in this issue

Recently I flew into Nashville (where I had lived for over 20 years before moving to Florida) to go with my four best girl friends to see the Sex and the City movie. We snuck in splits of champagne, got our popcorn and settled in to enjoy a great chic flick…and we did! Afterwards one friend named Marsha commented that – while she loved the movie – she thought Miranda’s little or no-sex marriage was a bit far-fetched. The fact that Marsha happens to be in her late 20’s (while the rest of us ranged from 36 to 58) kept us from hooting at her naiveté. In fact we all freely fessed up.

“You just wait, honey. Up until our mid-30’s my husband Brad and I had sex almost every night,” said Tonya, a 57 year old vibrant redhead. “Then, as the years went by, it seemed that our kids and our jobs just sucked away all the passion. Every once in awhile - like once every other month -Brad will make a move. Sometimes we do it but, to be truthful, I often feel just like Miranda: ‘Just get it over with’.”

Abby, 37 with long legs that seemed to reach from New York to Florida, chimed in: “My issues are my weight and timing. I have gained 12 lbs in 18 months and it is all right around my middle so I am self conscious. I wouldn’t dare put on one of my old negligees. And, even if I did, my boyfriend is never in the mood at night but he’s raring to go at 5:30 in the morning. I hate having sex in the morning; I know my breath is bad and all I do is think about my looming to-do list.”

It was my turn. “Hey ya’ll, I said, “as I have told you many times before - if you are a woman over 30 or a man over 40 – your hormones could predispose you to feel just like Miranda. In the last few weeks I have read reports from surveys and interviews across America estimating that 20 million couples have stopped being sexually intimate and 40 million Americans live in a no-sex or low-sex marriage.” As my friends gasped I continued.

“According to a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study released in February 2007, about 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men suffer sexual inadequacy for one reason or another. The reasons cited included low desire, performance anxiety, premature ejaculation and/or pain during intercourse. Interestingly, this is thought to actually underestimate the real level of sexual dysfunction in the U.S. The same JAMA study reported loss of libido to be the second most common sexual dysfunction in men. The first was premature ejaculation. In another medical survey, doctors reported that about 50 per cent of women from ages 28 to 60 say they no longer derive pleasure from sexual activities”

“So you see Miranda certainly isn’t alone but I don’t believe it was her age. I think she was suffering from an underlying hormonal imbalance and just didn’t know it. Age, stress and sleeplessness can all sabotage hormone balance and, consequently, kill your libido.”

Lissa, who at 47 had long been skeptical when our discussions turned to hormones, piped up. “Genie, when you have talked to me before out how the production of our hormones shifts with age I haven’t really paid attention because I still have regular periods and those extra 15 lbs around my middle don’t really bother me. But now, when you tell me that my hormones could be stealing my ‘mojo’, you have my undivided attention. Tell me more. ”

“Here is the deal,” I responded enthusiastically, “low libido does not have to be an inevitable consequence of aging. I can share with you multiple clinical studies and medical evidence to explain why, with age, there is a lock step relationship between a decrease in libido and a decline in the production and balance of the body’s three sex hormones: estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. The good news is that when you re-establish the body’s optimum hormone balance via bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) you can also restore your body’s optimum physical, emotional, mental and sexual state of being.”

“Here’s how it works: Progesterone levels are the first to decline, actually declining 120X more rapidly than estrogen levels. The resulting disequilibrium between estrogen and progesterone levels is medically termed “estrogen dominance”. Then testosterone levels begin to slough off. Typically, these shifts in hormone production begin in a woman’s early to mid-30’s and a man’s early 40’s. At a cellular level it is the aging body’s overabundance of estrogen and deficit of testosterone are the real culprits sabotaging sexual desire and pleasure. And, when you add in stress and sleeplessness, any hope of hormone balance is completely sabotaged.”

“So what can you do to turn around a decline in hormone production and the resulting shift in hormone balance?” my friends asked in chorus.

“Look, I am 48 and I have the sex drive I used to have in my 20’s but that wasn’t the case five years ago. At 43 I had no sex drive. As you all know, that is the year I met Randy (C.W. Randolph, Jr., M.D.). We were working together on FROM HORMONE HELL TO HORMONE WELL and not yet in a relationship. When I described the symptoms I was experiencing, like hot flashes, night sweats, increased irritability, bloating and zero sex drive, he suggested that I have my hormone levels tested. I did. The results indicated that I was very much estrogen dominant. In addition, my testosterone levels were in the toilet.”

“Being the scientific nerd that I am, I didn’t just trust Randy’s recommendation that I start on BHRT even though he was –and is – a respected board certified physician with an international reputation as a medical expert in hormone health. I did my own homework on the web and read medical studies indicating that BHRT is safe, efficacious, heart healthy and potentially cancer protective. Even better, many studies reported that BHRT physiologically increases an individual’s ability to become aroused and sustain sexual pleasure while also increasing female lubrication and improving male erectile function. I decided to give it a try. Within four weeks I felt like my old self. Even better I experienced a renewed interest in and energy for sex. I’m not going to kiss and tell any details, but let me tell you that when someone asks if BHRT can help restore their libido, I am a walking testimony that it really works.”

“Gosh, I sure wish you and Randy lived here. We’d all make an appointment to see him,” responded Lissa. My other friends nodded.

“Well first go on our website, www.hormonewell.com, and learn more about how hormones are linked to libido. Then consider a telephone consultation with one of our nurse practitioners who is medically expert in diagnosing and treating hormone imbalances with BHRT. And, if you truly want an in-person consultation, come to our practice. Patients that fly in from all over the country to see one of our medical experts practicing in Dr. Randolph’s Ageless and Wellness Medical Center. And, you might want to think about bringing your husbands and/or boyfriends. Men have hormone issues too and, when it comes to sexual desire and pleasure issues, our medical staff works with couples all the time.”

“Well,” said Marsha, “now that we’ve solved Miranda’s and our own sex drive issues, what in the world do you think was going on with Samantha? I can’t believe boyfriend problems and boredom caused her to pack on 15 lbs.”

“Well,” I said, “I have a theory about Samantha’s hormones too but let’s talk about that over dinner.”

Stay tuned for Genie’s take on why Estrogen Dominance was the real culprit packing those pounds around Samantha’s middle and what she (and Dr. Randolph) would tell her to do to get her flat stomach back.

Genie James, M.M.Sc.
Co-Author of From Belly Fat to Belly Flat &
Co-Founder of The Natural Hormone Institute of America

Dr. Randolph is a practicing gynecologist and an internationally recognized expert in the field of in bio-identical hormone replacement. He is the Medical Director for the The Natural Hormone Institute of America and is also the author of From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well as well as From Belly Fat to Belly Flat.