Yes, I know. A vibrator is probably not the first thing you think of when talking about menopause. But maybe it should be from now on.
Curious? I certainly was, when I first heard the words ‘vibrator’ and ‘menopause’ used in the same sentence. Since then, I’ve been convinced that using a vibrator might actually help, if you’re going through menopause and suffering from some of its common, but annoying, symptoms.
I’m convinced, because some of our wonderful customers at Sinful.eu volunteered to take part in a vibrator experiment and to tell us all about what they experienced. Their results exceeded our imagination and the fact that one of the testers said the experiment changed her life speaks for itself.
Just What the Doctor Ordered
It all started back in the autumn of 2013, when I read that a Dr. Mary Jane Minkin from Yale University School of Medicine had started recommending vibrators to some of her female patients, as a way of easing some menopause symptoms. Dr. Minkin is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and she therefore often meets menopausal women, some of whom experience vaginal dryness.
Vaginal dryness is common and can be both uncomfortable and painful, sometimes causing ones sexdrive to plunge. Many experience it, when the body enters menopause, as this sets off a chain reaction inside of you: the body starts to produces less estrogen, which in turn decreases the blood flow in the pelvic region, which can impact the strength in your pelvic muscles as well as your natural ability to produce vaginal moisture.
Time for Your Medicine…
Normally, vaginal dryness is treated with hormone products, such as creams, gels or pills. However, according to Dr. Minkin, regular use of a vibrator might prove equally effective in terms of restoring blood flow and increasing vaginal moisture.
I often talk to customers about how much a vibrator can do for your sexlife. So, as you can imagine, I was pleased to see a new benefit added to the already long list of benefits of using a vibrator.
But this new reason for using a vibrator also left me intrigued and wanting to know more. I thought to myself, that if this form of treatment worked as well as Dr. Minkin suggested, it would have great potential to help a lot of women and it would certainly be a more pleasurable alternative to the traditional treatment forms.
This Calls for a Vibrator Experiment!
As promising as the vibrator treatment might seem, my colleagues and I felt it was necessarily to make sure there was an actual benefit to gain, before we started recommending it to our customers.
So we decided run an experiment and to do so, we teamed up with some of our customers. Eight women volunteered to take part in the month-long experiment, after we proclaimed on our facebook page that we were looking for menopausal test subjects.
During the experiment, the testers were asked to keep a record of how frequently and for how long they used the vibrator, in addition taking note of how they felt.
The Results are In…
The experiment turned out to be a great success. In fact, it exceeded our expectations and affected other symptoms than those mentioned by Dr. Minkin.
So, small-scale as it was, the experiment indicated that vibrator treatment has great potential. As a result, our experiment received attention from the national Danish media and it was mentioned both online and on TV.
In just one month, this is what our testers experienced:
- 6 out of 8 experienced a stronger sex drive
- 6 out of 8 experienced better sleep. For instance, some of the women used to wake up several times each night due to hot flashes and unease, but during the experiment, they experienced full nights of uninterrupted sleep.
- 4 out of 8 experienced less vaginal discomfort caused by vaginal dryness.
- 2 out of 8 achieved a better mood
- 1 out of 8 had fewer and milder sporadic bleeding
As mentioned in the beginning, one of the testers even wrote to us and thanked us for letting her be take part of our experiment, and that it “changed her life”.
The 41 year-old Dane entered menopause prematurely, after having some mucous membranes in the pelvic region surgically removed. In just a few weeks of regular vibrator use, several of her menopause symptoms stopped.
How to Conduct the Vibrator Experiment Yourself
Are you going through menopause and would like to conduct a vibrator experiment, like ours, yourself? Then this is what you should do:
- Find a vibrator, that can be used both solo and with a partner. Add some water based moisturizer to the vibrator before use to add extra moisture and enhance the pleasure.
- Use the vibrator 3-4 times a week (or more) for a minimum of one month. The effect appears to be identical whether you use the vibrator for masturbation or for sex with a partner.
There appeared to be a correlation between the total amount of time the vibrator was used throughout the experiment and the effect on the menopause symptoms. The more the vibrator was used, the better the results.
However, as a rule of thumb, you should always listen to your body and do what feels right. This is why we don’t have any guidelines in regards to how long you should use the vibrator.
One Last Piece of Advice
…Or two, actually.
1. Depending on the severeness of your symptoms, you might want to combine the vibrator treatment with a hormone cream. Always consult your doctor on medical treatment of your symptoms.
And 2, doing pelvic exercises regularly will help increase the blood flow and rebuild the muscles in the pelvic region. This is definitely something you’ll want, as strong kegel muscles might also make sex even more stimulating for both you and your partner.