Hi Andius
I haven't tried the Estring yet as I think it is still early days using Vagifem for me. I started this thread in the hope of finding more ladies who have tried it and hear their experiences.
Like you, I seem to get some irritation with the Vagifem - during the first 2 week load up I felt irritation all the time. When I reduced down to x2 per week the burning urethra came back with a vengeance. Last week I did have a UTI which was horrible and had to have antibiotics which I really don't like taking as it can result in thrush which causes more problems!! When you have ongoing burning it's very difficult to know what is 'just burning' or whether it's a UTI brewing???!!!!
The irritation I get from the Vagifem feels like a tingling as though blood is circulating more and therefore things are coming back to life but any relief from burning I get, by day 2, quickly wears off and the burning returns. This is why I'm wondering if the Estring might be better as it gives continuous oestrogen. I'm not on full HRT now so, for you, the local oestrogen is an extra.
The redness would indicate to me that there might me something else, like flora imbalance or infection/thrush, going on?!! Do you think you could have a bacterial infection or thrush? Have you tried using some of the pessaries or gel for treating this you can get at the chemist?
The thing is, even if you are on HRT and using extra local oestrogen the level of oestrogen in your body would probably still be less than when we were young and ovulating - I could be wrong about this. Ancient runner is the only lady at the moment who seems to be using Estring on this site. My logic is telling me the burning is a combination of issues many of which are a mystery.
If i were you I'd try some of the BV gels. Keep us posted. DG x