Hi everyone. I'm a newbie, who has been recommended this forum by a virtual friend on a very different forum. We have never met in real life, and I don't know what her board name is on this site. Many thanks to you if reading, because I have already learned from here. Thank you all the professionals who have made this site, and the kind and supportive members.
The OP asks how I cope with dryness and atrophy. Well I would not be coping without the coincidence of having a virtual friend who was posting about her difficulties with perimenopause and her mental health (to date, she has not mentioned any dryness problems), and watching the channel 4 programme presented by Davina McColl on TV that she was going to watch.
The dryness hit me only four months ago, and I thought I had a serious illness. I was in
increasing discomfort when I watched the channel 4 programme, and realised it was all down to perimenopause. I am 56, and thought I had been lucky not to get hot flushes, weight problems, and the symptoms everybody knows about, but then suddenly I was feeling like something horrible had occurred inside me! Nobody and nothing had told me that what I was experiencing is part of perimenopause!
I think I am lucky to have seen limks to Dr Newson's videos, and the rest of the videos, and this forum on the subject of VA before seeing my GP. I am shy, and don't always manage to say everything that needs saying, but knowing the terminology helped, and the GP listened.
I am now on Estriol 0.01% cream which is working. I know when the maintenance applications are due, and have been given the OK to use a tiny amount onto the entrance to my urethra when there is a start of a sting if it starts to dry between maintenance applications. I wasn't that great with the technique to use an applicator for full doses at first, but it soon became easy.
I don't have to fret about where the nearest loo is. I sleep well. I can sit comfortably. The symptoms no longer cause me anxiety because they have been diagnosed and treated.
There was a glitchy time when I had my first period since starting treatment when the dryness restarted at day 4 when the maintenance dose would have been due. The GP had said that the doses wouldn't be needed at periods, but since menstrual flow was light, I applied it, and was comfortable again. I would query whether menstrual flow is being confused with the natural lubrication that I have lost due to the low oestrogen.
A long post! Everybody will have glazed over! I don't have to just cope, I can have the treatment and carry on without worrying 😀