I'm a woman in my early 40s who hasn't been in a relationship for a long time due to chronic health issues (as well as working on myself, but that's another story).

I've got a male friend who I've known for many years and recently we agreed that we are looking for similar things so we're going to play it by ear and see how it goes.

Neither of us have had sex for around 7 years and he is coming over tomorrow evening. I'm so anxious about this. It's what I want, but I don't know what to expect, how my body will cope physically. He knows this and we have communicated (via text mainly!) about it, but I'm still scared that it will all go wrong. I don't even know if I can remember what to do!

I have some trauma and can sometimes freak out when being touched or get overcome with disgust/horror and push the person off. This doesn't happen often but scared about that too.

I was just wondering if anyone started having sex again after a long period without, whether or not you have health/other issues, and how you coped? Any advice?