Coaching Circles


Seeking
Self
Seeking
Soulmate
Getting
Intimate
Is He/She
the One?
Planning a
Life Together
Creative Ceremonies
First
Years
Balancing
Act
Facing
Change
Renew
& Rekindle
Giving
Back
 
   


MEET THE HOSTS
JOEL CROHN

Advice on the special issues surrounding intercultural/interfaith relationships    more

 

TIAN DAYTON

Get spiritual with Tian.    more

 

LISA GAY HABICHT

Learn about how to plan the destination wedding of your dreams. more

 

COLEMAN HOUGH

Coleman travels light while seeking a soul mate.  more

 

 
 
  HOWARD MARKMAN

Remedies from America's relationship expert  more

 

HEATHER MORGAN

Heather has all the answers to your travel questions. more


LOU PAGET

Meet the Martha Stewart of sex. more


BILL & STEFFANIE O"HANLON

Bill and Steffanie O'Hanlon "love the tough cases."   more


Home > Conscious Loving > Q&A > Lou Paget



My husband has bad breath. I don't enjoy kissing him. I have made subtle suggestions about his oral hygiene, but he gets defensive and angry. Do you have any suggestions?


It goes without saying that any time a man hears something isn't right about him, he reads it as attack and criticism. The best way to resolve this is to do something yourself and have your husband follow suit. Eat mints and when while kissing slip one into his mouth a la high school. Tell him your friend said her husband went down on her right after he had brushed his teeth with Minto-Minty toothpaste and she loved it. Any mentholated toothpaste will do. That is the more subtle method of a man doing the Altoid thing. Not only will you get the sensation, but he'll have a fresh mouth. Then again, what is he eating? Garlic or strong-flavored foods? If your husband is dieting, he may have nasty ketone breath.

My husband thinks I talk too much during sex. Is there anything wrong with that?

Ask yourself these questions to help determine the answers you need:

--Have you been instructing him constantly? You may have developed sexual traffic cop tendencies. If you're telling him what you liked from the past, please don't.

--Are you saying that he's doing it wrong? Again your husband probably hears those comments as criticism, not as the direction you think you're giving. The best place to have a conversation about what works best for both of you is outside of the bedroom.

--Is it possible your husband is shy or uncomfortable about some of the things you are saying?

--Could distractions be the problem? Your husband may be a I-need-to-be-focused-on-the-moment kind of guy.

--Have you said someone else's name? If so, that speaks to other issues.

My wife is going through menopause. How will this affect our sex life?

For some women, even the beginning, perimenopause, is a nightmare. If you have a good sex life now, you may have to make adjustments. Your wife may have a reduction in self-lubrication and a thinning of the vaginal walls. Keeping her comfortable is very important. If having intercourse hurts, she won't be as enthusiastic about doing it. Often a woman's regular cycles are a reassuring monthly reminder of her womanhood, and when her periods end, she may no longer feel as feminine. Your attraction for her may seem obvious to you, but your wife still wants to know you find her appealing. A drop-off in libido is common during menopause. Some women have responded well to prescriptions of testosterone cream topically applied to the clitoris. However, if a woman has had a radical hysterectomy and all tissue from the cuff of the vagina at the neck of the cervix and below has been removed including the cervix, often there isn't the same intensity of orgasm since all the nerves have been cut in that area.

I have never had an orgasm at the same time as my husband. He thinks there is something wrong with me. Is there?

No, there isn't anything wrong with you. Period. And I suggest your husband's reaction isn't wrong given that he has had inaccurate information, likely from watching porn films or from women who faked their orgasms (assuming he's had sex with more than one woman). Some people do have simultaneous orgasms, and that's great. However, it invariably only occurs after partners have known one another for a period of time and are very tuned to one another's bodies. Yet for the majority of folks having sex, simultaneous orgasm rarely or never happens. So please do not be held hostage by having to live up to someone else's sexual experience. Let your own be valid.

I've been married to my wife for 11 years and sex is good but completely predictable. How can we break this pattern?

First thing, please know that you are not alone. Given the pressures of work, time constraints, family and life in general, couples often start to take the intimate part of their relationship for granted. When you were dating or first together, you didn't take for granted that you would have sex. You did everything you could to ensure that it could happen, and those are the factors invariably swept under the rug of day-to-day relationships. Men have the attitude that sex will be available. However, women don't want to feel that that sex is something that's just available. They want to feel special and be romanced. If a man does not seduce his partner's mind, it is unlikely he will be able to seduce her body.

Now that does not mean a fullscale Romeo and Juliet scene. The most effective way to have a woman be horizontal with you is to pay her the type of attention she likes. If that means picking up the dry cleaning, do it. Making your partner feel appreciated and acknowledged is the most powerful form of foreplay.

Here are some other tips:

Make your intimacy a priority.

Be creative. You might consider having a standing midweek date. A couple I know has a standing Wednesday night date and often it is just the two of them disappearing to her office for raw sex. She then smiles mentally when she walks by her couch on other nights when she works late hours. Why Wednesday? It's easier to get babysitters, and at the end of the week she is just too tired.

My husband wants to have sex after we fight. I sometimes think he picks fights as a part of foreplay. I feel confused and disturbed by this kind of sex. What should I do?

Men have different reactions than women do to volatile, personally confronting events. Here is part of the answer to the confusion. As an example, guys can go tooth and nail in the boardroom and then go for drinks afterwards. Women don't operate the same way. He goes through it and then he's done. Likely you are emotionally hurt and spent and the LAST thing you want is sex, least of all with HIM, the one who just stung you emotionally. He has overlooked a critical issue for women and sex--that unless he seduces your mind, he is not going to be able to seduce your body.

Solution: Let him know nothing will happen when you are in that frame of mind.

More Q&A's From Lou

 

YOUR OPINION

My husband and I never have time for sex anymore and when we do, he gets satisfaction and I don't. I think that's unfair.
 --Calista

  
your opinion

The best part of the relationship is the first three months - the trick is to keep that passion going! --Bird73

  your opinion



COACHING CIRCLES

We connect you to an expert.
Improve your personal life!
Coaching Circles has collected all the Top personal coaches in Personal Growth, Single Life/Dating, Balancing Life, and more to support you in your greatness.
HIRE A COACH TODAY.



Copyright 2000 Partners in Life, Inc.