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[Tinkerbell]

I have no idea what causes my flare ups and i have been using Vagifem for 5.5 years now, it isn't sex and i wasn't aware of any infections although i did have a flare that i think was caused by the exercise bike that is now used mostly by my teen daughter and not me!

[Whatsupwiththis]

Tinkerbell in those 5.5 years, how many flare ups have you had?  How long did flare ups last?  Did upping Vagifem help? 

[Tinkerbell]

Hard to say how many, mild ones are fortunately the more common and doubling up on Vafifem for 3 nights does the trick, the more severe and i have to say even that is nowhere near as bad as before VA treatment i normally double up Vagifem dose for about 10 days, upping Vagifem does the trick, i dread the day it doesn't. I recently tried to up my Oestrogel from 3 to 4 pumps to see if it helped the flare ups but i don't feel great on 4 pumps.

[Whatsupwiththis]

Thx. Tinkerbell.  It's that kind of info that gets overlooked.   It is so helpful to have all you ladies to discuss this with and understand EXACTLY what we all go through.

[CLKD]

Oestrogel is delivered differently and is prescribed for different replacement ;-)

[Dierdre]

I had a rather interesting talk with a friend who is also a fab NP.  She is in her early 70's, still going strong.  I asked her why those of us taking local HRT daily still get flare ups.  This is her response (not verbatim):
Vagifem is a very low dose of estrogen and can take up to TWO YEARS before  the mucous *might* reach acceptable level to provide total comfort for women well into post menopause.  She mentioned that if you are comfortable and suddenly you get a flare up, chances are sex or infection is the culprit.  She also stated that your vaginal walls are still very thin and fragile and can be easily traumatized....bike riding, sitting too long, applicator causing slight cuts, or allergic reaction can cause discomfort.  The good news is that in her opinion, if you found relief for long periods of time while using local HRT, then up the treatment until you get comfortable again which if Vagifem was effective before a flare up then it will work again. She  also stated that peri and post menopausal women can suffer from vulvodynia which is a separate issue entirely.

I am still curious to find out how many of us do get flare ups, how often and what may have caused it.

Interesting about it probably being an infection. Two years ago i had a really bad flare up after a very tramactic family crisis and assumed it was the stress of this that  was the cause, after 2 weeks of upping all dosages of everything i was no better. I then tried thrush treatment and this worked. Stress can lower the immune system and this was probably why i developed thrush.

I cant ride bikes anymore either, horse riding ok but its a bigger saddle and definately the sitting all day is not good.

[Tinkerbell]

CLKD.....i was prescribed Oestrogel, which as you know is systemic HRT, purely to see if it helped the VA, some of us are very unfortunate to not manage just on topical estrogen even when used every day.

[CLKD]

It's really Trial and Error - important that once we find a treatment that works that we stick with it ;-)

[Denise T]

Just some advice please. I have had a bad VA flare up for about a month. Have increased vagifem to 2 a night for past 7 nights plus cream on outside but no improvement yet. Am I being too impatient?? I'm very sore burning itchy and practically live in the bathroom ! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks ladies

[Joaniepat]

Just some advice please. I have had a bad VA flare up for about a month. Have increased vagifem to 2 a night for past 7 nights plus cream on outside but no improvement yet. Am I being too impatient?? I'm very sore burning itchy and practically live in the bathroom ! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks ladies

Any wetness, discharge or odour? Have you had a look?
JP x

[Denise T]

Hi Joaniepat. No odour or wetness  Or discharge it looks pink and plumped I have done a thrush treatment just in case but it didn't help.

[Tinkerbell]

I had a bad flare back in March i had to double up on Vagifem every night for two weeks before i got to feel normal again.

[Tinkerbell]

Have you tried inserting the Vagifem half way up?

[Denise T]

Hi Tinkerbell. Yes I've tried one high and one half way. I will keep going with 2 a night for a bit longer. Did your flare up just go quickly or gradually?

[CherrySG]

Honestly I found the only thing that worked was systemic Hrt, 3 pumps of oestrogel, with Provera. But I see that is what you already use. I still get occasional stinging even so.

Vagifem would have possibly have worked for me if allowed to use every single day, but at the licensed dose was insufficient.

Have you tried an estring? I want one but no one is fitting them due to Covid. But it's a constant dose at least.

Good luck, VA is horrible, isn't it?