfortable so they feel their absolute best.
01:08Andrea, how long have you been working in this field?
01:11Oh, boy.
01:12Hi.
01:12And thank you for the lovely introduction.
01:14I've been in this field at least as a nurse practitioner since 2015 and then, you know,
01:19did some nursing maybe for then.
01:20But it's something that I've gotten more and more interested in as time went on because
01:24I would see all these patients and the same problems come up over and over again.
01:29You know, pelvic pain, pain with sex.
01:31I lost my sex drive.
01:33Nobody really had answers for them.
01:34And I wasn't happy with that.
01:36I wasn't content with that.
01:37So I've been, you know, always learning, learning more and more as I go.
01:41Oh, that's so exciting.
01:42And so if anybody out there thinks, you know, my problem is different, I'm scared, I'm nervous,
01:47I can guarantee that you've just, you've heard it all.
01:50You've seen it all.
01:51I have heard it all.
01:52I have seen it all.
01:53I always tell my patients like you're special, but you're not that special because I swear
01:59there's so many people like you and I will take good care of you.
02:03There is nothing you can tell me that's going to make me run out of the room screaming.
02:07Yeah.
02:08And it's so important because I think women for so long, there was almost an embarrassment
02:11factor, right?
02:11Like they didn't want to talk about, you know, how they felt and they were scared to talk
02:16about how, you know, they didn't even know that sex could feel good.
02:19And so they didn't want to talk about it.
02:21But now it's like, no, we need to talk about it and you need to feel your best.
02:24So let's talk with the first myth, which is, is it common for women to experience sharp
02:29pelvic pain or pain while having sex occasionally or regularly?
02:35So funny enough, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists estimates that
02:4175% of women at some point in time will experience pain with sex or some type of pelvic pain.
02:47Like sure, if you have the occasional like, ooh, that position wasn't the right one or like,
02:51that's my butt, not my vagina.
02:53You might have some pain.
02:55But you have like, ongoing discomfort or outright, you know, severe pain is not normal.
03:05And anytime anything goes in your vagina, whether it is a tampon, a speculum, a penis, a sex toy,
03:13a finger, it shouldn't hurt.
03:15And I think one of the biggest problems we have is we tell girls all the time, like, well,
03:21you know, when you have sex, it's going to hurt at first and it's going to hurt.
03:24And then I'm seeing patients 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, and they've
03:30been in pain this whole time and didn't know that it didn't have to be that way.
03:33Right.
03:34Yeah, so I always say if, especially, you know, I want women to talk about this more,
03:42but you don't always get the reaction that you would like from a medical provider.
03:46So if you have a pelvic exam, and it's painful, it's your medical provider's job to stop and
03:53then either figure out why that's causing you pain or refer you to somebody that can.
03:59It is not acceptable to tell you to just have a drink and relax.
04:02Not okay.
04:03But that's really good advice.
04:04Because I think that happens a lot where, you know, you're going in for your pap smear
04:08or your pelvic exam, and you're like, oh, it's going to hurt.
04:10But like, if it's that bad, you, your doctor, your, your practitioner should say like, oh,
04:17no, like, we got to figure out why you're having pain.
04:19What are some easy common solutions for having pain?
04:24So, I mean, it really depends on what's causing the pain.
04:28In my practice, I see a ton of patients that have pelvic floor dysfunction.
04:32So the muscles in the pelvic floor have gotten really tight and painful.
04:35So we can do pelvic floor physical therapy, and we can do injections.
04:40Sometimes it's just as simple as the tissue around the opening of the vagina, what's called
04:44the vestibule, isn't getting enough hormones, and we have to add in a hormone cream.
04:48Super common, like if people are up on birth control, breastfeeding, menopause, infertility
04:54treatments, those are all kind of low hormone states that can bring out that pain.
04:58This is a perfect transition for myth number two, that hormones are bad.
05:06This is a myth that just will not die.
05:13And for simplicity's sake today, I'm just talking about local, like vaginal or vulva hormones.
05:19I'm not even getting into systemic hormones.
05:21But it's just this idea that won't die, that they're bad, they're going to give us all cancer.
05:27And this is especially harmful to patients that have survived breast cancer.
05:33I see a lot of those patients, and they're terrified to try any kind of local vaginal hormones.
05:39But at the same time, you know, they're dealing with really bad pelvic pain, vaginal dryness,
05:46things like that.
05:47So I get frustrated for cancer patients that it's just like, you survived, that's great,
05:54you should be happy, goodbye.
05:57And then we just kind of leave them in the dust.
05:59They've got all these symptoms, this new body, and nobody's helping them.
06:05Thank you for stepping up and taking that, because there are, you know,
06:09so many people suffering from these problems.
06:11And it's great to hear that there are people like you out there.
06:14Yeah, and I think people think in terms of vaginal dryness with age,
06:18but sometimes it really could be a bunch of different things.
06:21You know what I mean?
06:22And so it is important that just because you're not 60, and you know, you're not a boomer,
06:29that there could be something going on.
06:32And like, you know, whether it could be a medication reaction or something.
06:36So again, important to talk to you and important to talk to your provider,
06:39if it doesn't feel good.
06:42Yes, absolutely.
06:43And like in the case of, especially like breast cancer survivors
06:47and other cancer survivors, there's multiple things that can lead to vaginal dryness
06:51and vaginal pain.
06:53But one of the bigger ones is chemotherapy.
06:56So if you've got a woman that's had chemotherapy,
06:58she's almost six times more likely to report vaginal dryness,
07:02more likely to report pain with sex,
07:05seven times more likely to report difficulty achieving orgasm.
07:09So these are all things that are really important part of somebody's well-being
07:12in their sexual self.
07:14So, you know, it's not something that you just have to live with.
07:18Yeah.
07:18Well, I'm going to keep Nicole's air quotes going here on the third myth that discussing
07:23female pleasure is a no-no.
07:29Yeah, we're all about female pleasure here.
07:31So we want to make sure every woman listening and men who are listening to make sure that
07:36women feel pleasure.
07:39Absolutely.
07:40So let me say you turn on a movie and it's the same thing.
07:44It's a man, it's a woman.
07:46There's 10 seconds of thrusting and then it's simultaneous orgasms for everyone.
07:51Just, you know, amazing, simple, easy.
07:54That's not how it works in real life.
07:58Low libido and sexual dysfunction is super, super common, especially for people who are
08:03in long-term relationships or people who are post-menopausal.
08:06And something that I'm so passionate about, I don't know if you've heard about it, but
08:11it's the orgasm gap.
08:12So if you look at people in heterosexual couplings, men will orgasm 95% of the time, women will
08:23orgasm 65% of the time.
08:26And honestly, that's honestly a more generous study.
08:31There's other studies that show it's worse than that.
08:34And there's just no reason for it.
08:37We've been sold this big myth that penetration, like penile penetration, that is how you orgasm.
08:43But the truth is 85% of women don't orgasm for a penis just going in the vagina.
08:48We need clitoral stimulation.
08:50So we've been fed this myth that like just penis and vagina is enough.
08:55When the man orgasms, sex is over, everyone's happy.
08:59But they totally forgot about that.
09:00The patriarchy, man.
09:01The patriarchy.
09:02No, so if you look at a woman who's having trouble with orgasm, 78% of the time, the problem
09:13is that she's just not getting enough clitoral stimulation.
09:16We are focusing on the wrong part and telling a woman, oh, you were supposed to orgasm from
09:21that.
09:22You're not even touching the right part.
09:24So we're made to believe that we're crazy and this and that.
09:27But you just need some clitoral stimulation and you need to value it.
09:32Like you and your partner need to decide like, yeah, your pleasure is important too.
09:36Or even women on their own, right?
09:39So I think for so long, it was like a shame factor and women didn't know how to feel pleasure.
09:44They thought it had to be related, you know, again, very generally, but in typical heterosexual
09:49relationships that it just had to, you know, wait for the man to pleasure you, you know?
09:54And I mean, we could do a whole other two hour Zoom on all that.
09:57But like, I think it's important too, for sometimes women to explore on their own to
10:02see what feels good.
10:04There's so much literature out there.
10:05And like you, there's actual medical professionals to help women answer these questions.
10:11So you feel your best, you know, and get the best out of sex.
10:16Absolutely.
10:17And I, I got your back.
10:18I had a patient once who like loved to use her vibrator, but her husband was like, oh,
10:23I don't, I don't like this.
10:24I don't know how I feel about this.
10:25And he was like, I mean, if you can find some kind of medical professional somewhere that
10:29thinks it's important, maybe I'll be with them.
10:32Okay.
10:32With it.
10:32And I was like, where's my script?
10:34And I, I know, I know.
10:36I can't always, you know, tell people to get new partners, but I was going to say,
10:40did you say here's the divorce?
10:42I know.
10:44Part correct to me.
10:45We need a new one, but I wrote her out a prescription and I was like, authorized, like
10:50needs to use vibrator, blah, blah, blah.
10:54And she was like, that works.
10:56Yeah.
10:57Needs to use vibrator.
10:58Yes.
10:58Important.
11:01So good.
11:04Well, see, this was easy.
11:05This, this, they were just three people talking about all of the sexual pleasure right here,
11:09right now.
11:10If you are interested and would like to schedule an appointment, you can go to Virtua's Women's
11:16Sexual Health and Wellness Providers.
11:18Call this number.
11:19I'm going to do it really quickly.
11:21856-247-7435.
11:25Again, it's 856-247-7435.
11:30And obviously, virtua.org for all the information.
11:33Yeah.
11:35Thank you for having me.
11:36Thank you so much.
11:37Yeah.