You may not like to talk about sexual health concerns, but this is the first step in getting your relationship back on track. After you and your partner address these issues together, alternative practices can help to bolster your sexual wellbeing. However, if you feel a little cautious about the weird and wacky things involved in alternative medicine, we have four experts in various fields who have told us how they treat sexual wellness problems.
1. Nutritional Therapy: According to Ken Babal, staff nutritionist, Erewhon Natural Foods, ‘When there are breeding problems with animals, usually the first question asked by the vet is how have you been feeding the animal. Unfortunately, we don’t ask that question often enough of humans. Diet has a large part to do with that. In fact, sexual performance is a little bit like an athletic event. And you’ve got to be fit, do all the things that you need to do for good health in general: moderation with alcohol, exercise, rest, sound nutrition — all of those things. And a lot of times when I see clients, many of them are smokers. They’re overweight. They’re not fit. So that’s something we have to call to their attention. And there’s no quick solutions. You have to cultivate good habits. But once patients see the connection, they know what they have to do. Certain supplements, though, can be helpful as well.’
2. Ayurveda: ‘A lot of times, particularly in couples who have been together for a while and not feeling sexual, there’s a lot of internalised anger and rage and disappointment with the other person, which gets expressed as withholding of sexuality, or the feelings of passion don’t even arise,’ says Dr. David Simon, Neurologist and co-founder of the Chopra Centre. ‘One technique which we draw upon is from the Native American culture, where we encourage couples to use a talking object. Like a talking stick that the Navajo tribe used to use. When they have a discussion or there’s something that they want to talk about, they take turns while literally holding the object…It’s amazing how giving people the opportunity to be heard starts to help to process emotional hurts that they’ve been carrying around and also opens up the possibility for intimacy, which then leads to sexual passion.’
3. Homeopathy: Dr. Lauren Feder, physician and homeopath in private practice, notes, ‘I see a lot of women that have had babies, and a lot of women who are nursing, or have a lot of children and don’t have a strong sex drive…What I find is that if sepia is given, people start to feel better about themselves. They stop yelling as much, they’re more patient, they have more energy, and low and behold, the libido comes up and their sex drive increases.’
4. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): ‘There are actually many things that we can offer,’ Dr. John Chen, practitioner of TCM and lecturer at USC, asserts. ‘There are a lot of herbs that are commonly used to either facilitate the growth or maturity of the reproductive system. There are ones that will increase the secretion of sex hormones. And there are ones that will enhance sexual desire. And all these in a way do go hand in hand…When the patient comes in, we try to find out exactly what the problem is. Because let’s say if a patient has impotence, there are many reasons why this could be. It could be psychological. It could be physical. It could be a complication of a disease, or it could be a side effect of a drug. So we try to identify exactly what is the cause. Then, we will address both the cause and the symptom simultaneously.’
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