I´m in peri and it was urogenital symptoms that finally made me start HRT.
I had been experiencing frequent trips t the bathroom and getting up at night to pee, but then I got something that could be a UTI but a bit asymptomatic. I was first treated for vaginal infection (that helped because I had that), but after 2 days the urethra burning came back. I then had 3 successive batches of antibiotics that did almost nothing for me. Bacterial growth tests came back negative.
In the meantime I had been reading all about painful bladder syndrome and was starting to slightly panic. But - in all those terrible articles I also saw people mention vaginal dryness and lack of estrogen, so I started Vagifem (OTC in Scandinavia). My GP never mentioned neither dryness or menopause as a possible cause...
After 2 weeks I felt way, way better. The burning sensation diminished and as a pleasant side effect I felt really content and somehow relaxed, and I connected the dots - estrogen!
TMI here, but my vulva changed visually as well and looks healthy (if you understand...)
I went to my gynaechologist and got a prescription for HRT and after 2 weeks on Lenzetto in addition to Vagifem (use it every 3 days now) all my urogenital symptoms are gone. All in all it took 5 weeks. My gyn advised that I could use estrogen cream in addition to relieve dryness, she saw no issues by using all 3 at the same time as long as I tolerated it. In the ned I didn´t need to
I did experience mild discomfort with Vagifem in the very beginning, and I think that was because the area was so dry and sore. I also had some very slight spotting. All that took about 10 days to resolve.
Symptoms that resolved:
- bladder pressure
- burning urethra
- pain sitting down
- thin, dry skin down there
- soreness
- frequent urination
- nocturnal urination