Menopause brings in a whole lot of physical changes, and that takes a toll on your mental well-being. Some women mention the occasional mood swings they have due to menopause, while others talk about their concentration issues.
A lady in an online session once mentioned how sex life was getting challenging when transitioning into menopause, which even resulted in marital discord. That’s the concern of over one-third of women in perimenopause and menopause. Pregnancy in postmenopause is beyond question unless you have frozen eggs during your fertile period and choose to use them later.
So, after menopause, when your ovaries don’t release eggs anymore, what happens to the sperm during sexual intercourse? Where do they go? That’s what we will discuss here. I’ll cover topics like where the sperm goes after menopause if women can still have orgasms, and so on.
Where Does the Sperm Go After Menopause?
Let’s come to the main topic now. Many women often ask where the sperm goes postmenopause. With menopause, the estrogen levels fluctuate and eventually decrease. However, when your periods stop, there isn’t any change in your reproductive system.
During your fertile years, the sperm gets inside a woman’s body through her vagina and travels through her cervix, womb, and then the fallopian tubes.
The first sperm reaches the fallopian tube within a few minutes of ejaculation. In most cases, the first sperm isn’t the fertilizing sperm. The motile or moving sperm stays in a female’s reproductive tract for around five days, waiting for the eggs to arrive. The union of the egg and sperm may culminate in a pregnancy. The remaining unfertilized sperms die in a couple of minutes or hours. The longevity of the sperm is higher when the cervical fluids are fertile. A woman’s vaginal canal is acidic, and it’s all about the survival of the healthiest and fittest sperms within the initial twelve hours of release.
Now, when you have reached menopause, there isn’t any possibility of the sperm coming in contact with the eggs. Under such circumstances, the sperm goes straight out of the vagina, particularly if the woman maintains a vertical posture during sex. If the sperm reaches the cervix, it won’t survive long as there are no eggs with which it could combine for fertilization. They’ll die and come out of your body in the form of cervical mucus.
When Do Women Stop Getting Wet?
Vaginal dryness is one of the most prominent menopause symptoms seen in around 50+% of women, mainly after they’ve reached menopause. Estrogen significantly helps to keep your vaginal moist and even maintains its elasticity. When the levels dip in perimenopause and menopause, your vagina loses elasticity and gets inflamed and dry. This results in vaginal dryness, which makes sexual intercourse difficult in most women.
Treatment options to cope with vaginal dryness include vaginal moisturizers, lubricants, and gels. Some products don’t need any prescription, while a few, like estrogen capsules, rings, creams, and tablets, require a prescription.
Tips For a Better Sex Life After Menopause
With menopause, many women often complain of low sex drive and lack of interest. However, menopause isn’t the end of your sex life. There are ways to make it better. Here are some tips that may help.
- Use vaginal lubricants and moisturizers if that is coming in the way of your effective sex life.
- Maintain transparency with your partner about your concerns and issues regarding sexual intercourse which you are facing. Better communication will help resolve your problems quickly and more effectively.
- You should devote sufficient time to sleep, at least seven hours. Studies have shown that women with poor sleep were more prone to problems like lessened sexual interest than those who slept well.
- Give more time for intimacy through foreplay, and try new postures if you experience pain and discomfort during sex.
- Pelvic floor exercises help to relax your muscles and improve circulation to your vagina and pelvic floor. Lubrication and arousal are improved when the muscles aren’t tight, and the blood flow is better.
FAQs
As mentioned above, the leftover sperm, which does not make its way to the fallopian tube, gets emitted as a discharge through the vagina. After menopause, since none of the sperm reach an egg to initiate the fertilization process, they get discharged.
As a woman reaches menopausal age, she has less than 10,000 eggs left, which keeps declining, eventually dropping to less than a thousand. In addition to the number, the quality of eggs also decreases with age. Certain tests that help to determine the egg count include the antra follicle count and AMH (Anti-Mullerian hormone).
Conclusion
Since, fertilization is impossible in menopause, the possibilities of pregnancy is almost nil, unless you take advantages of previously frozen eggs and IVF. However, in regards to your sex life, a little effort from you and your partner, alongside lifestyle changes will help.
