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[HeatherRae]

Hi everyone,
New to this forum and glad to be here. After dating someone for the first time in ages, I discovered I have vaginal atrophy. Sex was painful. The first time, I thought it was just because the shop had been closed for over 10 years, but then when the second time was also painful with some spotting, I made an appt with my Ob/Gyn. She prescribed some vaginal estrogen.

It's been almost a week now, so who knows if it's helping (I assume it is). I've also stopped sleeping. Coincidence? Instead of the usual 7-8 hours, I'm up after 5 or 6 hours and can't go back to sleep. Anyone else have this? I didn't think vaginal estrogen would cause symptoms other than localised. It's also possible they are not connected at all.

The other thing: I explained what was going on with me to the guy, and said I needed to hold off on penetrative sex for a while. "No problem," he said. But darnit if I have barely heard from him since. Kind of an awkward conversation for fairly early on in the relationship, but still.

[Minusminnie]

Which vaginal oestrogen have you been prescribed ?

You don’t mention if you are on other HRT or your age.

Are you finding that you are up in the night as you need to go to the toilet or is it just that you wake up & then can’t get back to sleep ?

Just the thoughts of having a condition that has to be managed rather than taking something for while that sorts it can be hard initially which may be causing disturbed sleep.Or maybe the fact that this has affected a relationship.
I wouldn’t have thought that the vaginal oestrogen itself is causing sleeplessness.

[Konijntje]

While vaginal estrogen doesn’t have a big systemic effect, there is some effect, especially at the beginning with the loading dose. Also, when you have atrophy, the vaginal walls are thin and slightly more is absorbed in the blood until your tissue plumps up a bit again.

This effect usually resolves after the initial weeks, but some people find they need to use it in the morning rather at night.

Even with all those factors, the systemic absorption is very low, but if you haven’t been on any estrogen and are sensitive to hormonal changes, it can be noticed.

Hopefully it’s a coincidence that you haven’t heard much from the guy, but if not, better to find out early on what type it is, I guess. Bit disappointing though.

[HeatherRae]

Thank you! I am taking the loading dose now, so there's that.
Also taking oral estradiol (very low dose), progesterone and a very low dose of testosterone for the past year. One reason I couldn't do the estradiol patches: in addition to feeling bloated and gross, if I put a new one on in the evening, I would not sleep. Apparently that's my weak link!