Hello Ceridwen
I am using the estring and think it's brilliant. I'd been through the creams of varying strengths and they didn't help much, and using vagifem twice a week meant I had the odd good day and lots of bad ones. Been using the estring since just before Christmas, after about ten months of misery and it's been so much better -- been feeling normal for the past three weeks and was mostly pretty good before that. You get I think about 7.5 microgrammes of oestrogen each day which equates roughly to the old Vagifem dose. It's brilliant not to have the ups and downs, or worry about when to insert a cream or tablet, or be worried about forgetting to pack enough of them when working away. You can't feel it, though I did spend the first day wondering if I could.
On your other question -- I don't see why you should't use a finger to put the vagifem in. Poor you if your VA is so bad that the applicator feels so awful.
I'm working away for a few days and won't be back to the forum for a bit after this morning but hope this helps.