Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Ffsnotagain on June 14, 2024, 12:28:15 PM
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Hi all, first post and hoping for some insight from others with VA. First symptoms I realise now were 5/6 years ago, finally got a diagnosis in 2020, prescribed vagifem & used yes VM, got into a routine and all fine. So fine in fact I got a bit lax with my routine, only used occasionally over last 12 months
2 months ago i started to get what feels like a UTI with a dull ache in bladder area, urinating more and now in last 3 weeks external itching how routined. Have a basically ruined 3 years worth of effort with vagifem?
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Many of us do the same ::). Get some treatment up there now and again this evening, take some pain relief to ease the nip as the urine flow shuts off. Then use again tomorrow morning and evening, then into at least 3 weeks every night.
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Thanks CLKD
I’m so cross with myself for getting lax with it!
At first I thought I had a UTI but then the itching started
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I've started with the same. I got some steroid cream from my GP which has helped plus increasing my topical estrogen and using moisturiser and getting some air to the area!!
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You have obviously been doing well to only need it occasionally but age is catching up with you and your body is telling you you need more treatment and on a constant basis. Its for life, might as well get yourself into a routine because it will come back to bite if you let it.
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Thank you - yes I keep forgetting that I’m 4 years older & even with systemic HRT my oestrogen levels are lower
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I like the idea of getting air to it :D
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Of skinny dipping then ? ;)
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I think that is my issue Ayesha. My dosage wasn't enough as I aged. Is there a point when you just can't keep on top of it due to age?
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Age shouldn't make any difference if a regime already works because the vaginal walls will be plumped up. Important to keep up with treatment.
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Its the treatment that keeps the tissues healthy, I can't see how the aging process would make a difference as long as treatment is continued.
It reverses the aging process, magical really!
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Certainly that's how my vagina has improved: the rest of me toddles on, vagina with regular TLC >tick<.
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Well my regime was working but is now no longer enough so obviously the aging process does have an effect and you have to adjust your regime accordingly. I had 2 vagifem a week only which was fine, then I needed it alternate nights then I needed ovestin nightly and now that isnt enough. If it's a deteriorating condition, its possible that the rate of deterioration increases with age just as it does on your face. I am concerned that increasing my treatment will cause side effects again and I will be told to take a break and sent packing to the scan lady and the hysteroscopy place! But Im using both nightly and an extra dose of estriol externally in the morning to try to plump up as you say and hopefull I can then drop a bit. I wish mine was under control as yours seems to be. Sorry to hijack the lady's query
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Not feeling hi jacked at all Jules just sorry you’re having so much trouble as well xx
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Occasionally Jules 1 needs to add extra treatment for 5 days, mayB twice . When I get niggling symptoms I add an extra 'ovestin' internally, plus pain relief then continue for 3-5 nights. Smearing product on the outer labia/vulval areas. And KY Jelly B4 :bed: -;). VA treatment shouldn't cause 'side effects' to require investigations unless it's heavy bleeding or cramping.
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It reverses the aging process, magical really!
Nothing can reverse the aging process, otherwise humans would live forever. We can make the skin and other tissues of the body look and feel younger for a certain period of time, but it all will come to the end one day anyway . :(
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Perhaps I should have made myself clearer! I meant it reverses the aging process around the vagina by plumping up the tissues and making the whole area look as it did when younger.
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Occasionally Jules 1 needs to add extra treatment for 5 days, mayB twice . When I get niggling symptoms I add an extra 'ovestin' internally, plus pain relief then continue for 3-5 nights. Smearing product on the outer labia/vulval areas. And KY Jelly B4 :bed: -;). VA treatment shouldn't cause 'side effects' to require investigations unless it's heavy bleeding or cramping.
Vaginal atrophy (GSM) is a very individualised condition and affects women in different ways. I have bog standard VA with no other symptoms, there are some women who need the help of a steroid cream which means something else going on, like an eczema for instance. It makes the situation more complicated and more difficult to treat and means there are no quick fixes.
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Perhaps I should have made myself clearer! I meant it reverses the aging process around the vagina by plumping up the tissues and making the whole area look as it did when younger.
I just guess for how far we can take it? For example the face, it’s very easy to make the skin look 10 years younger when you are 40 or 50, but if it possible to keep the same result when 60, 70, 80? Can you keep your skin at 70 looking like 50? I don’t think so. I don’t talk about 90 and 100 years old, because if you lucky to live so long you don’t have any chance to keep your skin like 50 y.o. anyway. With vagina the same, you can make it feel younger 10 years, but no more than that. Every part of the body wears itself out eventually. Genetic factor is the strongest one, from my point of view. In fact every woman becomes menopausal, but not every woman gets VA, some gets it even in peri, but some not until their 60-70s. But the aging process makes its way anyway sooner or later.
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I'm using steroid cream currently but it's not eczema. The gp said its plain old thinning tissue with loss of estrogen. I was using alternate nights vagifem and ovestin externally every night for a year and I never looked externally as I did 2 years ago. Hopefully a spell of intense treatment will get me some control again because itching and stinging and feeling like you need the loo is so hard to deal with. I do think the interruption to my routine hasn't helped
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Which only goes to confirm that the treatment has to be constant without any breaks. I know I can do six Vagifem pessaries a week but any lower and the symptoms come back.
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I had breast pain and bleeding on alternate nights. It's externally I seem to have more problems. Would be great not to have to think about what lies below!