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[Ljp]

Hi,
I have had a week of it, hysteroscopy and mirena and estring on Monday, all a bit unexpected, resulting in days of anxiety and concern, thank you all for you help with my previous posts.

I've just spoken to my GP and she is very laid back, and happy for me to try oestrogel, I am about to go and get prescription. She said I can keep estring in, or remove it, it's up to me, she said I might not need it alongside the oestrogen
She is prescribing one tube initially.

She was unsure about prescribing  oestrogel at first, she did suggest patches, but I explained I would feel happier to start on one pump of oestrogel, and she seemed happy with that too.

Can't say I love having the estring in place the whole time, and if I could manage my symptoms with just the oestrogel and mirena, that would be great.
My question is, how long should I leave estring ( or could remove and use my estriol cream as I have done since May)...before I can try without any local oestrogen and just see if the oestrogel is enough? Not sure if the oestrogel takes time to do its job?… feeling apprehensive, hoping one pump will control my symptoms, thinking morning application might be best for me, as says to avoid physical contact with partner for one hour, not easy if you apply before going to bed! 😊

[Dancinggirl]

I would leave the String in place until you are feeling a let more comfortable around your 'lady bits'.  Having both the Oestrogel and the String will sped up recovery. I'd leave it fro at least the next 4-8 weeks. 
If you apply the Oestrogel first thing in the morning to inner thighs, do let it dry for at least 10 mins before dressing. Hope all feels better soon.
Oestrogel may start kicking in after about one-2 weeks in terms of flushes but it can take about 2 months for the benefits to work on the lady parts - you may even get some strange sensations around that area!!! DG x

[Ljp]

Thanks DG you are a star! First application done! 1 pump to inner thighs, left it 10 mins before putting jeans on.

Re estring, I just don't like having something inside me all the time really, I still have a tube and a half of estriol, so wondering whether to remove estring and use up my estriol, which will last about 6 weeks ish, then try without.

It will be interesting to see if the oestrogel helps with moods and night sweats and general feeling crap!

Funny you mention strange sensations, I got that when I first used the estriol! I don't really get bad VA symptoms, but my overactive bladder was a nightmare, it still has odd days when it's bad.

[Dancinggirl]

The thing is, the Estring is a higher dose and leaving it in will give your bladder more oestrogen than the cream will.  This will hopefully bring benefits quicker.  Try to leave it for at least 4 weeks and then use the cream for a few weeks. Don't worry about it being inside you - I found it less of an irritant that either Vagifem or the creams (both of which have fillers that can cause burning) - sadly the creams and Vagifem are such low dose that many women have to use these at least 3 times a week to get any benefit at all.
I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise once the Oestrogel gets to work. Keep us posted.  DG x

[Ljp]

oki dokie I will persevere! at least the dragon sensation has gone today, so hopefully the mirena has settled in now.
Just feel so foggy in my head, think Ive given myself a really hard time over all the changes this week, questioning if its right or not. Just need to relax and give it ago trial now x

[Pollie]

Lisa its hard I can sympathise having done the scan/mirena/hysteroscopy/biopsy/change of patch route myself recently.

The thing is too many changes are difficult to manage sometimes as its difficult to identify what is causing what...

I would keep the estring in place until you feel 'too wet' down below (sorry if tmi). Once you are at that stage you will know that the systemic oestrogen has taken effect alongside the estring and you could if you wanted then, remove the string.

HTH

pollie

[Mary G]

I had never heard of an Estring so I've just read up on it.  I agree with the others, it would probably be best to leave it in until the Oestrogel kicks in which, in the case of VA symptoms, will be about a month - probably.

Well done for managing to get your doctor to prescribe the oestrogen gel, I wonder why she was unsure about it?  It is brilliant stuff and works better than any other type of HRT I have used and you will find you feel better very soon.  You might need to increase the dose to two pumps every day but see how you get on with one. 

Please keep us posted on your progress.

[Ljp]

Thank you Mary and Pollie,
It's all so new, and as I said before, I was pootling along coping with things ( although not good really) just using the estriol cream, then the light bleed happened end of October, which I must admit, I almost didn't bother to tell call my Dr but thought it best. Then all this, referral etc

I had no idea that I would have any HRT advice offered at my hysteroscopy/biopsy appointment.
However I understood her reasoning behind her suggesting the mirena coil, as she felt the fact I need topical oestrogen to help my bladder was the potential cause of the bleed, and given that I'd only been using it since May, she felt I could well have it happen again in future, and having the coil inserted meant I could use oestrogen safely.

She did say she could prescribe a patch, but is was all too much too soon, hence  I came away with just the coil and estring.

My GP did speak about cost etc re oestrogel, but then said 'oh it's not actually as expensive as it used to be' she also said its a bit 'trend' … don't get me wrong, my GP is lovely, she thinks out loud which is always funny. I explained that I would like to try one pump a day to start with, to see if that will control my symptoms.
She has prescribed one tube of oestrogel to start with and said if I get on ok with it, she will prescribe it in twos in future.

I think I will just carry on as I am for now, estring, one pump oestrogel and mirena, and see how I feel.
Will need to go to see my GP in six weeks in any case to get coil checked. So can chat to her more then, although I actually feel like I might know more about it than her st times, probably due to all the reading and post on here!

Re the estring, I think I just feel a bit weird at the thought of it bring there the whole time, I would ideally like to remove it to be intimate with my hubby, but not sure I'd be able to insert it properly afterwards myself 😁

[Hurdity]

I think Estring is designed to be able to be removed easily by the user  - in fact the instructions on the web suggest that women may want to remove it before sexual intercourse. Did the doc not show you how to do it? If it's anything like the cap (which I used for contraception for years) it's very easy once you get used to it!

Hurdity x