Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[linfit]

Hi
I have posted on here before and got lots of good advice. I am using vagifem and sylk for VA. I have had VA for six months and was on vagifem twice a week but advised to go to 5 times a week in mid Jan which I did. I have made progress and was at the point of describing my symptoms as 'minimal' when on Tuesday eve, out of the blue I got a flare up.....felt so deflated. Just checking in with those of you who have got things under control...is this how it goes. I mean can any of you recall if you got these before a more continuous settling? I am not on systemic hrt and just thought I was doing so well. I had had about 3 good weeks. Looking for reassurance!!

[Tinkerbell]

When I get a flare up I double up the Vagifem for a few nights.
But I have had to go on systemic HRT as the flare ups became more frequent.

[dahliagirl]

I am on systemic as well, which helped me.

I have settled on 3x per week and it seems to be the longer I am on it, the less bad the flare ups are (about 4 years now).

My biggest problems are bladder and thrush-like symptoms.  I find that multigyn actigel helps here, and also drinking plenty of water (and not too much tea).

[Annie0710]

I had mine under control and think I got a bit blasé about it and now suffering a flare. I'm doing vagifem daily to help and smothering Sylk on like it's going out of fashion.  Outside feels like I've took all the skin off (I haven't)

[Elizabethrose]

Hi Linfit

I've been on Vagifem for the past 3 months or so, settled on using it every other day and using Yes VM which didn't make me shriek!

All was going well until a blip at the weekend. Tried to analyse what was different in my routine. I was away, tons of city walking, early mornings, late nights, lots of very rich food and developed a very upset tummy, also fighting off some sort of coldy lurgy!. I was also using panty liners for the first time in a while, the tiny Tenalady ones that I'd bought to replace the fragranced Always ones. Had a very 'prickly' walk (or frog march actually!!) through the city, very very uncomfortable!!

My problem is not internal the Vagifem has made everything moist again, it always seems to be around the vaginal entrance. I've resorted to bathing the area with very dilute saline and it has calmed things down a little. Been tested for BV and thrush and all clear so it's obviously something else upsetting me. I wonder whether just being utterly exhausted and run down can cause it, maybe also friction from too much frog marching (my husband's a man with a mission!!).

Just when you think you get everything under control..........

Annie, I'm sorry for you, blimey what us ladies have to put up with!

[ancient runner]

Hello Linfit
It's a bugger, isn't it?
I've had it for over 3 years, and had it reasonably under control for a lot of that time using the Estring which I liked better than x5 vagifem because you pop it up and forget about it, and you don't get peaks and troughs. But I still got blips (sometimes thrush-related even though it felt like a sore bladder) and the longest I went without one was probably, roughly, five months. Guessing here...
Anyway, I'm now 3 weeks into systemic HRT because nothing I did could sort the last blip and I was just so fed up with it all. Today, I've been for my first run (well, sort of) in probably a month so things are looking up a bit.

[linfit]

Hello Linfit
It's a bugger, isn't it?
I've had it for over 3 years, and had it reasonably under control for a lot of that time using the Estring which I liked better than x5 vagifem because you pop it up and forget about it, and you don't get peaks and troughs. But I still got blips (sometimes thrush-related even though it felt like a sore bladder) and the longest I went without one was probably, roughly, five months. Guessing here...
Anyway, I'm now 3 weeks into systemic HRT because nothing I did could sort the last blip and I was just so fed up with it all. Today, I've been for my first run (well, sort of) in probably a month so things are looking up a bit.

Thanks to all. Which hrt are you on? Does systemic hrt help with VA symptoms? I tried patches for a couple of months, Nov to Jan, but I felt tearful a lot of the time and still had VA symptoms and so came off them. Moving to five times vagifem seemed to help until this flare up. Does anyone know if the flare ups will stop?

[ancient runner]

Linfit, I think some people need a mixed economy of systemic and local HRT to really quell VA. I'm just on systemic at the moment but am aware that at some point as my own hormones dwindle further that I might need both.
Does it ever stop? No idea. DancingGirl keeps things at bay I think with local oestrogen plus very careful use of sylk and multigyn actigel and I think is having some success with this.
When I had blips on the Estring I'd treat for thrush, use multigyn actigel and sometimes do a 2 week vagifem reload which would raise the levels once more. You could try that?
I feel your pain (almost literally - today is my first really good day in ages)

[Maryjane]

I too am having a flare 🔥 will be going back on the estring.

Think for some of us it's going to be a permanent juggling act.☹️

[Annie0710]

Can I ask you ladies with VA something

Are your external problems both sides as bad as each other or mostly one sided ?

My problem side is left.  It's there I'll tear during sex, and that side that gets the most sore

[babyjane]

I have used vagifem successfully for over 6 years now.  If I get a flare up I do a 2 week reload and that puts it right.

I also have more discomfort on the left side but that is where my episiotomy scar is. I massage estriol cream into the scar and it helps.

[Annie0710]

I've never had an episiotomy (4 vaginal births)

thanks, I feel normal now I know it can affect one side worse than the other

[linfit]

Linfit, I think some people need a mixed economy of systemic and local HRT to really quell VA. I'm just on systemic at the moment but am aware that at some point as my own hormones dwindle further that I might need both.
Does it ever stop? No idea. DancingGirl keeps things at bay I think with local oestrogen plus very careful use of sylk and multigyn actigel and I think is having some success with this.
When I had blips on the Estring I'd treat for thrush, use multigyn actigel and sometimes do a 2 week vagifem reload which would raise the levels once more. You could try that?
I feel your pain (almost literally - today is my first really good day in ages)

Thanks again all..useful information. I will keep on keeping on.

[Maryjane]

Mines left sided.

4 vaginal births and no scars , wow that was good. I look like a patch work quilt.

[Evelyn63]

linfit I've been using Vagifem plus Sylk and Yes WB for past six months.  Like you I have found I get a flare up if I am away out of my normal routine , on holiday for instance, and doing more walking, eating , drinking  etc.  I also suffer from IBS ( predominately diarrhoea) and if I have a run of this , I sometimes  end up with a rip roaring UTI/cystitis attack  on top of everything else.  I am not on any other form of HRT except for the Vagifem  My GP told me to up the dosage to 3xweekly during a flare .  Its so uncomfortable sometimes I can barely sit, and its my right side that would be worse.