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[Tingly]

After having had cystitis type symptoms, and having been granted an audience with my doc, she said that after examination i might be under oestrogenised ...hence the cystitisy feeling ( ie just uncomfortable feeling, feeling i want to pee, general burning feeling round vulva which comes and goes sometimes daily)

She changed my estradot 100 to horminin (two a day) and continued with utrogestan for 12 days.
Anyhow , after 3 days the pain went then two days later it came back again
Went back to doc and she said it takes 6 weeks to become utrogenized and the fact that it temporarily got better is good
Does this sound right? I dont want to spend 6 weeks playing urine roulette only to find it isnt this at all!!

[CLKD]

I found relief after about a week of evening use of pessaries.  It should not take 6 weeks  ..... though each woman is different.  I now use one every 3/4 nights.  If I feel those symptoms returning I do 1 for 2 nights (if that makes sense).

[Hurdity]

Hi tingly

Personally I would not have changed from the Estradot.

What many of us find is that as well as systemic HRT as you are taking/using ( ie patches and progesterone) we need some extra local oestrogen directly into the vaginal area which concentrates it directly to where it is needed.

In your position woth your symtpoms and with the doc's diagnosis that you need more oestrogen - I would have gone for either Vagifem ( which gives localised estradiol - same type of oestrogen as in the estradot) or Orthogynest pessaries - waxy capsules of estriol which really plump up the tissues in the vaginal and bladder area.

If the Estradot is controlling your other meno symptoms then I would have thought you would need
a lot more oestrogen to cope with the vaginal symptoms - although we are all different.

Patches are a more direct way of getting oestrogen anyway than pills so why change if they were suiting you?

Hurdity x

[Tingly]

I know, thats what i thought, but because i tried ortho gynest about 4 years ago and they were like battery acid inside me, she said i should "bite the bullet" and switch to tablets...even tho i said i dont want to take uneccessary drugs
Im really not happy and would like to go to a meno clinic but u have to be referred by doc.
She told me to give it six weeks but i dont want to, i think 2 is enough.
 

[Suzi Q]

Make an appt see her asap say your not happy
Say you didnt want drugs and can you try Vagifem
If you had a reaction last time it will happen asap again
If your not happy nor would I 6 weeks maybe nothing for her but to be in pain NO WAY xxx

[CLKD]

Why is the drug un-necessary  if it is replacing what you lack?

[Tingly]

Clkd. Well thats the thing really, do i need it. Is it va.
My urine test came back clear, a couple of years ago i had a cytoscopy and bladder ultrasound... They were clear.

So i'm thinking, could it be a weak bladder, an irritated bladder, urethritis. Some bacterial other thing that causes such things, or is it va, and if it is how flaming quickly will it take this hormone to work.
I must say the last two days are ranging from pain 1-4 (varying throughout the day) but its always thre threatening to cqome on
And to be honest im fed up with thinking about it...am being taken over by wee!!!

[CLKD]

I HAD to have treatment for the VA when it hit.  Which it did after sevveral months of repeated urine problems (see 'my bladder' thread)

So if you have a course of 3 months treatment then review?

Often at our age drugs become a way of Life 

[Tingly]

I shall read your bladder thread with interest ckld....hey, who'd have thought youd have a celebrity bladder

[Hurdity]

Just for information for those who mentioned drugs - tingly was given hormonin instead of Estradot. Hormonin isn't a drug - it is just a different type of HRT consisting of the 3 main estrogen types - estradiol, estriol and estrone. However if Estradot was controlling the meno symptoms apart from the cystits type feelings, and  since the doc seemed to be diagnosing VA and insufficient oestrogen, then additional local oestrogen may well be the answer, and that's what I would try.

However tingly I take your point if your vaginal tissues have reacted to local oestrogen in the past - but maybe this is because the tissues were so thin? You need to use it every day for 2 weeks and then twice a week - but as I said before maybe try Vagifem - although I would have said orthogynest pessaries ( not the cream) were the gentlest of all. We're all different though!

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

 

[Tingly]

Well
Out of desperation , this saturday i found a private doctor and made an appointment to see him ( i didnt know there was such a thing- consultation cost me 95 quid and 200 quid for a blood test

Anyhoo , i told himmy plight snd that i didnt want to play wee wee roulette for 6 weeks whilst the hormonin kicked in/ or didnt and he agreed

So he took a blood test ( the one my doc said didnt exist) and i got the results today. I have now got the right dose of estriol going into my bod ( this means i have been under oestrogenized massively for 6 years), i have got va but the atrophy ( ie scar tissue produced because my body is shrivelling up) is also in my urinary pipes as such.
Whilst i was waiting for the results he gave me a novacaine cream to numb my bits n bobs, but this now means he is writing a letter to my normal gp saying i must be referred to a specialist ( hurray) who will then say the best way forward ( pessary, cream, who knows what..making sure i dont o/d on the oestrogen being as i am on mahoosive doses already)

This comes as a sort of relief but i wish my flaming doc would have done the test in the first place saving me time and money and pain... Just shows you , although she was right she didnt know she was right and was also having a stab in the dark....and left me to suffer!! She could have given me that novacaine there and then.
So am half happy half mad, but wholly relieved cos at least i know whats what!!!

Hope lthis lmay help someone somehow someday
Xxxxxxxx

[Suzi Q]

Down to money sadly

[Hurdity]

Not just money - ignorance about meno sadly too...

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

I don't know whether Novacaine is usually dished out .......... the only way I ever saw it administered was by injection   

Blood tests for hormone levels can be notoriously un-reliable - and the cynic in my says of course he will have 'the' blood test, that way you can be charged for medication 

Will be interested to learn of your GP's reaction and future advice.  Hopefully she will learn as she goes along: like the rest of us here    .......... maybe we should write 'the book' ........... of shared experiences .........