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[Blot]

My sister in law has similar problems to you Sparkle and it's a constant battle keeping things stable.

Rose. I agree with you about this place being a lifeline. It lifts me when I get a reply to something, it's that feeling of being listened to and understood. The best therapy for me is talking but in real life who can you talk to about this. My gp sent me away saying come back in 3 months. I don't even know for sure if I have VA, nobody has looked properly, although I have plenty of symptoms. I self diagnosed with the help of ladies on here and my useless original gp just agreed. I wish I could just accept this and stop obsessing about it 

[EnglishRose]

I haven't been diagnosed with VA either but I have all the symptoms and also the air bubbles escaping! I've not known anyone else report that symptom. I have been told it's pelvic floor dysfunction due to lack of oestrogen.
I wanted to suggest you take lots of magnesium though. Restless legs for one is almost definitely a symptom of magnesium deficiency. I recommend magnesium threonate or malate. Citrate is not the best and can have a strong laxative effect.
If we are stressed we use more magnesium. So please give it a try. You can even get mag oil to rub onto your skin.

Hi birdy and blot

Yes air bubbles escaping is something ive read about by at least one other person. When it happens for me it's usually before my perio but more recently it's all of the time.
I knew when it started (4/5 years ago) that it was the vagina walls and labia thinning out but did not know what that meant in the bigger picture.
Also watery discharge is another symptom. Again mine changed from thick and plenty to watery thin yesrs ago. Sorry tmi but I assumed I didn't have dryness bc I had some discharge albeit thin. But apparently this is a classic sign bc it's not thick enough to keep everything moist and lubricated as it just drips out and doesn't stick to the walls inside.
More recently I've developed burning sensation occasionally feels like sunburn to my vulva and bottom. One night I was walking about like I'd been riding a horse all day., it vanished after 5 hours. Internal and external mild stabbing pain, arousal sensations and the weird back issues...not sure if they're related (back and vagina)

I got some chelate magesium yesterday 😊

Blot
I can relate. I don't know who exactly would be the correct person to diagnose VA visually. I've had a private gyno literally glance at mine without any spot light...and say “looks ok to me” (I refused to pay him for other reasons)
And I had s women's Physio Therapist who performs pelvic floor massage all day for a living tell me I didn't have it because VA presents as shiny skin and lack of colour.
But as a well known sufferer who wrote a book on the subject said, “by the time it becomes evident externally the damage is alresdy done internally “

The physio therapist added it wouldn't hurt to use Vagifem so I am .

But blot you need to hsve an examination if only to give you some peace. Is there not a nurse at your surgery.?
A local GUM. clinic are meant to be much better at diagnosing vagina issues that our GPs are or at least that's what I've read here on the forums

The nhs doesn't appear to recognise VA preferring to call it “dry vagina “

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaginal-dryness/

[EnglishRose]

It is difficult to judge when looking yourself
I looked last night but I can't remember what it looked like ten years ago.,
I have colour to the exterior it doesn't look pale or shiny. But the inner labia does look like the pages of a wet book sticking together (as described in the book below)
The inner labia has thousands of glands whose job it is to lubricate the exterior of the vagina. In meno these glands dry up.

My Menopausal Vagina

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ME-MY-MENOPAUSAL-VAGINA-Vaginal/dp/1916446701

[EnglishRose]

My GP said no VA but the same week, someone at a GUM clinic told me to trust my symptoms anc treat for VA. A menopause nurse told me i'm tight and that although I wasn't dry my tissues were quite pale.
The burning and stabbing pain are classic symptoms.

Interesting... you see for me the arousal and shivers to my back was the first symptom the burning and stabbing came soon after about two weeks..  either way it all happened at once from no where seemingly.
I don't itch or have any broken skin issues sex doesn't hurt. I guess we are all different.
I've had two ladies tell me Vagifem created the symptoms of arousal to their bits that I'm started with before Vagifem.

[Blot]

My original useless gp did a pelvic exam but VA was not mentioned at all. I'd never heard of it at the time and just thought I had bladder problems following a uti. Mine started off as feeling like I needed to wee all the time then I became sore and uncomfortable inside and now I've got all that plus sometimes I ache as well. All sorts going on!

It really gets on my nerves when VA is described as "pain during sex". It's so much more than that. I'd give up sex forever if that would get rid of the symptoms.

[EnglishRose]

We are! The most sensitive part of a woman's body, we're bound to experience different symptoms. I have read the symptoms you describe from others on the VA Facebook page. I also get shooting sensations down my right leg into my foot.

Wow... that presents like sciatica which is a very common symptom of meno.
The lack of oestrogen effects our bones joints ligaments muscles skin and by default, nerves , much like oil to the parts of an engine...  but I guess you know this...

I'm starting to feel more rational.. hope it lasts 🙄

[EnglishRose]

My original useless gp did a pelvic exam but VA was not mentioned at all. I'd never heard of it at the time and just thought I had bladder problems following a uti. Mine started off as feeling like I needed to wee all the time then I became sore and uncomfortable inside and now I've got all that plus sometimes I ache as well. All sorts going on!

It really gets on my nerves when VA is described as "pain during sex". It's so much more than that. I'd give up sex forever if that would get rid of the symptoms.

It's absolutely appalling that in this day and age women are left to self diagnose bc no one seems to care enough in the medical industry about such a devastating issue,
If we were men and our peckers were shrivelled and limp and we were not able to have sex due to pain the pharmaceutical industry would be al over it.
Case in point Viagra
Women are meant to put up and shut up.

I swear I've been laughed at by a private gyno. He folded his arms , leant back in his chair and smiled then said

“well, normally it's the other way when menopause effects women's sex drive”  and then just sat there in silence. I was left to ask him if he would perform an exam I asked for a pain killer prescription which he denied on the grounds he only prescribed gynaecological drugs. And he flat out refused to look at some information I'd brought because it was written by an American doctor and he felt British medicine was simple and more realistic. He had no trust of American doctors as they're motivated by money..( said the man who invoiced me £259 for 20 minutes of humiliation)

I feel America is decades agead of uk when it comes to medicine in fact when it comes to many fields.

I complained to the hospital and they rejected my letter using the chaperone nurse as their witness to say nothing I reported took place. I refused to pay him though.

[Blot]

Rose that's disgraceful. It would have devastated me if I'd seen that gynae doc and been treated that way. No wonder you have been so down.

I'd never even heard of this condition a few months ago. Now its my whole life . How many more women are just putting up with this?

[EnglishRose]

I work on the basis that everything's drying out - eyes, mouth and nether regions so it all needs treating one way or another.  Oh the joys, not 😣

Yes I noticed sore dry eye open waking over the last few years it was one of my new pms symptoms
And got my first sinus infection 6 years ago which is apparently another meno symptom.
I guess we limp along until so something happens we can't limp along with anymore

Blot
There's a lady who has written that book I linked to who had VA and pundendal neurologica (nerve pain that supplies senses to the vag clitoris anus back pelvis) and she had it in a very bad way.
She's 90% better with both but it took both local and systemic HRT to reverse the damage
Sometimes local is not enough it depends I guess on how far it's gome on for and our genetic make up,
Are you taking HRT?

[EnglishRose]

I work on the basis that everything's drying out - eyes, mouth and nether regions so it all needs treating one way or another.  Oh the joys, not 😣

Are you on HRT sparkle?

I can see how fearful you might feel about food if it's having an effect on your wellbeing and pain.. I can't relate as digestion issues have never been a problem for me.  I hope it at least calms down for you a bit once the hormones have ceased to fluctuate

[EnglishRose]

We are! The most sensitive part of a woman's body, we're bound to experience different symptoms. I have read the symptoms you describe from others on the VA Facebook page. I also get shooting sensations down my right leg into my foot.

To be fair one of those women was probably me lol .. I was so desperate to find other women who could match my symptoms... I had a lady ask me if my “hood” had shrunk exposing the sensitive bit. But no I can't say that's the cause... I've looked and partner said it seems fine (he would know better than I)
But even now 14 days in on Vagifem I'm getting new symptoms, knickers rubbing against my hair and external labia is irritating me when I have jeans on. It's like the hairs are moving against the fabric and it's uncomfortable.
Sparkle made a point about this and I dismissed it but today I see there's a link now.  Everything is very sensitive all of a sudden

[EnglishRose]

Rose that's disgraceful. It would have devastated me if I'd seen that gynae doc and been treated that way. No wonder you have been so down.

I'd never even heard of this condition a few months ago. Now its my whole life . How many more women are just putting up with this?

Blot list your symptoms
Did they all happen at once ?
I'm still with symptoms after 14 day loading dose but it's taken YEARS to reach the stage we're at now so it's not likely it's all going to snap back into place in a matter of weeks,
Seriously google your local GUM clinic they look at vaginas all day and hsve way more hands on experience than any GP

[jaypo]

Here here rose,women are slapped on the back and told it's normal,thrown some medication that 9 times out of 10 actually make them feel worse & told to get on with it.absolutely shocking xx

[Blot]

Rose I am already going to the gum clinic. The doc there told me to restart the vagifem, after I gave up after 7 days. She was rolling her eyes when I told her about my first gp. I'm going back there next week. I've done the 14 day loading and just started week 4 but no improvement yet. I'm not sure if the vagifem has made things worse but my head is scrambled and I can't tell if I'm making things worse by overthinking.

It all started when I weed myself  on the way to the toilet. I was horrified, totally panicked and thought I had bladder issues. Imagined peeing myself for the rest of my life so started frantically doing pelvic floor exercises till I got to see the doctor. She tested my urine in the office and said I had a uti so prescribed antibiotics. That was the start and I won't go into the palaver I had with this useless doctor! The feeling of needing to wee never went And a few weeks later I started feeling sore and uncomfortable inside. Many weeks later after a pelvic scan and back and forwards to the gp I asked for  Vagifem. Doc wanted to give me meds for overactive bladder!
My symptoms are currently:

Pressure on the bladder - feeling like I need to wee
Sore urethra - like I need to wee
Sore just inside the vagina
Sore on the outside bits
Aching at the entrance to the vag
Maybe a bit of cramping but can't really be sure

The symptoms move around. Sometimes I'm ok in one area but something else is sore/hurts. I'm not in a lot of pain but it's uncomfortable and I'm aware the whole time. I've never had hrt. 8 years post meno and no other symptoms but funny you mention about the eyes. Sometimes I get this.

You are right Rose that it's not all going to snap back into place overnight but it seems to for some people?

[EnglishRose]

Here here rose,women are slapped on the back and told it's normal,thrown some medication that 9 times out of 10 actually make them feel worse & told to get on with it.absolutely shocking xx

Thing is I'm straight talking I have no filter and say things as I see them. I know I'm in the minority in that respect.
Apparently the vast majority of women will not visit their doctor to discuss vaginal pain or discomfort much less sex issues which doesn't help,
Menopause is seen as something we should be ashamed of. I was on a menopause Facebook page and a woman posted that she didn't feel she could post about her issues as she suspected other women from her place of work were also members of the group...
I was like: AND?
We're not in the Victorian era anymore.. we need to be paving the way for the next generation so they don't have to suffer needlessly and blindly as we are.
THANK GOD for the internet (with the exception of its link to health anxiety)
My mom told me all about periods and tampons and sex not a word was uttered about menopause
So imagine my shock at 40 years old experiencing what I now know to be pms for the first time in my life, anxiety insomnia depression heavy clots period pain... never had anything like that in my life.
The doctor told me I was too young for menopause (no mention of peri) put me on ADs.
Took me two years of taking those ADs to realise my symptoms always waxed and waned and happened two weeks before my period...I was experiencing pms. Just didn't recognise it as I'd never had it up until That age.  (Honest)

So pms is part of My peri menopause symptoms.

I don't trust doctors I do my own research and tell them what I believe is wrong with me and what I'd like to try. Admittedly that plan has backfired more recently due to health anxiety.. 😅