I'm new to Vagifem and hope that some of you may be able to offer some advice. There's a bit of a back story to all of this so apologies for the long post.
3 years ago when I was 47 I had a UTI, went to GP who did a dip test which was positive and prescribed a 3 day course of ABs. Urine not sent to lab for culture. No change in symptoms so went back and GP did another dip test which was now negative but was prescribed a 7 day course of ABS. Urine not sent to lab for culture.
No change after 7 days so back to GP again. Dip test was negative and GP prescribed another 7 day course of ABs. Urine not sent to lab for culture (see the pattern here!). I voiced my concern about taking so many ABs but GP said it was protocol.
Again no change so back to GP. Dip test negative and I begged her to send the urine to the lab for culture before being prescribed more ABs. She reluctantly agreed. Lab results back, negative for infection so GP referred by for a pelvic ultrasound which showed nothing.
I asked if there was a possibility this was all related to menopause as my periods were erratic and had been for the past year and I was also having lots of night sweats and difficulty sleeping, but she shrugged her shoulders and said it was unlikely and would instead refer me for a cystoscopy. Cystoscopy showed nothing, all was well.
Throughout all of this I had the constant feeling of needing to pee all the time even though I didn't and a tickle/burning in my urethra, all very uncomfortable and just like a urine infection.
Back to GP and again I asked if this could be menopause related. She did a blood test which came back normal. I resigned myself to the fact that this was just something I'd have to live with as I couldn't face going back to the GP only to be prescribed more ABs. After about 5 months of this my symptoms finally subsided and although I still needed frequent loo runs, I got on with life.
I am now 50 and I had my last period in June 2020. Last week I had classic urine infection symptoms so called my GP surgery (a new one as I moved 2 years ago so in a different catchment area). The nurse I spoke to asked me to hand in a urine sample so that it could be sent to the lab for culture and asked if I was happy to wait 48 hours until it came back as she didn't want to prescribe ABs unnecessarily. No problem. She called after 48 hours, urine culture tested positive for E-coli and she prescribed a 7 day course of ABs.
Now here's the biggie! She said she had looked at my records and suggested I may have Vaginal Atrophy. After chatting for 5 minutes she said she would prescribe me Vagifem as it would help bigtime.
5 minutes!! A freaking 5 minute chat and I got more information than I ever did after multiple trips to my previous FEMALE GP, not to mention the painful cystoscopy!! I just couldn't thank the nurse enough. She asked me to start the Vagifem immediately every night for 2 weeks and then reduce and see how I get on.
I took the first one last night and for the first time the urine infection symptoms I'd been having feel so much better than they were. Now this is probably down to the AB but could one shot of Vagifem make a difference? Also, can anyone recommend any else that I should be doing in addition to the Vagifem?
If you've made it this far thank you so much for reading. Obviously I'm new to Vaginal Atrophy and Vagifem so if you have any advice I'd really appreciate it.
