For many people, discussing sexual health may feel uncomfortable or even embarrassing, especially if you’re struggling with an issue that impacts your physical or mental health or keeps you from enjoying a healthy sex life. But if discussing one’s sexuality is taboo, how are those issues supposed to improve?
September is Sexual Health Awareness Month and a great time to get people talking – especially with their health care providers. Sexual health is more than treating STIs or prescribing birth control. According to Marta Byma, nurse practitioner at Holland Hospital’s Women’s Specialty Care, discussions on sexual health should also highlight the importance of a healthy sex life and feeling both comfortable and confident in your own body.
Women’s Specialty Care providers encourage open dialogue on sexual health by creating an opportunity for women to feel comfortable with sharing even the most intimate concerns about their sexual health or dissatisfaction with their sex life. When it comes to women’s health and well-being, sexual health should never be an afterthought.
What is sexual health?
“There are a lot of factors when discussing sexual health,” says Byma. “While it includes the treatment of issues like painful intercourse, low libido, yeast infections, UTIs or STIs, it also encompasses much more.”
Holland Hospital’s Women’s Specialty Care seeks to ensure patients have the tools they need to enjoy a healthy life and a healthy sex life. This can include certain treatments for women going through menopause or even hormone replacement therapy, but it can also include simply knowing how to enjoy a healthy sex life at any age and prioritizing sexual pleasure as an integral part of healthy sexuality.
Sexual Health Awareness Month plays a role in calling attention to how important it is to normalize talking about sexual health and remove any stigma associated with the topic. “It's not something that should be embarrassing to talk about,” says Byma. “We can help, and we want women to know they can talk to us.”
Women’s Specialty Care
The team of board-certified women’s health providers offer a wide range of health care services for women of all ages including routine gynecological care and treatments, contraception counseling, running tests, addressing the challenges of menopause or sexual health concerns and more. “For our patients struggling with depression, anxiety or other mental health issues – which can play a crucial role in sexual health – our office has two psychologists on staff,” says Byma.
The experts at Holland Hospital Women’s Specialty Care can help you achieve a healthy and satisfying sex life, whatever your needs may be. Shake the stigma and find empowerment by becoming your own best advocate and speaking up about sexual health.
Call the office at (616) 548-5785 for an appointment with a team that truly understands women’s unique health concerns and the needs that change across their lifespan. Learn more or request an appointment online at Holland Hospital Women’s Specialty Care.