It’s hardly shocking that when a woman suddenly loses her lubrication, she (and often her doctor) assumes that vaginal dryness and pain with sexual activity are related to menopause. And it's true that if you are over 45, the onset of vaginal dryness is more likely than not because your estrogen tank is empty. But lots of things, other than menopause, can cause a total lack of lubrication.

In this segment, I discuss vaginal dryness as a consequence of:

Medications
Cancer Treatments 
Cannabis
Diabetes
Autoimmune Diseases
Multiple Sclerosis
History of Painful Sex 
High Osmolality Lubricants
Vulvar Conditions such as Lichen Sclerosus
The Fear Factor
Partner Problems 

For more information on this topic: 
Episode 3: What's Up Down There? Genital Dryness & Misbehaving Bladders 
Episode 4: Is Your Lubricant Helping or Hurting Your Vagina?
Episode 5: Vaginal Estrogen- Rings, Creams, and Other Things 
Episode 11: Vaginal Estrogen is Not Poison
Episode 18:   The Itchy Vulva with Dr. Jill Krapf
Episode 27:  Using Vaginal Estrogen but Sex Still Hurts Like Hell 
Episode 53 Not All Hot Flashes  Mean Menopause

 Slip Sliding Away: Turning Back the Clock on Your Vagina-A gynecologist’s guide to eliminating post-menopause dryness and pain

Sex Rx- Hormones, Health, and Your Best Sex Ever

Lauren Streicher, MD is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause. She is a  certified menopause practitioner of the North American Menopause Society. 

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Dr. Streicher is the medical correspondent for Chicago’s top-rated news program, the WGN Morning News, and has been seen on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NPR, Dr. Radio, Nightline, Fox and Friends, The Steve Harvey Show, CBS This Morning, ABC News Now, NBCNightlyNews,20/20, and World News Tonight. She is an expert source for many magazines and serves on the medical advisory board of The Kinsey Institute, Self Magazine, and Prevention Magazine. She writes a regular column for The Ethel by AARP and Prevention Magazine. 

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Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 Slip Sliding Away: Turning Back the Clock on Your Vagina-A gynecologist’s guide to eliminating post-menopause dryness and pain
Hot Flash Hell: A Gynecologist's Guide to Turning Down the Heat
Sex Rx- Hormones, Health, and Your Best Sex Ever
The Essential Gide to Hysterectomy