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[Ikishu12]

Hi there, my first post. I have just turned 50 and up until recently I was escaping the menopause pretty lightly. Back in October I had a nasty kidney infection, this was treated with 7 days of antibiotics and I made a full recovery (may not be relevant). Then mid December I developed mild cystitis symptoms. Worrying that I would develop another kidney infection I spoke to the Dr and had 3 days of antibiotics. This made no difference at all, but because of the Christmas break I was not able to see anybody until afterwards. Saw the Dr they took a urine sample and there was a high WBC reading so they cultured for 3 days. In the mean time I was given another 5 days of antibiotics. The lab came back and there was no culture growth. A the end of my antibiotics I had another urine test, the dipstick said that the WBC were high so sent to lab again but they found the WBC to be low and still no sign of infection. No sign of blood on any of the tests. Either way my symptoms were exactly the same - burning sensation specifically towards the end of weeing and also for about 5 minutes after I had been. In between I am fine.

The Dr has put me on Vagifem and I am on day 7 of this. No change so far but I understand it takes a while. I also got worse yesterday, I now think this might be down to drinking green tea (seriously?), and it has settled back now to a bearable level. I guess I am surprised as I have no obvious signs of VA, I don't suffer at all with dryness or itching.

I have agreed with the Dr that if there is no improvements after 3 weeks of vagifem I will go back and she will refer me to urology. Depending on the waiting time I am considering paying for a private urine analysis as I have also been reading about bladder lining infections and IC. 

I should say that I am not on any other form of HRT at the moment, but considering it

I guess I have a few questions for the community:

1. Has anybody experienced similar and do you have any advice?
2. Does this sound like it could be VA even without the dryness or itching?
3. Has anybody used private urine analysis services? Do you know if you can take a report back to the Dr to get the prescription that you need (if an infection found)

From reading other posts I understand the issues with current NHS forms of testing and I can see that I am not alone - which is massively reassuring.

Any useful advice would be much appreciated.

[CLKD]

Hi!  do read our threads on VA - make notes ;-)

VA mimics symptoms of repeated urine infections really really well.  Whilst there may be a WBC in a dip stick test, samples grown in a Lab should come back with better results. 

3 days of AB treatment isn't enough.  7 should be prescribed.  Personally at this stage I wouldn't pay for investigations as the VA treatment should ease symptoms.

I didn't have itchyness, my GP diagnosed VA over the phone having looked at the dip stick = AB treatments.  He happened to see a sample waiting to go to the lab with my name on it, read my notes and phoned to offer me VA treatment.  Job done. 

As oestrogen levels drop the body may become dry: inside and out, including the vagina.  Continue with the treatment for as long as necessary, every night if required. 

[Ikishu12]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. That's encouraging to hear that the dr is doing the right thing. I will keep going with the Vagifem and see what happens.

[CLKD]

Do have a lookC round the Forum, also let us know how you get on.  Any experiences shared spreads information which is power ;-)

[Ikishu12]

I will thank you!

[Ikishu12]

Hi there, just a quick note to say the vagifem worked and all symptoms dissapeared after about 3 weeks. I didn't like all tghe plastic applicators so switched to Vagirux which has a reusable applicator so I just wash it after every use. Thanks for all of the advice

[Ayesha]

Thanks for the update. I was similar to you and given antibiotics for what turned out to be GSM (vaginal atrophy) but it took me four months to feel the benefits of the treatment.
It was frustrating going back and forwards with a condition no one in the surgery knew about apart from the Gynae GP I eventually got to see, but very thankful that I didn't have to have an invasive procedure when all it need was topical oestrogen to be symptom free.