Latest / Libido Lounge / 💦 Get Wet Again: How to Restore Vaginal Lubrication with Dr. Anna Cabeca
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to the libido lounge, where we focus on all things love, lust, and libido.
- 0:05We believe that fabulous sex is important to health as exercise and good food.
- 0:11Hey, everybody.
- 0:12Welcome back to another episode of the lounge.
- 0:15I'm your libido expert, Doctor.
- 0:16Diane Mueller.
- 0:17And today I have such a pleasure.
- 0:20I have such a treat for you guys.
- 0:22This is the girlfriend doctor, Doctor.
- 0:24Anna Quebeca, and I'm very excited about this conversation.
- 0:28Anna and I, Doctor.
- 0:29Anna and I spent some time on New Year's Eve together, just chatting away about fun stuff as
- 0:34far as what we do in the field for supporting women.
- 0:38We're gonna talk today about some that we haven't actually talked a lot about on this
- 0:43show.
- 0:43We've been dancing around it so far talking about all these other root causes of low
- 0:48libido.
- 0:49And now we're getting into the juicy topic of the essential thing that we have to have in
- 0:54order to have a healthy libido, which is hormones, healthy hormone level, healthy
- 0:59hormone balance.
- 1:00So welcome to the libido lounge, doctor Anna.
- 1:03It's so good to have you.
- 1:04Oh my gosh.
- 1:04It's wonderful to be here with you.
- 1:06Thanks for having me, Diane.
- 1:07It's such a such a pleasure.
- 1:09So let's go into just hormones in general since we haven't talked a lot about this.
- 1:16When we're talking about hormones, what hormones are we talking about?
- 1:19And can you just kinda walk us through, just set the foundation of today's episode around
- 1:24what hormones are we talking about and what do they impact?
- 1:27Right?
- 1:28I think so many people think about hormones and they think about their menstrual cycle or they
- 1:31think about menopause, but there's obviously so many things that we know beyond that.
- 1:35So will you just kinda set the stage for us in in that regard?
- 1:38Oh, yeah.
- 1:39I I like to think of hormones as, like, you know, I mean, there's hundreds and hundreds of
- 1:43hormones within our body that we've identified to date.
- 1:46Right?
- 1:47And within that, like, if you think of the hormonal you know, all the different hormones
- 1:51that our body has, our reproductive hormones, which change with our cycle and change with our
- 1:55lifetime and how those are changing, We know that, like, in the early perimenopause, mid
- 2:01thirties to and, you know, on, our progesterone level starts to decline pretty sharply.
- 2:07And then with that, estrogen also levels also decline and fluctuate, just amazing
- 2:14fluctuations of estrogen.
- 2:16It's crazy.
- 2:16It is a crazy hormone.
- 2:18And, and and those are two key of our reproductive hormones as well as DHEA, which
- 2:23for both men and women, DHEA affects your libido very, very much.
- 2:28And it is, and it starts to decline in our mid to late twenties.
- 2:32So we start to see this drift off of DHEA, which is a precursor, which makes further
- 2:38downline testosterone and estrogen.
- 2:41And testosterone is another hormone significantly we think of with the libido, and
- 2:46that gradually declines as we age.
- 2:49Significantly so, again, the same time period, 35 to 55, but more so, you know, just gradually
- 2:56from there on out.
- 2:57So by the time we're in our sixties, we have 65 to 75 less testosterone than we did in our
- 3:05twenties.
- 3:07Yeah.
- 3:07Thank you for that.
- 3:08And, and I also think it'd be helpful for people to understand too, around all of these
- 3:13different hormones.
- 3:14It's like, okay, we have these changes with cycles, that sort of thing.
- 3:17So we're expecting these changes to happen as we age.
- 3:20But one of the things that I think we forget about oftentimes is the impact on these
- 3:25hormones around brain and cognition.
- 3:28And, you know, sometimes we talk about, like, pregnancy brain or menopause brain.
- 3:33You know, we have these terms we throw throw around, but that brain impact too, I think, is
- 3:38one of the biggest things that that we see as far as the functionality of of life.
- 3:43So how do these hormones actually make a difference beyond, say, our normal cycles?
- 3:48Yeah.
- 3:49So that's a big thing, this whole, you know, hormones in the mind and the brain.
- 3:53And I I trained at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as a gynecologist and obstetrician.
- 3:58I had studied the hormonal pathways.
- 4:00I knew the rate limiting steps and the the enzymes that were involved.
- 4:04Right?
- 4:05But when it comes down to it, we really don't understand how that's affecting the rest of our
- 4:09physiology.
- 4:10We know, as women, like, if we're having PMS symptoms, it doesn't just come with, like, you
- 4:15know, maybe a more, heavier, crampier cycle.
- 4:18It comes with, weight gain.
- 4:20It comes with mood swings, irritability, brain fog sometimes.
- 4:26And that is that's a those are significant neurologic issues.
- 4:30And as we age perimenopause and and menopause and beyond into our second spring, we have, a
- 4:36significant shift in our brain's ability to use glucose for fuel because as estrogen and
- 4:43progesterone decline, our brain's ability to use glucose for fuel and make it also declines
- 4:49as well as other muscles within our body.
- 4:51It is you know, glucose is a key factor.
- 4:54And what's happening here, because of that dependency on our hormones, on estrogen and we
- 4:59know and and probably progesterone, we see the irritability, the brain fog, the mood swings,
- 5:05the memory loss, the insomnia.
- 5:08And, like, those aren't GYN symptoms.
- 5:09So our hormones go behind beyond, you know, gynecology or or males males health and male
- 5:16sexual health.
- 5:17And so during this time, well, you know, what I discovered as my own personal, you know,
- 5:22menopausal journey is not once but twice, now finally in my second spring of my life at 58
- 5:28this year.
- 5:29So excited about that.
- 5:30And what I what we what I've seen, what I've witnessed is that when we switch, when we shift
- 5:37from using glucose as a primary fuel source to using ketones and bumping into ketosis in a
- 5:42regular basis, then what we see is that brain fog lifts.
- 5:47The memory is sharper.
- 5:49Your ambition, motivation, willpower is all stronger.
- 5:53Your moods elevate, and those others endocrinological.
- 5:57So those are neurologic symptoms.
- 5:58The other endocrinologic symptoms that, you know, shift, like the, hot flashes, for
- 6:04instance, and the weight gain without doing anything different, those all resolve too.
- 6:09So that is that's a huge part of this hormonal shift.
- 6:13And how it affects our our libido is that, you know, it's it's affecting our reproductive
- 6:18organs.
- 6:19It's reflecting reflecting our vaginal health.
- 6:22And that's a really big thing.
- 6:23It also affects our emotional health.
- 6:25So getting a control and the good news is, after all that, like grim, grim news, y'all,
- 6:30that the good news is that, you know, you know, we can do something about it no matter what
- 6:35you're dealing with.
- 6:36There's not I tell you, there's not one patient, thank God, to date that I haven't been
- 6:42able to help in some way or another.
- 6:43So this I mean, it's really empowering to know then.
- 6:47I want people to feel empowered with this information.
- 6:50Yeah.
- 6:50I think it is empowering, especially when you, you know, talk about the changes in hormones in
- 6:55the thirties.
- 6:56Right?
- 6:56And so many times, we are not thinking about that in the thirties.
- 6:59Like, we wait until we start to experience the hot flashes or the weight gain to all of a
- 7:04sudden, you know, say, like, something's wrong, which, of course, is still fixable.
- 7:07And there's things we can do, and we can support and help and all of that.
- 7:10But it's so empowering to think about, well, we can actually start looking at this in in the
- 7:16thirties.
- 7:16So as far as sexual health, hormone health, healthy libido, all these topics is the
- 7:22thirties where you would say from a preventive standpoint, is that when you recommend for most
- 7:27women, they really start to check-in on their hormones, get lab tests done, make sure that
- 7:32things are kind of in working order?
- 7:34Yeah.
- 7:34I think it's a good idea to look at your hormones during that time and see what is you
- 7:39know, what's your natural balance?
- 7:40How is your estrogen detoxification pathways?
- 7:43That's the one that really seems to be most associated with getting us into trouble.
- 7:48But beyond our hormones too, looking at our full thyroid panel, looking for thyroid
- 7:52antibodies, checking vitamin d, which is more of a hormone than a vitamin.
- 7:57And because that's necessary at every one of our hormone receptors to function properly, it
- 8:01helps us tweak.
- 8:03But I say it's never too early.
- 8:04It's never too late.
- 8:06Yeah.
- 8:06Yeah.
- 8:07I love that so much.
- 8:08It's, it's so like you said, it's so empowering.
- 8:10There's things we can do at any age.
- 8:13And I wanna talk a little bit more about DHEA, and I wanna talk a little bit about safety and
- 8:18those sorts of things.
- 8:19And your Jova product that I have here that I have to tell you a secret.
- 8:23I have so I have all my travel bags.
- 8:25I have so many different travel bags for the different types of trips I go on because I'm
- 8:29always traveling.
- 8:30And there are certain things that, like, are literally in every single travel bag, so I
- 8:35never am without them.
- 8:36And Jova is one of those things for me because I have seen so many, like, amazing results.
- 8:42Like, I feel like I'm 44 this year.
- 8:44And so I'm kind of in the middle of kind of the, you know, the the stages of all of this.
- 8:50And it's been the most supportive thing for, I feel like, vaginal health.
- 8:54I, like, experienced vaginal pain that it helped me with.
- 8:58I was experiencing numbness.
- 8:59It helped with that.
- 9:01My libido was really strong.
- 9:03I feel like it's I was even starting some of the vaginal dryness stuff, and this has helped
- 9:06with that.
- 9:07So it's been just like so broad and and wide as far as what I've seen with it.
- 9:13And I know people get scared sometimes about using some of these hormones.
- 9:19And so from a fear factor, as well as like an application, like, you know, I use this as I
- 9:25know it's intended on my vulva and I know that also scares some women.
- 9:29So can you talk a little bit more about like the supportive nature of DHEA, what it does as
- 9:34well as alleviate some of the fears around use of
- 9:38this?
- 9:38Yes.
- 9:39Definitely.
- 9:39And also, like, Joel, I always say clitoris to anus, the most important real estate of our
- 9:44body, keep that healthy.
- 9:45We forget, you know, the clitoris will shrink as we aid.
- 9:47The tissue around the urethra, so will thin out, and so we have more leaking issues, more
- 9:53urinary tract infections issues.
- 9:55We can reverse that.
- 9:56And then around the anus, anal fissures, you know, tenderness and pain and discomfort, and
- 10:01that's a really nice erogenous zone.
- 10:03So, like, you think about these things and you wanna keep it as healthy as possible.
- 10:07And as a as a physician in practice, I was using I started really working into compounding
- 10:13hormones and, sexual health in 1999 with a patient that came in.
- 10:18She was 63.
- 10:19She'd had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ and, of the breast of the left breast.
- 10:26And she was, you know, five foot ten, a hundred and fifty pounds, and just this silver haired,
- 10:34incredibly intelligent, woman who came to me and said, doctor Anna, my vagina is so dry it
- 10:40hurts to have sex.
- 10:41I have no sex drive.
- 10:42I'm a woman of the sixties.
- 10:43I love my husband, and I'd rather die than live this way.
- 10:47Help me.
- 10:48And I was like, okay.
- 10:49She goes by Emory, you know, physicians won't give me estrogen.
- 10:52They say it's contraindicated.
- 10:54And so I said, well, let's look at the research.
- 10:56At the time, we knew that vaginal estrogen is is safe.
- 10:59And and then especially in her case and with her lifestyle and, you know, help you know,
- 11:05really at paying attention to healthy lifestyle.
- 11:07And so the other piece was DHEA and testosterone.
- 11:11Very safe.
- 11:12Can even be beneficial.
- 11:14And so we can't hold that back.
- 11:16So I started working with compounding my local compoundant pharmacy, and I created a
- 11:22combination of creams, many for many different reasons over over the years.
- 11:28And, when I retired my practice in 2015, I'm back in practice, but when I retired, burnout,
- 11:34let's say, from my practice, my patients were like, doctor Anna, no one will give us your
- 11:39creams, lotions, and potions.
- 11:41And, you know, really missing it.
- 11:42Peep many physicians just aren't trained.
- 11:45This is back in, you know, '2 or, you know, mid to, you know, 02/13 to '15.
- 11:50And so physicians aren't trained in customizing, creating a recipe for their
- 11:56patients now.
- 11:57Yeah.
- 11:57I love recipes.
- 11:58I've written three books, lots of recipes.
- 12:00My family of of gourmands and chefs and bakers.
- 12:04And so I'm like, okay.
- 12:06I'm gonna come up with the perfect concoction that you don't need a prescription for.
- 12:10And so DHEA, because it's over the counter in The U.
- 12:13S.
- 12:13And it has such an extensive safety profile, it's been studied for over now, you know,
- 12:18extensive research over, again, over decades, but definitely over the last fifteen years in
- 12:25vaginal health in McGill University in Canada.
- 12:28And DHEA use in breast cancer patients vaginally and for you know, that's like our
- 12:34highest risk when it comes to hormonal cancers as well as endometrial cancer.
- 12:39And so showed benefit showed benefit and no increased risk of, breast cancer.
- 12:46In fact, increased, quality of life and in and decreased mortality, less likelihood to die
- 12:55from breast cancer.
- 12:57So for me, it was like, there it's a no brainer for me.
- 12:59But I knew from being in the cosmetic industries too, as as time has, you know,
- 13:05ventured with me as a chemist to working with natural skin care products and the importance
- 13:10of that, especially through my own journey of infertility at 39, diagnosed with early
- 13:14menopause.
- 13:15I mean, just to hell and back.
- 13:17And I had to find things that were natural, clean, and enabled my body to function
- 13:23healthier on its own as much as possible.
- 13:25So I got into, you know, really understanding the ingredients in skincare plus with working
- 13:31with my compounders.
- 13:32And I added in plant stem cells from the alpine rose to my product, JoVA, that I created to be,
- 13:38you know, without a prescription that any woman can get in her own advocacy for her, pelvic
- 13:45floor health.
- 13:46And over again, over the years and more and more research shows DHEA to support our immune
- 13:51system.
- 13:51So we give it in our long haul COVID patients.
- 13:53We, you know, we'll optimize your DHEA.
- 13:56And because of the stress and the, toxins that we've been, exposed to, it really has affected
- 14:03our glandular natural hormonal secretion.
- 14:06So I always wanna support the glands.
- 14:08And I do that nutritionally and with some herbs.
- 14:11And then also, you know, adding back topically natural ingredients that are safe, not just for
- 14:17you, but if you have a male partner, safe for them.
- 14:20Estrogen, not so good for your male partner.
- 14:22And so, and that's something people really don't talk about.
- 14:26Yeah.
- 14:26It's thank you so much, and thank you for bringing up the, you know, the research on
- 14:31cancer and some of those things.
- 14:32I think more and more we're finding people are more educated on some of that that, poorly
- 14:39published research as far as those statistics.
- 14:41But it's just great to continue to remind people around safety profiles and that sort of
- 14:45thing.
- 14:46And I love knowing clitoris to anus.
- 14:47I'm gonna completely change how I use this product.
- 14:49So that's really helpful.
- 14:52I'm also I also think it'd be worth talking about because I know more and more people that
- 14:56are seeking out holistic, functional, alternative types of doctors and clinicians are
- 15:01measuring their DHEA and reference ranges for this are so bad.
- 15:06So people will sometimes come in like women will sometimes come in with like a 65 DHEAS,
- 15:12DHA sulfate and tell me like, oh yeah, DHEA is fine.
- 15:16So I know we both probably are very similar in, you know, I'm feeling like, Hey, we, we really
- 15:21want to bolster this up.
- 15:23So where do you recommend if people are getting lab testing?
- 15:26Like, how do they determine what is actually a good DHEA number?
- 15:30Yeah.
- 15:30And it depends on how the lab's tested.
- 15:33So sometimes people mistakenly draw a DHEA blood test.
- 15:37And DHEA sulfate, as you mentioned, that's the test we wanna look at in the blood.
- 15:42And we want that number for women to be over a 50 to 300.
- 15:46But a 50 like, that's optimal for me, around a 50.
- 15:50It's hard, especially postmenopausally, to get up that high.
- 15:53But, again, we wanna empower our body to do that on its own.
- 15:57And that's really where we wanna be, at least over a hundred.
- 16:00But so many people, like you said, I see them in the teens, the, you know, thirties, forties.
- 16:05And they're just like, boy, you know, that is a good place to start with a patient.
- 16:10And, in the saliva, if you're not on any, you know, steroids and, you know, salivary testing
- 16:16is tricky, but you can look at your DHEA and cortisol pattern throughout the day as well as
- 16:22with urine.
- 16:23Urinary, you're looking at DHEA metabolites, and you're looking at your cortisol pattern.
- 16:27You should be looking at your cortisol pattern throughout the day.
- 16:30So those are, you know, that's those are important ways to test and look for optimal
- 16:37levels there.
- 16:37And you kind of want to look at the mid range, but not on blood work.
- 16:41When we look at blood work, and I know you go over this, Diane, but we are comparing the
- 16:46normal American population.
- 16:47So I encourage you to sit outside Walmart for, you know, an hour and just track the number of
- 16:53healthy people you see that you wanna be like.
- 16:56Like, how they're radiant, they're smiling, they're, you know, in in they're fit and
- 17:02healthy looking at a happy, healthy weight, and, you know, and that's that's your that's
- 17:07your normal comparisons.
- 17:09Yeah.
- 17:09And so yeah.
- 17:11Yeah.
- 17:11I like I like
- 17:12I like Walmart, by the way.
- 17:13No.
- 17:14I like that image.
- 17:15It's a good it's very easy to, I think, put oneself in that, you know, that ability to say,
- 17:21like, oh, this is what we're comparing ourselves to.
- 17:24Like, this is what we're saying, like, healthy is.
- 17:26Like, we really have so much to do as far as, I think, raising the standard of, like, what is
- 17:31actually you know, I I like to differentiate between what is common and what is normal and
- 17:36healthy.
- 17:37And just because it's common does not actually mean it's like a normal, healthy, you know, lab
- 17:41value.
- 17:42Right.
- 17:43So I wanna talk in our last few minutes together about something we have talked about a
- 17:47lot on this show, but I think it's important in context to tie this whole hormone picture
- 17:52together, which is oxytocin.
- 17:54So our love hormone, our cuddle hormone, our touch hormone, our orgasm hormone, where does
- 18:00oxytocin fit in as far as hormone balance into this whole picture?
- 18:04Yeah.
- 18:04Oxytocin is the most powerful hormone of our body.
- 18:07It is in my hormonal hierarchy.
- 18:09It is the head honcho.
- 18:11Right.
- 18:11It is the crowning hormone.
- 18:13And be, be, you know, under that is cortisol, insulin and adrenaline.
- 18:18And then further, you have all our reproductive hormones.
- 18:21So oxytocin is really powerful.
- 18:22It's also, not well known, but it this fact is that it's the most alkalinizing hormone to our
- 18:29body too.
- 18:30Oxytocin's been associated with, you know, happy, healthy marriages, happy, healthy, long
- 18:36quality of life.
- 18:37The characteristics of creating oxytocin are common in the blue zones, the areas of the
- 18:43world that have the largest number of, people over a hundred.
- 18:47And also, it supports our immune system.
- 18:51And what people don't realize that as progesterone and estrogen decrease, that
- 18:55affects our production of melatonin, which also produces oxytocin.
- 19:00So if you're having sleep disruption, you're likely not making enough oxytocin.
- 19:05You may feel more disconnected, more alone, less social interactions.
- 19:10And, and it's powerful to be able to create habits and do things that increase oxytocin.
- 19:16And having sex, intimacy, enjoying your partner, positive touch, and especially orgasm
- 19:24and climax, they increase your oxytocin tremendously.
- 19:29Yeah.
- 19:29Thank you.
- 19:29It's one of my favorite things to talk about, you know, because I feel like we have this
- 19:33amazing chemical in our body that really, like you said, is the master thing we get to
- 19:39modulate.
- 19:39We get to actually impact so many areas of our lives.
- 19:42So this amazing chemical, like, regulator that so often it's like, it's so easy to be like,
- 19:48I'm too busy for pleasure.
- 19:49I'm too busy for touch.
- 19:49I'm too busy for sex.
- 19:51And so I think it's just an important thing to come back to of like, this is like the hormone
- 19:55that is capable of doing so much to bring us back into balance and joy and relationship and
- 20:03connection, all these amazing things.
- 20:05So I wanna make sure we talk about summer of love and you guys that we're gonna have links
- 20:11to as far as how to get doctor Anna's Jola in our show notes here.
- 20:15So that'll be for you.
- 20:16Also wanna make sure that everybody knows that we'll have links on how to get a hold of you
- 20:21and work with you in our show notes.
- 20:23But what else do you wanna leave us with?
- 20:25And I know we want I wanted to mention the summer of love as well.
- 20:28Yes.
- 20:28Yes.
- 20:29Definitely.
- 20:29And, I wanna mention too, like, one of the reasons that couples, you know, disconnect or
- 20:35there's a loss of desire, loss of connection is because of vaginal is because of vaginal
- 20:43dryness issues.
- 20:45The discomfort with sex, pain with sex, and, you know, improving the health of the vagina.
- 20:51It goes beyond sex.
- 20:52Right?
- 20:52Decreasing urinary tract infections, incontinence, keeping a healthy pelvic floor is
- 20:57critically important till we age.
- 20:59And so I've I really wanna emphasize that.
- 21:02Sometimes we don't even know why we became roommates, but if you're not if it's not
- 21:06pleasurable, you're not gonna wanna do it.
- 21:09And so and it's so important because there is a way that we get a huge burst of the, you know,
- 21:14age defying oxytocin.
- 21:16So I wanna mention that.
- 21:17And, and I you know, especially as a gynecologist.
- 21:21And regarding Joppa, we are offering you your your audience, Diane, the free link to the free
- 21:28trial of Joppa.
- 21:29So it's a seven night trial, but you're gonna want the full tube.
- 21:32And our summer of love sale is our biggest sale of the year for Joppa.
- 21:37So, encourage you to definitely take advantage of it, and let me know any questions you have.
- 21:42I have the most amazing customer service team.
- 21:44We're here to help.
- 21:46Thank you so much, and I hope everybody will take advantage of that and become a total Jova
- 21:53fan in the way I am, you know, fan girl of putting it in every every piece of luggage I
- 21:58have.
- 21:59Don't wanna leave home without it.
- 22:00So thank you so much for being here with us today, and I really appreciate you and your
- 22:04time and your wisdom and and offering this, these gifts to our community.
- 22:08Oh my gosh.
- 22:09I love it.
- 22:10Thanks for having me.
- 22:11All right, everybody.
- 22:12Well, this is a wrap.
- 22:14You've been with us for another episode on The Lounge.
- 22:16Doctor.
- 22:16Diane signing off here, always reminding you to stay classy, stay sexy, and always be a little
- 22:23badass y.
- 22:24We'll see you next time.
- 22:25Thank you for listening to the libido lounge.
- 22:27Please don't keep me a secret.
- 22:28Please share this with your friends.
- 22:30You can find me on YouTube, on Instagram, as well as how to work with me at mylibido.com.