Dr. Susan Blum, founder of the Blum Center for Health in Rye Brook, N.Y., and the author of “The Immune System Recovery Plan,” said that the most common issue her female patients struggle with is low sex drive. “Most of the time, it comes up when we talk about their family … or when we talk about their hormones,” Blum told HuffPost.

Dr. Shieva Ghofrany, an OBGYN with Stamford Hospital in Ct., agreed that low libido is an issue she hears about several times a day, adding her patients are “incredibly relieved and, oddly to me, surprised to hear that it’s very common.” Most of her patients aren’t having a ton of sex, she said — once a month, or even once every couple of months is a common estimate, particularly among new moms or women juggling the demands of work and family.

Blum said that one thing she’ll do with a patient is brainstorm strategies to make sex a priority, by scheduling in a date night, or suggesting counseling if it seems like other emotional issues are at play. If sex is painful or if there are potential hormonal problems, those are issues that can be addressed with other treatments.

What’s That Smell?
Ghofrany said that it is very common for her patients to be embarrassed to ask about a “fishy” odor they’ve recently noticed.”They often say, ‘Um, I have an odor,’ and I say, ‘A fishy odor?’ And they say, ‘Yes! How did you know?'” Ghofrany said. “They think it’s unique to them.”

Turns out, the OBGYN knows because that odor is often a symptom of bacterial vaginosis, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the most common vaginal infection among young women in the U.S., resulting from an overgrowth of certain “bad” bacteria. The good news is that in the majority of cases there are no serious complications and the infection can sometimes clear up on its own. Treatment, which is especially important for pregnant women, typically involves a course of antibiotics. So ask away!

Should I Get Tested?
There is so much information out there on the importance of getting tested for sexually transmitted infections if you’re sexually active, but doctors say it still remains a tough topic for their patients to bring up.

“This is still a question that some women are afraid to ask,” Minkin told HuffPost. And though she said it is absolutely your doctor’s job to bring up testing, if he or she doesn’t mention it for some reason, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.

“It goes both ways,” Minkin said. “If your health care provider is not asking, you should be saying, ‘Gee, I have had unprotected sex. Can we do some testing?'” Many sexually transmitted diseases, like chlamydia, are often symptom-free, but can still do serious damage to a woman’s reproductive organs, which is why testing is so essential.

I Have Herpes. Am I Going To Give It To My Partner, Too?
This isn’t a question Blum hears from just single women, or those who are widowed or divorced, but also women who are married and are actively hiding their herpes from their spouse.

There are two types of herpes, both caused by the “HSV” or “herpes simplex virus”: Oral herpes, which causes cold sores on the mouth or face, and genital herpes, which affects the genital or anal area.

Talking about your outbreaks with your doctor is key. There are prescription drugs on the market that can help stop growth of the virus, as well as natural supplements. Your doctor can also talk to you about ways to avoid spreading herpes to your partner, like using condoms and avoiding contact during flare ups.

When Am I Most Fertile?
This question, Minkin said, is one that women are often embarrassed to ask because they’re worried it’s one of those basic things they should already understand.

“My patients are, in general, pretty darn educated,” she said. But when they start trying to get pregnant, they cop to not knowing much about their menstrual cycle or when they’re ovulating.

This is another case when women should absolutely not be shy. Minkin joked that she loves to give patients a “little physiology lecture.” Though she often counsels her patients, especially those just starting out, to just have a good time and not stress too much about timing, doctors can absolutely help you figure out when you’re ovulating and how to synch up your efforts. Again, that’s what they’re there for — to help you figure it all out. You don’t have to go it alone.

Do I Need To Orgasm In Order To Get Pregnant?
Dr. Wendy Vitek, head of the fertility preservation program at the University of Rochester’s Strong Fertility center, said that a question that comes up a lot is whether an orgasm is necessary in order to become pregnant. For women, the answer is no, she said. But men do have to orgasm and ejaculate in order to get their partner pregnant.

Another question that patients (as a fertility doctor, she’s often seeing couples together) tip-toe around is whether having too many orgasms is somehow problematic. In other words, if men ejaculate daily, does that decrease the odds of pregnancy? Again Vitek said the answer is no. It is possible that the volume of the ejaculate goes down, but it is not clear whether that is a variable that matters for fertility, she explained. People once thought that men should abstain from orgasming for a day in order to “boost” their sperm counts, but that’s no longer the prevailing wisdom.

Should We Be Trying Certain Positions?
Vitek said that another query that sometimes makes her patients cringe because the topic feels so private is whether they should be trying certain positions during sex when they’re hoping to get pregnant.

“There are old wives tales that putting your feet up, or putting a pillow under your bum [helps], but to my knowledge, there’s never been any clear data about position and rate of pregnancy,” she said. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine agrees, saying there is no evidence that certain sexual positions increase the chance of conception.

Read more: Huffington post