Unlocking Pleasure: A Guide To Sex Toys & Health

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

And I am your other host Dr. Diane Mueller. So happy to be talking to you again.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

We had such a fun. I love. This is going to be a fun episode because we are talking sex toys. Yes.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

We’re talking about this really cool company who has one of the biggest and most diverse lines that I’ve personally seen in the marketplace. This company has done such a good job of getting sex toys into the market and making them accessible for people of all sorts of budgets where you don’t have to necessarily go into a sex toy type of place to get it. I know that some people don’t want to do that. These toys are even available at Walmart, you guys. So really easy to obtain, so many places to start from no matter where you’re at with your sex toy knowledge, this company has something for you.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I know. You know, I was just thinking the same thing. Like, I love everything that they’re doing because they also are so incredibly affordable because I don’t know if you guys have looked at other companies, but I mean, they’re not cheap and pleasure should be accessible to everybody. So why not make the sex toy company also accessible and I agree, like Walmart, great. I mean, you can get everything there. Why not?

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So yeah, they are so affordable, like another thing I love and that, you know, even talking to some of the people at that company there. They make them so affordable that you can stick one in your travel bag, you can have one in your nightstand, you can have one in your makeup bag and, you know, I’m telling you guys, if you’ve never traveled with vibrators, it’s a nice thing to actually travel with, especially it’s like not sleeping well and in new locations and having access to something that literally can fit discreetly in your purse or handbag, your travel on luggage. It’s so, it’s such a gift.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know, the fact that you just brought up sleep, I’m going to mention something. It was actually pretty interesting and they showed me this data. The company did some research on sleep specifically. And I mean, I don’t know about you, but I definitely have problems sleeping. And so I was really surprised when they were showing that 70% of women who self-pleasure report improvement in sleep. And really, the big kicker with this is you didn’t have to have an orgasm to actually get the sleep improvement it was actually just going through the steps of self-pleasure will improve the hormones associated with sleep. Crazy.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

I’m surprised because even, you know, even just the act of self-pleasure like not even to orgasm can still increase oxytocin, right? So, and we know that like that huge oxytocin boost is so regulating. Especially like women, we have so many more oxytocin receptors than men. And so anything that is inducing that pleasure, we’re like primed as women to really like to suck up all that oxytocin in our cells and do amazing things like you’re saying, like sleep. It’s so wonderful.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know, some people are, like a little hesitant with the idea of toys. But, I mean, one of the things I like to say is why not? I mean, I know with sex in general, there are all sorts of beliefs, and especially we have the taboos around sex. Forget about the taboos around masturbation and I’m not even to use that word after now because I know people get very sensitive with that word. So we’re going to talk about Self-Pleasure. And I always tell my patients like, you can’t figure out what you want in the bedroom from a partner until you figure out how your body works yourself. And here’s actually really embarrassing thing as a mom, I have two teenage daughters, and I’ve been talking to them about Self-Pleasure and they’re just like, mom, what now? It’s natural. It’s natural like figure out. You need to figure out how things work. Like figure out what works or I love the idea of, well, there are so many health benefits of sex toys, but I love the idea too of, you know, say you’re in a long relationship. I mean, we know that a lot of those endorphins, oxytocin, and dopamine are sky-high within the first year of a relationship. And after that, things start fizzling hormonally out. But this is a way to bring some novelty into the bedroom and make sex fun. Just bring something different and let me be like, hey, honey, let’s try this out. Why not?

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah. And I love that you bring up novelty because I feel like that’s what I’ve seen in researching, like, how to bring passion back in long-term relationships. Like, it’s one of the most important things to increase dopamine, like you’ve said and so many times it’s like in long-term you may try a lot of positions and you may have tried a lot of places around the house, and those are also novel things. But eventually, you know, you’re going to run out of places around the house, or you can run out of positions to try that work for your, you know, your body flexibility and that sort of thing. So having something like a sex toy to bring in is super important. And to speak to what you’re saying, too, about the taboo, one of the things that I feel like it’s really important to bring up here is like the reminder that we’re now seeing the FDA-approved certain sex toys as medical devices. Right. We have seen research that is showing that, oh, my gosh, that we’re having pelvic floor muscles actually start improving their elasticity and pain going away and numbness is going away and circulation coming back and all of these things. So I think it’s really important to come at this too from like the science perspective of Self-Pleasure is actually a a medical way in many ways of improving various symptoms that are going on with our pelvic floor.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I like to have people think of it as they’re like intimate physical therapy. I mean, even as we get older, we start losing, men and women lose blood flow down there. And, you know, that’s what Viagra is. Viagra is just a blood flow medication. I mean, I hate to break it to you, but it always comes up. People are like, where’s the horny pill? It doesn’t. It just increases blood flow once the brain is stimulated. And we need healthy blood flow for erections and for lubrication and just for comfort level. So these are tools to help with blood flow. So why not?

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Why not? Yeah. And the only thing I’ll say before we jump into kind of our product reveal here is one of the things that can happen so many times with heterosexual relationships is there is a timing issue of women needing oftentimes 20 to 40 minutes and sometimes even longer to reach orgasm and men reaching orgasm, climax much, much, much quicker. So we had this timing irregularity, right? Many times between heterosexual partners and when we use things like sex toys in sexual experiences in combination with any other pleasure act you’re doing, it can actually make that time where everybody is on the same time, right? So it can speed things up for women. I still think like long gourmet sex is always a great thing to bring into your life when you can. But sometimes there’s no time for that. Sometimes, you know, it’s like there is only 15 minutes or 20 minutes and you have to get back to the household stuff or the kids or work or whatever. 

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Or two minutes.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes. Sometimes that is what it is. That’s real. And stories like this work very well for those you know, those times where it’s two minutes or 15 minutes.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know that I have an unfortunate story. A friend of mine when I was telling her what I was doing and all these lovely toys were showing up at the house. And she was saying, oh, she’s got a new boyfriend. And she’s like, I missed my toys. She’s like, he threw them out the window. And I said, Why? And I realize that some individuals are threatened by them. And listen, I’m just telling you right now, there’s no reason to be threatened. You know, first of all, Self-Pleasure is not something that somebody is doing in replacement of being with you. It’s you know, back again, it’s that physical therapy and it’s only going to help when you are together again with your partner. So we have to start looking at it differently. And yeah, there are times that like maybe things don’t match up, maybe one partner in the mood, another one’s not, well, you know what. Sometimes you got to just take care of things yourself, and I think that’s perfectly acceptable. We need to normalize that.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah, it’s, I think a different experience, right? We don’t take two of our favorite foods. And this was a very, you know, say very simple analysis of this, analogy. But we don’t take two different foods. Say we love salmon and we say we love steak. And they’re both amazing. Right. And we don’t look at steak and be like, well, you suck because you’re not salmon or salmon and you suck because you’re not steak. Right? So these are very, very different experiences. And they can provide different things, but they’re not encompassing. You know, this is not a competition. And the other thing I think that sometimes will happen also from a vibrator taboo standpoint is this concern about addiction about like, am I going to be addicted to my vibrator, where all of a sudden I’m not going to want my partner as much. When I’ve looked at research, what I’ve seen is that this vibrator addiction is not really true. What can happen is that sometimes and this can actually happen sometimes for certain people with intercourse or with orgasm too, where there’s for a very, very short time period after this refractory period, where all of a sudden sensations a little bit different, but then it just resets and it normalizes, right? It’s not like tomorrow you go in and all of a sudden sex doesn’t feel the same or pleasure doesn’t feel the same. So we got to get out of that mindset around, oh, I’m going to be addicted to my vibrator and other things aren’t going to feel as good.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And I have to say with the products from this company plusOne, which we’re going to get into in a minute. I don’t see that happening with these products. I do see sometimes a lack of sensation as women start to use some of the I don’t want to throw a name under the bus, but I’m just going to say it. The Hitachi wand which can be excessively stimulating and sometimes if they’re using it too often and too frequently, you can get a little bit of nerve desensitization to the vibrator or even callus build-up. But I will tell you, in 20 years of practice, I have seen less than five cases of that and I have seen many, many other cases of people that are using these products and not have any issues. And even if, god forbid, an issue did happen, it’s so easy to reverse you just you just stop using it. And you actually, you know, mix things up a little bit. You try to, like, let the tissue get back together, like back to normal. Let the nerves come back online. Basically, it’s easily reversed. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So yeah, yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Well, shall we get into our products?

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yes. Which one do you want to start with?

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

I think we should start with the kind of intro product the Bullet, just because I think this is a really good one for two different reasons. And we’re going to unveil this product and then talk about what’s Dr. Betsy and I both love about it. So I have mine in my pretty box. So my camera’s a little. There we go. So I have mine in my pretty box. So it does come like this.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And I love it. Could I tell you what this company has been doing? Is that they’re making gift boxes for every occasion, which is so fun.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes, that’s a good thing to point out. Happy everything. I got two different boxes of this. And you’re right, they do say different things.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

We got ones for the holidays and we have ones for like birthdays and special occasions, which I think is so cool because why not give the gift of Self-Pleasure, right?

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

That’s exactly right. So this is so amazing because once it’s like super sleek packaging, right? And look how tiny this is, you guys. It’s just this tiny.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And I got a different color.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Oh, pretty, and so super easy to charge, so there’s just a really easy spot in here to charge it. And then essentially you can Stick this in your. Yes, thank you. You can stick this in your purse. You can just stick this in your travel bag. You can stick this in your little makeup bag. But it’s generally used externally and so this is a very easy one, especially if you’re new to vibrators to essentially start with. And here is the little, here’s how it goes. And so here’s like the power adapter, super duper easy plugs into USB.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I’m going to go. Actually, I’m going to go grab my puppet for this one. Hold on. You keep talking. I’ll go grab my puppet.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Okay. So other things I love about this company is we look at all of their products. They are all silicone. So it’s really important to understand that with products, you want to make sure you’re always staying away from phthalates, parabens, and other types of BPA, other types of chemicals that are actually endocrine disruptors and can disrupt your hormones, create other problems from a toxicity standpoint. So super, super safe from a silicone perspective. Easy to clean. Just always remember with silicone toys, you don’t want to use silicone lube. You always want to use a water-based lube with silicone toys.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

So I have my handy dandy vulva puppet here.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

It’s pretty.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

So we get the labia majora, the labia minora. This is the hood with the clitoris under here. And so the way we’re built as women sometimes with straight penile-vaginal sex if there’s a penis that’s going in here sometimes and really the clitoris extends, it has little arms that come out and comes down here, but sometimes you don’t get the stimulation the way you want. And so depending on the position you are in the bullet is tiny and it’s unobtrusive so with the other hand, you could be, you know, up here stimulating around the clitoris area while you’re having penile sex with your partner. So that’s a nice advantage of something little that you could kind of fit into your hand like this. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So another thing I’ll say about that I think is important to understand is because it’s so easy sometimes as women when there is almost this expectation of like, oh, how fast am I supposed to orgasm or whatnot? But there’s also some level of research and understanding that how easy it is for a woman to orgasm from vaginal intercourse is related to the location of that outer part of her clitoris. Right. And so depending on that spot, depending upon your own anatomy, is actually what’s probably the part of how easy it is for you to orgasm with vaginal sex. And so this is another way if you’re somebody that doesn’t orgasm is that way, not because you’re broken, not because there’s anything wrong with you. Just because you’re that’s how you’re anatomically made. We’re all different. Here’s a helpful tool. That’s another thing that’s great about this.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know, the other thing that is good with the bullet is not only like I love it, it’s great for travel, perfect for travel. But because it’s so tiny you can also palm it and you can almost use and turn your hand into a vibrator. And so you can use that either on yourself or even on your partner and basically, your hand turn it into a giant vibrator.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes, yes, yes. This is a great demonstration.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know you can hold it like a cigarette. You could like, you know, whatever, get creative. And you know, I actually bring this up a lot of times because a lot of times we think about sex toys being specifically for genitalia, but our body has nerve endings everywhere. So this is great anywhere. Plus, as an osteopathic physician, I really get into the body and muscle spasms. And so if you have a knot in your neck. I mean, you’re not going to go shrum your vagina to your neck. But if you have a knot in your neck and this is good on. You can be massaging like little tender points in your neck or, you know, this could be used as like foreplay with your partner massaging areas on their back and other, you know, just explore each other’s bodies and like, hey, does this feel good? Does this feel good? And you have this little thing that can pretty much get anywhere. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So, yeah, we have so many erogenous zones on the body. So like go explore and play. So what should we talk about next?

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Oh, my goodness. You know, I’m excited to open this new thing, The Rose.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

That’s what I just pulled out, too.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I know. I have the box for that one so I’m really excited about that one. So first of all, their packaging is so great and I always joke that they have this little it’s like you can go window shopping, so you’re in the store and you get one of these like look in the window shop and you can see exactly what it looks like. I didn’t keep my other boxes, which I should have for show and tell.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

I have mine.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Let me open. I think they’re all packaged so incredibly nicely and I’m just going to get this. And they charge, they’re all charged so easily. They have these magnetic chargers for all their devices which is nice. I think in general their colors are like happy and for most of their devices, it doesn’t look like, I mean, I know there are some people who want their sex toys to look like genitalia, but there are some people that don’t want to have like a penis sitting on the bedside table. So it’s nice because you could leave these things out, especially with the rose. There’s like nobody’s going to know what that is if you leave that out. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah. So pretty.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah. So this is just a vibrating rose. And I actually, I’ve already thought ahead about Valentine’s Day. Bouquet, give a bouquet of roses and then one of these as a gift at the same time. So you got your bouquet of roses and then you give one of these, too.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So I’m planning on this. That’s a really, really great idea. So this, as you can tell, is large, like an external device.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I haven’t even played with it yet. This is a cool sensation on the very tip.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah, yeah. The tip is interesting because it actually has a different type of texture. It feels like a little bit, it has a little more give and the rest.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

And you can see with the outer rim how that would really soften the hood so that you can actually get so that clitoris had a little more.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Here’s our vulva.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes, this is how we do it. 

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And then you remember there’s a sensation everywhere on the vulva, too. So and I’ve always, first of all, with all their products, I’ve always been really shocked with number one, they’re tiny and they’re powerful. Like, I’m like, how do they make these motors? And not only that, but like the kind of the technology, like there are multiple patterns and that’s actually something to do to keep the nerves healthy. When you change up the patterns, it kind of keeps the body and the mind guessing. So that’s nice. You change up the pattern like I’m on like now my fifth pattern with this, like how many different patterns on this one. This is crazy. And they’re oh, and another thing all their products waterproof. Take them in the shower. Take them in the shower.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Shower, bathtub. Yeah. Bathtub self-care just has a whole new meaning and this is like you said with it being waterproof, you could even leave this in your, you know, the side of the bathtub. I would probably have water flowing on it all the time, most likely. But yeah, I’ll just keep it in that, you know, shower in a shower cubby for easy access from the bathtub perspective.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know, and once again, I talk about, you know, as sex toys, but any, all of our tissues in our body respond to vibratory stimulation and increased blood flow. So actually and I forgot to mention this with the other device, too. So from an esthetic standpoint, we used to use these for is when people were getting Botox and Fillers. We would actually, I actually had one like this in the office and you would put it on the face and you would actually disrupt like you would confuse the nerves and people wouldn’t feel what they were getting injected for their Botox and Fillers. But this would actually be really good for that face. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes. I can see this. 

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I might actually do that. This would be really good for keeping, you know, getting blood flow stimulating. But that’s why I’m like, I love these things. I know the company sells sex toys but I’m always like telling them like, guys, this is great. There are so many different uses for this.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Totally. Yeah. I mean, another thing I’m actually really appreciating is the simplicity that they come charged like I’ve seen some sex toys not come charged. And you can be so excited. You pull it out of the box and you’re like, ready for your moment. And it’s like, now I have to wait like an hour or two hours, and here is my exciting moment. So it’s nice they come charged and ready to use.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And you know, I’ve noticed too with all their products that they’re pretty much like seamless. So cleaning them is really easy because I get worried as a gynecologist of it affecting the microbiome. If something gets in like crevices or like it doesn’t get clean. These are so incredibly easy to clean and you just going to clean them with your regular just mild soap and water. Yeah. plusOne does make and just to show you that’s plusOne they do make wipes you can use some sanitizing wipes but it’s really, really and I love it. This one is another one that they say is perfect for travel. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah. And this is fun because from a standpoint of if you’re bringing it on, say, like a carry-on and you don’t want people to know that you are traveling with your vibrator like nobody’s going to know what this is. It just looks like I mean, like you said, it could look like a face device. So from the standpoint of traveling indiscreetly with your toy, this toy is made for that.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah. So remember on that business trip, need to catch some Zs. Yeah. It’s the way to go.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

We got the Kegel Trainer open and the same thing this type of really cool peekaboo window box and this is amazing, right? Like, I’m really excited about this product because so many people are not doing their kegels or doing any pelvic floor strengthening exercises and so many people are not doing them well or doing them incorrectly. So now you have a toy to help you do this.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yes. And I think what got me so excited about this device is, and we’ll show you how it works in a minute, was the price on this because I will tell you as an urogynecologist, I have recommended Kegel devices for years and I’ve seen ones that have cost up to close to $1,000 with the majority of them being in that 2 to $500 range. And this one is under under $100. So I don’t remember the exact price, but it is very, very affordable. And on the other hand, I’ve seen so many women who don’t do Kegal’s properly. So this gives you the, it gives you the feedback.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So just like as you’re doing that, just to piggyback off of that real fast because I think of like not doing Kegels correctly like we can get pain, we can get all sorts of by just general pain, pain with sex, it can actually throw off our entire pelvic floor so we can even, it’s not just talking about pelvic floor point pain. We can actually get pain into our structure, to our lower back. It can change our ergonomics and how we feel. So what we’re talking about here with this like not doing kegels correctly, I just want to make sure everybody’s understanding. It’s not just about the kegels. It’s about like all the downstream effects that can happen when we don’t do them correctly.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And I always tell people, that you start losing 8% of your muscle mass every decade of your life starting in your thirties. So it’s like unless you’re doing something, it is downhill after your thirties, right? We can change that around and we think about exercise in our arms and legs and nobody thinks about exercising their pelvis. And I can’t tell you the number of women I’ve seen in my office who’ve come in and now things are drooping and dropping or men who’ve now having erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation, and it’s because of muscle weakness. And now to try to, I mean, you can still recover the muscles, but it’s easier to be doing this preventative from the time we’re in our thirties on, you start earlier. So we got to exercise our muscles just like we do our arms in our legs at the gym. This is going to be your vagina gym.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes, exactly. How easy that’s done is you can take it anywhere with you.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah. So with this device and this one, it’s basically curved so it’s easier to obtain. So I will take my giant vulva now, this is not like the right size compared to the vulva, but so this egg part is going to go and sit in the vagina. So and with that, every time you squeeze, I got to turn them on. But there’s a button, there’s buttons on both of them. You’re just going to hold and press the button until like there’s a little light that comes on and then there’s going to be, this is your handheld controller, and they speak to each other. There’s a little light that came on here. And so basically we’re going to go in the vagina and then you’re going to be able to watch. So every time you squeeze, there we go. I’m squeezing really hard. You’re going to see all those little lights light up, so you’re going to know how hard I’m squeezing and so, I mean, I’m squeezing my hand now. So that’s pretty powerful. But that’s the thing, is that it gives you feedback because that’s one of the things I’ve seen with these more expensive devices is some of them don’t even give you the feedback. Some of them do. But this one, all you need is this like, am I doing it right? And you should see a movement of those lights. And there are a couple of different ways you can do the Kegels. You can squeeze and hold and see how long you can hold, or you can do what’s called Quick Flex. You go quick, you tight in and do it real quick. So it gives you like, oh, I’m doing it right versus if you’re pushing down and like having a bowel movement because if you’re pushing down it’s not going to I mean I’m still holding it. So it’s kind of.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah, the feedback I think it’s like we’ve gotten so much into feedback from our sleep tracking devices and our blood sugar tracking devices. And so to have this direct feedback is huge. The one thing I want to add that I feel like is really important too in Kegels is that people oftentimes forget about it like as you’re getting the feedback always remember you also want to relax your muscles between the squeezes because it’s almost like going to see the gym. And like we don’t ever, you know, just hold I mean, just to hold, say, a bicep curl for 10 or 20 seconds and slowly release it. Right. So there is sometimes that huge contraction but there’s always that relax, you know, relaxation. And like in good health and mobility, we’re stretching, we’re doing things to help the muscle relax after that tightening. So same thing with these muscles, these muscles of the pelvic floor. We’re just the same as muscles of our, you know, the rest of our body. Get the feedback, squeeze, and work on making it harder and harder, but then just giving yourself also that time in between the squeezes to really invite your muscles to relax. And some of that is you’re learning how to feel these muscles like you might not really be able to almost like it’s very easy to be like I’m tightening my bicep, I’m relaxing my bicep. But as oftentimes if you lost the tone of the muscles here, you may have lost some level of the neurological connection. So when you’re telling these muscles to relax, like initially when you’re doing this, like you might you might be like, am I doing it? Am I relaxing? But the more you actually do these feedback types of loops, you’re also connecting that neurological signal from the brain in the pelvic floor which eventually, you’ll be able to almost like find those muscles on your own, your brain will be able to attune to them, and then it will be easier to be like, oh yeah, I’m relaxing these muscles cause I can actually feel where they are.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

You know, I’ve heard a great suggestion with this because it’s waterproof and like, I know we’re busy women. I’ve had some people who have put these in while they’re in the shower and they’re doing their kegels while they’re doing everything else. And I’m like, I’m all about multitasking.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

That’s actually where I do my Kegels.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah. I’m loving it and then it’s already in the shower. You just take it out and clean it and you’re good to go. Another interesting thing about this device is they snuck in a vibration mode. So you got a couple of different vibration modes by just pressing the button and you can change it. So that’s going to be twofold because the vibrations will also stimulate that tissue and increase blood flow. So you could just have it in and be doing your Kegels experience or you can use it as a toy too.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yeah, yeah. So many, so many good things. And it’s fun with this shape, you know, you really can get into some, you know, interesting spots that other toys might not get to because of the shape, because of the long handle on it. So definitely a lot to experiment with there.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I just discovered something I didn’t know. Is that this also will change the vibration on this because I’ve always pressed the button on here to change the vibration. And then I’m like wait this handheld controller will also change that. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yes, yes. yes.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Which also adds a little fun if you want to pop this in and give the controller to one of your partners. I’m thinking of like, that’s gonna make an interesting evening like if that little like you know, we just kind of like look across each other at a crowd and kind of wink and you guys know what’s going on and nobody else does. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So, yeah, so a great novelty vibe on that one.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Oh, my god, that’s fun.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So we move on to the last one that we’re showcasing. And I say the last one, you guys, not because this is the last one that plusOne has, but because plusOne has such a huge product line. We’re going over a few of them today.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Oh, my goodness.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Their product line is extensive.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

They’re a very, very big product line. This actually, I have to say, is which one is this one? This is the?

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

The Dual Vibrating massager. That is the one that has kind of the two heads on it.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Oh, because they have two that have two heads. Ooh. Okay. The pink one. I have just to show you, I have two pink ones. So yeah. These, the duo head ones are some of my favorites. So, yes. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So this one’s kind of self-explanatory from the standpoint of, you know, what you do with it. You have your outside, you know, your clitoris vibrating part, you have your inside. You don’t have to necessarily use it as intravaginally though, right? So you can use a lot of different ways. And this one is pretty I have mine on right now. It has a really easy-to-use button. You can see it kind of glowing here easy to charge, and I have some pretty solid vibrations coming out of mine.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

And as I rotate the vibration, I can actually turn one part on. Right now, I have the clitoral, the part that was typically used clitoral on. And then I can do different settings where this will change or different settings where this other part will change. So there’s high customizability for you to figure out what you like.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah. And it’s and you know, I know we’ve mentioned before, but the materials they make it out of are so incredibly soft and this is nice and flexible. Yeah. So it’s soft. It’s not going to be hard. And, you know, because sometimes these products can be almost very clinical in that they’re hard, cold, and uncomfortable. This has almost like a skin feeling to it with the softness.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

And this is so flexible this part is too like, you know, it’s like there’s a lot of room for maneuvering this and exploring like what is the best position for you? What brings the most pleasure? So yeah, high flexibility.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah. And I know that typically this is placed on the clitoris, but I’m like, you know, with the flexibility of something like this, we could potentially go the other way. 

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Absolutely. 

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Perineal stimulation also or even like adjusted to kind of like even. Yeah, I’m trying to think of all the uses for it.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

I think that’s what’s so fun about it, right? Because of the level of flexibility, because of the huge diversification of the,  even the vibrations. This is one of those things that’s like, you know, choose your own adventure, right? And I think that’s what’s so fun about novelty and buying new toys is you get a toy and it’s like, okay, well, we have some idea of like an intro place to start with, something like this, but that’s part of the novelty is like, bring this to yourself, bring this to your partner, play and just see what happens and be open to maybe you’re going to try something and maybe you love it. Maybe you try something else. Like, okay, I’m not going to do that particular thing with this again. But that’s part of the play, is exploring and figuring out how to make toys like this, you know, unique and adaptable for your body’s desires.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And, you know, that’s a good point because of the pricing on this that some of the sex toys that are out there, the prices are so extreme that it’s like an investment. And so maybe you now bought this thing and you can’t return them because intimate products usually cannot be returned because of how they’re used. So now if you spent a couple of hundred dollars on something and you are like, yep, nope, I didn’t like it and that was a waste. I think what’s great about plusOne is they’re so affordable. If you’re like, you know what, maybe that one wasn’t for me. Guess what? You go out and buy the next one and you know, or even better you go, hey, I really like their products. Let me try and see what else they have. And really, you guys have to check the website. They have so many. I mean, I know we were just highlighting those. I got to just show one and I know this is not one that we were going to highlight and it’s not, you know, the sexiest looking one. But this is probably one of my favorites from a gynecologic standpoint because this is their arc and each side is vibrating. And why I like the arc is we use this actually on pelvic physical therapy patients too because we can turn it this way and get into the muscles and the tender points. And also once again, it’s a good massager for the back. So look like and then this one has so many uses. And I know we weren’t really supposed to add that one into it, but I just had a mention that one too. But, look at the fun colors, I feel like it’s like a whole bouquet. It’s just so happy.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Fun colors, beautiful packaging, great good. You said great gift-giving idea. I’ve given a couple of my friends vibrators for their birthdays and it’s like, it’s a hit. I tell you, it is definitely. I still get texts from my friends sometimes after they’ve had a little play session saying thank you. You know, even months later.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

And because of the accessibility like I know I’ve ordered online and I sell other products online and you know, sometimes I’ve gotten emails, especially from people who’ve bought other products from the online. They’re like, when is it coming in? When is it coming in? When is it coming in? Because like, you know, you go buy something like this, especially if you wanted something for yourself and then you don’t want to like, it kind of takes the excitement out of it. Now, you got to wait for the thing to come in. I mean, that could add to the excitement, but the best thing is if you decide you want to go get one of these, you go out and you can go to Walmart, go buy one today. Last minute gifts, Walmart.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Exactly. So easy. So easy. Yeah. And one other thing I’m thinking about too when you’re, you know, talking about dysfunction and what you’re, you know, you’re using some of these for gynecological is IUD removal and you know some of that sometimes I’ve seen situation is where when people have had IUDs and for a long time like it starts irritating the tissue and they start to feel like a sense of just, you know, kind of inflamed and a little bit uneasy, right. And so getting that out and actually helping to bring more blood to that tissue, to repair that area. Like a lot of times, I’ll refer people for, you know, pelvic floor massage therapy after an IUD removal. But with stuff like this, you can actually do some of that yourself. Which is also really cool. 

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Well, and then from a blood flow standpoint, not I mean, check with your doctors when you’re allowed to do this, of course, first. But there’s the recovery from childbirth. Their recovery, especially with the Kegel, oh my god, especially the Kegel thing. I mean, there’s research. So in France, women who’ve had babies go automatically through pelvic physical therapy. Right. And so in France, women have less issues with prolapse where things fall out later in life, or less assured with incontinence. And that’s because they’ve gone through physical therapy. Well, this is your little physical therapy. So is your physical therapy in a box. So this is something that you can get and just, you know, check with your doctors when you can use it but after. I think everybody should at least have anything, get the kegel exercises like that should be a given. Like that’s your exercise. And then all the other ones, you know, just kind of pick and choose and see which one calls you, which is your favorite color. But, I think everybody should have the kegel device.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

So I agree. And I would also add to that, like, if you’re new to this world and you’ve never used vibrators ever, you know, before, and you feel a little bit like, oh, my gosh, you’re so many, what do I choose? I would start with the bullet if you’re like, I’ve never done anything before just because it’s so approachable, it’s so easy to figure out how to use it. So oftentimes, if you’re like kind of in that place around like, hey, I’m a little apprehensive, I want to do this, but I’ve never done this before. Start with the bullet in addition to the kegel, I think that’ll be a good place.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

I think they’re amazing and I’m very excited that they have actually decided to sponsor us because just a really great company overall, like just really amazing people there. And it’s been great to see that they’re trying to normalize the conversation around pelvic and sexual health. And they’re doing it from like a holistic, like, you know, health standpoint. So they’re really, a very, and located in the United States and here on the East Coast, which would be fun to go visit there.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

It would, it would. We should do that. Yeah. I’ve also enjoyed talking to them. They’re all super educated in their mission and their vision and just yeah. About really helping make this accessible to everybody and affordable to everybody and about helping people heal. Heal their pelvic floor, and have a better relationship to their self, to their folder, to their relationship. So very, very important. Yeah. I also love talking to them over at plusOne. All of their employees, everybody I’ve met over that company really has such a high-level vision and mission and really what they’re doing is helping to support making these devices not only powerful and wonderful and useful and easy to access but also affordable for people. So they’re really helping to bridge this gap of how do we try this? How do we try this for a very low fee, and how do we begin or extend our relationship to our own sexuality, our healing, and our pleasure?

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Yeah, I am very happy. Make sure you follow them on social media because they’re putting out tons of fun education on social media, which has been quite enjoyable for me to watch too. So they’re really just, I actually, it’s one of my favorite companies to recommend. And so, you know, you can find them at Walmart and you can find them if you go look up plusOne (myplusOne.com). If you look up Beacon Wellness (beaconwb.com)  as another of their parent company. You can also find them on the Pelvic Floor Store (pelvicfloorstore.com). I know Dr. Diane is going to be carrying them.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

Yep. I have it on My Libido Doc store. By the time Dr. Betsy and I will both be after the summit be sending out a ton of like supportive, educational material and continue to support you in your journey with all of this. Part of that will be reminding you of plusOne and reminding you of different ways you can use these products and access these products. So, you know, look for more to come from us soon.

Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG (Distinguished)

Wonderful. So thank you, everybody, for sticking around for another session of the solving sexual dysfunction summit.

Diane Mueller, ND, DAOM, LAc

See you all next time.