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[Gill34]

Hi, I just wanted to share my experience and ask for advice. I went through an early menopause at 44 with no problems. I'm 58 in November and the last 2 years I have been having increasingly frequent UTI symptom's such as urgency and frequency and cystitis. I had loads of bloods taken a few months ago and recently had USS of bladder and kidneys which came back clear.

After reading various articles I wondered if it could be due to VA. My Dr has never mentioned this and I wasn't aware of it before. I read about Ovestin cream and vagifem and how it was helping many people with theses symptoms and it sounded exactly what I needed.

I went to see the GP and asked about trying oestrogen cream. The Gp looked at me down there and said yes I could try it and I got my prescription feeling very excited that this was going to be the miracle cure.
I used it that night when I went to bed. I woke up after a couple of hours desperately needing to wee and felt like it was burning a bit but I had read that this could be a side effect so didn't worry about it.. I had to get up 3 times that night to go to the toilet, usually I only have to get up once in the night.

The next day I had worse urgency symptoms and my pelvic region felt as if everything was swollen and aching. It hurt to sit on a hard chair and when I coughed it hurt down there. I thought maybe it was just initial side effects of having oestrogen for the first time after going so many years without so was determined to persevere. I carried on for one week but the pain did not abate so decided to stop using it. I went to the GP the next day who said I had a urine infection so now on a 3 day course of A/B's.

Now I don't know what to do. I was really hoping that the ovestin was going to be the answer and still feel that it would benefit me but now I am scared to try it again.

Has anyone else had a similar experience and what did you do? Would really appreciate some advice.

[Hurdity]

Hi Gill34

 

So sorry to hear about your problems with VA. If it is well established and maybe a severe case then some women do find that creams do burn initially.

I won't answer in detail because the member who can help you most is Maryjane who is extremely knowledgeable about VA and will be able to guide you along the road to recovery and suggest treatments which you can then ask your doctor about. She is very busy as she is doing so much now to further awareness of VA amongst women - though magazine articles, and facebook groups and forums - so if she doesn't see this, maybe start a new thread in the "All Things Menopause" section - with a title that is likely to catch her eye - eg to do with VA?

There is also a long thread started by Dancinggirl called "The Burning Club" which is in the Private Lives section https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,22886.0.html which will have some helpful advice.

Hurdity x

[dahliagirl]

Hi

I am a vagifem user.  I would not say it was a miracle cure as it does take a bit of time and there are ups and downs before you get sorted (unless you are lucky of course  ).  The Burning Club thread is a good read.

I used to get infections like BV or thrush but the swabs came back clear.  To start with the vagifem seemed to help but irritate at the same time.  I used the multigyn actigel to start with alongside the vagifem to help balance out the vaginal bacteria.  It took a while to get things stable.  I have always used more than the 2 per week, and now I take full hrt too, and am finally getting to a point where I don't get too many 'blips' 3 1/2 years later  and am probably down to 2 a week at last.

I think that you probably had the beginnings of the infection present for it to have come on so quickly after starting the ovestin.  Some people find the fillers in ovestin more irritating so maybe this is the case with you and it might be worth trying vagifem instead?  If that does not help, there is also the estring which is a different delivery (and a slightly higher dose, but that may be a good thing - about the same as the old vagifem 25mg)

I also get bladder irritation, although I have not had an infection that I have known about.  I find that spending a day drinking plenty of water and dashing to the loo (at home) seems to give my bladder a good stretch and makes it behave better if it is being a nuisance.

[Gill34]

Thanks so much for your replies, I think you are probably right. I get bladder irritation so much these days I can't always tell when its a full blown UTI or just irritation.

I'm hoping to give it another try with the cream as I really want to get this sorted.