Print

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

[Katejo]

I'm finding this very interesting as I'm about to come off HRT and have been prescribed Vagifem; initial 2 week loading dose then 1 x twice/week - I'll see how it goes...
Love Spadger x

  I popped into Boots pharmacy today just to ask a question about Vagifem. Fortunately it wasn't busy so I could do so. I have noticed that every repeat prescription ,which the GP sends to Boots , assumes that I am a first timer and gives me 1 box with the instruction to apply daily for 2 weeks and then twice weekly. This is even though a consultant has  told the GP that I can use them daily if needed. He was sympathetic and said that the GP's are lazy and simply hit the button on their keyboard to generate the same prescription every time. Suggested that I ask for it to be changed.

I will try that when I next have an appointment. Will have to make one soon.

Why are you stopping HRT Spadger? i have just started it and the meno consultant thinks it will help the VA further/reduce the dose needed . The Vagifem is working for me and I am sleeping through the night  more often due to less frequent need to go to the loo. Occasional flare up still happens if stressed.

[Katejo]

5 x 10mcg a week with 0.01% Estriol cream for external bits.  Not currently on systemic HRT, but needed the 5 Vagifem a week + Estriol same nights, even when on systemic (poor absorption from patches).  As the other ladies have said, it varies from person to person & 2 may be perfectly adequate for many, especially on systemic HRT. 

Up to 5 Vagifem rather than 2, together with the weak Estriol cream outside, recommended by menopause clinic who also suggested varying Vagifem insertion depth, saying effect is very localised, so one high, one low alternately, though I think the PIL says halfway or something similar - don't quote me though, have not read recently!  Meno clinic said OK to use 2 at a time, up total of 5 a week (one high, one low on 2 nights, then a night with just one) which reduces the number of nights the area is out  of action  .

  I have experimented with high and low on alternate days but not 2 at a time. I haven't persuaded the GP to let me have enough to do that yet. See my reply to Spadger.

[Wrensong]

Katejo, I think my script repeat form allows me to have one box a month now (I am away from home so cannot check) but the problem I keep coming up against is the pharmacy have used all their monthly quota when I go to collect mine, so I try to always order well in advance & have a box in hand.  The pharmacy don't seem to be aware I need 5 a week - will have to check what it says on the dispensing label.  I hope you manage to get yours sorted so that you can have enough prescribed for the amount your Cons has authorised.  I think GPs can be so busy that repeat scripts are issued by default, so getting one changed can take a little persistence!

[Katejo]

Katejo, I think my script repeat form allows me to have one box a month now (I am away from home so cannot check) but the problem I keep coming up against is the pharmacy have used all their monthly quota when I go to collect mine, so I try to always order well in advance & have a box in hand.  The pharmacy don't seem to be aware I need 5 a week - will have to check what it says on the dispensing label.  I hope you manage to get yours sorted so that you can have enough prescribed for the amount your Cons has authorised.  I think GPs can be so busy that repeat scripts are issued by default, so getting one changed can take a little persistence!

My script currently gives me a repeat each time that I get my repeat for my other medication. I haven't come across the pharmacy having a monthly quota (yet). So it could be that a GP could send a prescription and the pharmacy would refuse it because too many other women have requested it? My dispensing label just gives the standard first prescription dose which I mentioned above.
I could try to request another prescription from the GP via their app and see if they allow it.

[Wrensong]

The pharmacy wouldn't refuse it, but you would have to wait until their next month's quota came in to have it dispensed.  This has happened to me repeatedly in the last 12 months or so & I know other women posting here have experienced the same.  In fact, it's been rare for any script including Vagifem to be filled (for that item) on the day I've first gone in to collect it.  My pharmacy is around 15 miles from home & I can only get there once a week so I am sometimes in the position of waiting a couple of weeks or more to get a box of Vagifem.  Essential to be organised & make sure I always have enough in reserve!  This was never a problem with that pharmacy until the last year or so. 

They have also found it difficult to fill my thyroxine scripts with my named brand, so much so, that after a wait of around 4 months for one strength which to date they have still been unable to get, I had to change brands for all 3 strengths I need a few months ago, which I really didn't want to do as I was stable on that brand & as you know absorption differs from one brand to another.  I don't want to change pharmacies as I had only moved to this one around 2 years before because my previous pharmacy consistently failed to obtain another item with long enough dates to last until the end of a box.  It had become so stressful not being able to get that, that I went to several pharmacies in the area to ask which felt they could get it more easily for me with a long enough date to last the 2+ months I needed on every box.  The one I'm now with is an independent who explained that the big chain pharmacy I had been with would be tied to suppliers, whereas they would have a choice of where they went for meds to fill my scripts.  Worked very well for a year or so.  I wonder whether perhaps more recently patients have been stockpiling meds in fear of being short post-Brexit & this may perhaps have caused the shortages.

If your scripts are not sent through to the pharmacy electronically (as mine are) the thing to do would be to shop around if you are worried you might be short of Vagifem.  Just take it in by hand & see which could dispense for you?  Sorry - I know that's obvious!

Seem to have taken this off topic - you got me going with the question about availability, Katejo!  Sorry everyone.

[Bluebell]

Hi I've been using Vagifem twice a week for a few years now - recently I started using it every second
night because after going for a wee I feel I need to go back to the loo again and can usually and can usually go. 🤷🏼‍♀️
Before I increase the Vagifem again the Doctor is making an appointment for me to have  a scan of my bladder....just to see if it's emptying properly.
She also asked me if I had considered using Estring which lasts for ninety days.
Not sure which would be the best...would be interested in hearing if anyone else changed from Vagifem to Estring? 🤔

[riverrunsfree]

On three a week and once a month  I take four a week. Use YES VM three times a day on days without vagifem. Will be having Monal Lisa Touch as this regime does not allow me to have sex and I still get sore. Jane Lewis and all you ladies have saved me from getting worse because I am more informed and empowered. Thankyou so much. My doctors have not caught up with the modern world and so I get my HRT privately when necessary. Love to you all. xxx

[CLKD]

U may need nightly then riverrunsfree.  10 isn't a large dose after all, initially it was prescribed at 25. 

[Katejo]

The pharmacy wouldn't refuse it, but you would have to wait until their next month's quota came in to have it dispensed.  This has happened to me repeatedly in the last 12 months or so & I know other women posting here have experienced the same.  In fact, it's been rare for any script including Vagifem to be filled (for that item) on the day I've first gone in to collect it.  My pharmacy is around 15 miles from home & I can only get there once a week so I am sometimes in the position of waiting a couple of weeks or more to get a box of Vagifem.  Essential to be organised & make sure I always have enough in reserve!  This was never a problem with that pharmacy until the last year or so. 

They have also found it difficult to fill my thyroxine scripts with my named brand, so much so, that after a wait of around 4 months for one strength which to date they have still been unable to get, I had to change brands for all 3 strengths I need a few months ago, which I really didn't want to do as I was stable on that brand & as you know absorption differs from one brand to another.  I don't want to change pharmacies as I had only moved to this one around 2 years before because my previous pharmacy consistently failed to obtain another item with long enough dates to last until the end of a box.  It had become so stressful not being able to get that, that I went to several pharmacies in the area to ask which felt they could get it more easily for me with a long enough date to last the 2+ months I needed on every box.  The one I'm now with is an independent who explained that the big chain pharmacy I had been with would be tied to suppliers, whereas they would have a choice of where they went for meds to fill my scripts.  Worked very well for a year or so.  I wonder whether perhaps more recently patients have been stockpiling meds in fear of being short post-Brexit & this may perhaps have caused the shortages.

If your scripts are not sent through to the pharmacy electronically (as mine are) the thing to do would be to shop around if you are worried you might be short of Vagifem.  Just take it in by hand & see which could dispense for you?  Sorry - I know that's obvious!

Seem to have taken this off topic - you got me going with the question about availability, Katejo!  Sorry everyone.

I haven't had that problem at all yet re. supply though I am expecting it with Brexit. i actually have a surplus of 100 mcg Levothyroxine due to a GP error some time ago. Mine are sent electronically to Boots.

[Wrensong]

The following 2 links recently posted by Flaxhigh in a thread about progesterone contain information that seems to contradict what I was told about placement of Vagifem at the menopause clinic a couple of years ago (i.e. one high, one low).  Deep insertion seems to be discouraged in these articles.
 
I vaguely remember a discussion about this on MM a long time ago that revolved around the semantics of anterior & posterior as used in the Australian link, given it is not possible to determine whether Vagifem sticks to front or back vaginal walls on insertion.  But posterior here is used to mean "deep".  Can't remember the consensus we all reached when discussed last time, so thought I should repost Flaxhigh's links here.  I am now not sure which is the most reliable advice, but seems responsible to draw attention to the difference to what I was told. 

Thank you Flaxhigh, if you are reading - though you posted the links to confirm legitimacy of vaginal route for Utrogestan, the detail on placement of Vagifem seems important here.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17981510

https://www.whria.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/HRT-Micronised-Progesterone-2016.pdf

[Wrensong]

Katejo - ah, if sent electronically you don't have the option of shopping around.  Same here, though it is possible to ask for a one-off script to collect from my surgery & take to a pharmacy of choice.  I try not to do this though, as it seems to disrupt their preferred procedure!

[suzysunday]

I feel unsure of the safety of local hrt, wrensong, though I have to use something. I use Ovestin   worried all the time about it.

[JaneinPen]

Hi I've been using Vagifem twice a week for a few years now - recently I started using it every second
night because after going for a wee I feel I need to go back to the loo again and can usually and can usually go. 🤷🏼‍♀️
Before I increase the Vagifem again the Doctor is making an appointment for me to have  a scan of my bladder....just to see if it's emptying properly.
She also asked me if I had considered using Estring which lasts for ninety days.
Not sure which would be the best...would be interested in hearing if anyone else changed from Vagifem to Estring? 🤔

Hi Bluebell.  I too have this problem. Have had cystoscopy and full and empty bladder scans which were all okay. The consultant suggested that when I think I have finished then I should cough and this does work for me so I sit for a bit longer and just cough a few times. Worth a try

[CLKD]

susysunday - try not to worry.  My GP wouldn't have prescribed it for me had it not been safe.  I had breast treatment in the 1990s.  I couldn't have lived with the VA feelings anyway .....  what's the worst that could happen?

[Wrensong]

Suzysunday - so sorry if the links were scary, but after having posted the advice I was given at a very highly regarded menopause clinic then finding those 2 links posted elsewhere in current circulation, I felt it would be remiss not to flag them up.  Topical HRT is generally considered very safe indeed, so I really don't think there is cause to worry - it was just that the issue of placement concerned me, given the advice in the links differs from what I was told by a Meno specialist. 

We all need to take some difficult decisions at this stage in our lives & the information we have to base these on is often imperfect, but if it's all there is, we have to make something of a leap of faith.  Life without topical HRT would be unthinkable for many of us & it's important to keep the urogenital tract in as good condition as we can, so my feeling is that with medical approval & vigilance we have to use whatever is available and at the dose we each need individually.  Then relax as best we can(!) in the knowledge we can flag up anything that concerns us so it can be checked out. 

I sometimes wonder whether the weight of responsibility we feel when taking HRT is greater because it is sometimes regarded as "optional", but other hormonal treatments are not seen this way - for instance thyroid medication.  The latter carries risks if used incorrectly, but must be used to enable us to carry on with life, so those of us who take it have no choice.  If perhaps you think of your need for topical HRT in this way, maybe this will make you feel more at peace with it?