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Viagra® Will Not Kill You!

This week I had the honour of speaking at Ridge Meadows Senior Society in beautiful Maple Ridge, British Columbia. It was an all day health fair with dialogue around issues that impact seniors in communities like housing, transportation and access to health care.  The discussion was focused around making the community of Maple Ridge the most desirable place for seniors to live, work, and play.

Did somebody say play? My sexual health presentation centered on being your best self at any age and how to plan for the sexiest time of your life, the senior years. Sex is vital to life and a healthy sex life cannot be overstepped by life circumstances and the health Maple Ridge Conference issues that may get in the way.

As I made my way to the podium with my signature 'hot pink suitcase' I noticed that about 150 people in the crowd; mostly seniors and more women than men. My discussion focused on the common health issues that may occur as we age like erectile dysfunction and testosterone issues for men and vaginal health for women. Urinary incontinence is an unfortunate common occurrence for men and women at any age.

Call it foreplay but a sense of humour helps to relax the crowd when sensitive information is being delivered.  Some of the key points from the presentation focused around the relationship between erectile dysfunction and vaginal dryness .  I wanted to make the point that the PDE5 inhibitors (like the well known Viagra® ) are in fact safe drugs, so my slide with a man in a coffin with his erect penis still standing long after his death grew gales of laughter. For men sex is pretty darn straightforward. Of course, if a man is taking nitrites for chest pain, then Viagra® , Cialis®, Levitra® and Staxyn are all contraindicated as they may decrease blood pressure significantly and therefore should not be used.

Urinary incontinence is an issue that affects men and women. Diagnosis is key to treatment recommendations. There are conservative measures, medications, and even surgical procedures for urinary incontinence. Being cognizant of bladder irritants like alcohol, tea, chocolate, citrus and bubbly drinks will help decrease frequency, urgency and leakage; all common and often debilitating bladder symptoms. Kegel exercises and bladder retraining are helpful as well.

Addressing vaginal dryness is a common health issue in post-menopausal women regardless of whether or not one is sexually active. For those women who are sexually active, it may make sex painful and lead to low sexual desire. Who wants to do anything that hurts?

Time to pass around my sack of samples of a couple of different personal moisturizers:

Time to open my hot pink suitcase... the crowd waited long enough. First out of the case, a giant purple dildo (a birthday gift from a West Van Firefighter). I told the audience how one of the male doctors that I work with asked me what the difference was between a vibrator and a dildo and I thought how would we expect people to know if the doctors weren't sure? So just in case, a dildo is explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners and a vibrator is a sex toy for the body and skin, to stimulate the nerves for a relaxing and pleasurable feeling. It is generally used externally for sexual stimulation and is battery-operated.

Next up my two penises, one with Erectile Dysfunction and the other, well, pretty stiff (another birthday gift). I no longer receive gift cards or sweaters as presents given my chosen career.  It's fun but not necessarily easy being a sexpert at times,  but somebody has to “do it.”

The crowd was surprised (happy?) to learn that the number one fantasy for women was to be lightly tied up. When I advised them to pick up their ties at the local hardware store vs. a sex toyshop because they could be discreet and the price was much better they roared with laughter!

This was certainly a crowd of some of the “sexiest seniors” I had seen in long time; however, given the sensitive nature of the subject, people in the crowd are reluctant to ask questions (this is typical of many ages).  I did receive a number of emails following the event but this was one of my favourites:

“Maureen gave a wonderful afternoon talk, which was thoroughly enjoyed by our members and gave everyone a lot of laughs, also lots to think about as too how it (sex) effects our health."

If you have a question or would like to book me as a speaker,  please visit backtothebedroom.ca/contact

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