Vaginal dryness i am so confused should i go with vagifem which does work but i am so worried about the long term repercussions or do i go with more natural remedy which are safer but do not work as well. I still maintain nothing works as well as the vagifem so why do i not feel happy using it.
Hi Jackie
It appears to me that phycologically you are beating yourself up because you are worried about the long term effects of vagifem. You have to really do your research and find other women who have used vagifem long term and see what they say about it. I cannot use HRT or anything that has estrogen in it because my mother is a breast cancer survivor.
I use the nature Vitimin E- 100 Iu capsuls. Two of them everynight, poke a hole in one end with a pin and then squeeze out all the gel and rub it around the prolapse and all up inside the walls of the vagina. If you are not allergic to Vitimin E it does wonders to heal and give you a soothing nice feeling. Hope you can hear from someone who has used vagifem long term to see what there experience is if thats what you need to keep using.
Blessings to you
Lynn
Jackie: I totally understand your feelings. I use Vagifem too and it has really started to help me. I use coconut oil internally as well - it has been more effective for me than Vitamin E oil. I share your concerns about long term use. In fact, today I was researching what foods will provide estrogen naturally so that maybe I can transition to a more natural approach. I think for the short term, I am going to continue the Vagifem. Then I am going to be evaluated for the Mona Lisa laser treatment. I work with a gal that is having it done and she has already noticed a difference with just the first treatment. At least that is not a hormone replacement therapy. I believe that all we can do is follow our instincts. For the short term I think Vagifem is helping me. Long term - no. I don't want to do that. Now my vaginal tissue is healing and I am feeling better. The laser treatment will be my next "physician" related path. In the meantime I will continue to use the coconut oil and eat well. From reading online which foods provide estrogen I discovered that I eat them already, for the most part. We are dealing with a baffling condition ... finding a path that helps is not easy. But I think we can get through this. With the help from all that post here - boy, what a blessing.
Jackie, read the manufacturers site about vagifem, and make an informed decision if you want to use it. But there are many other products available, from the natural simple things that are made to be used in the vagina, and the natural simple things that are made to be swallowed but also work well there, and the more complex products that are made to be used there, but I'd say google everything and then see what works for you. Vaginal moisturisers are big business at the moment with a huge choice of products. I did have endometrial cancer after the use of vagifem.
Chris00938 - how long did you use the Vagifem? I am soon to be 65 and all this just started happening to me about 6 months ago. I am feeling my way along this process and want to be as informed as I can. Do or did you have a history of cancer in your family? I hope you don't mind my asking....cancer is not something we can affort to fool around with.
My mother died from breast cancer but my GP told me vagifem wasn't absorbed into the system (you only need to look on their site to see it is) and there was no risk even though my mother died from breast cancer. She had me on it for 16 months, six nights out of seven, every week. She told me that she'd used the previous vagifem, before they lowered the dose, that was 50mg per week, with loads of people and never heard of a problem. Vagifem lowered the dose because of the risk of endometrial canceer with those people who still had a uterus. Obviously there is still a risk because they put up enough warnings about it. I found to my cost, these warnings are not simply 'to cover themselves' but are there because it can happen. My doctor didn't mention any alternatives at all! They are only trained to think 'hormone treatment' I think.
I am so terribly sorry for all that you have been through. My God, how irresponsible of your physician. I've read the warnings and totally agree that they are there for a reason. My obgyn said that at this low dose it should not be a danger. Despite his assurances, and I believe he "believes" what he says, we do have to take responsibility for our health. Read the information provided and make choices ... at least be as informed as you can be. I wish I was only dealing with dryness. My issues are much deeper than that. Moisturizers do not help me at all. I've ordered stuff from all over the planet! I am so glad you have been willing to share a bit of your journey with this problem ... blessing to you Chris.
I'm OK though Pat. I had a hysterectomy, and it was grade one, stage one, and although I have check ups, I don't dwell on it anymore (the hysterectomy was last November). But you are so right that we have to take responsibility ourselves. My issues are deeper too - I have three prolapses, but vagifem never actually helped me, whereas hyalaronic acid pessaries do. But having said that, I'm always interested in alternatives and recently started using vagisil prohydrate wash which I'm VERY pleased with and so I've ordered their external moisturiser, to see what that's like and might then try their internal version. I've also tried key E pessaries and they were good too. But I think we all have different aspects of the problem. I think acidity is relevant as well, and not really explored that well. I started reading up on it and think perhaps whatever we use needs to retain or encourage the right acidity. I hope you can find the right product though that will work for you, and if it does come down to vagifem then you know to be careful with it. The biggest problem with it seems to be that they recommend it for the shortest possible time, but if it works for women, when they come off it, they're back to where they started. It's fun, isn't it!
Can i ask if everyone who has contributed so far is in America? Ive googled the mona lisa thing and it seems unavailable in the UK on the nhs anyway. I used Ovestin for about a year and then stopped for nine months -- big mistake it came back with a vengeance. Seeing my GP again next week as I don't want to carry on with hormones but I don't know what else to use. Does anyone know how expensive the mona lisa thing is please
I'm in the USA, Chicagoland area. The Mona Lisa laser treatment is about $1500 for 3 treatments. Then once a year at $500. Insurance does not cover it. But the vagifem is $140 for a month using twice a week. That adds up to a lot in a year too.
pat, I haven't checked with my doctor, but I thought another poster said the ML laser procedure was $3000. Could it vary that much I wonder?
Paranoia re the hormone creams seems to be running high and understandably so.
That is what my coworker is paying. She said she called a number of places and this was the least expensive. I also heard it was up to $3000 ... I guess it can vary depending on the area or whatever.
chris, I have been considering ordering some of the PH testing strips. Are you using them? If so what products are you using to adjust the levels when they are off? Many years ago a gynecologist gave me Acid-Gel but it didn't help much.
Beverly, obviously personally I'd never recommend hormone cream but a lot of women DO use them and the vast majority are fine. I think we just need an awareness about them that they aren't risk free and aren't meant for long term use or high doses (and it does worry me to see that some GPs are suggesting pessaries AND cream for periods) but if we can find solutions without the risks they have to be better. It just may be that some women won't be able to find other solutions though:-( But the more information we share, the more options we find we have, which has to be good.
amen.
sorry that fluffmonkey is gone.
Yes, me too.
It may be of interest - today I got the vagisil prohydrate external gell and it really seems good. I'm still using the prohydrate wash and it's the best I've found so far. I was very sore from the attempted fitting of a pessary on Tuesday (turned out to be too big and blocked the urethra so had to come out again) but the combination of the wash and then the gell today has made a huge difference.
Sorry, just seen this on the web Beverly. It didn't come through to me. No, I hadn't even thought of using the strips! What a good idea! I have seen suggestions of using, I THINK (but I'd look it up again before doing it!) half vinegar and half water, and there were other suggestions too but I can't remember what they were! I know there was something about some sort of acid 10% with water, but I'd have to google it again to find out.
I just wanted to share something for all of us following this discussion. I apologize in advance for being "gross" but here goes....I've noticed that if I strain at all when I have a bowel movement that I experience much worse VA symptoms. The burning, the pain, all the discomforts are heightened. I also discovered that my bladder pushes into the vagina a bit. The first time it happened it scared me terribly. I don't have a prolapse, but the bladder shifts into the vagina a bit. My dr said to just gently sort of push it back in or up or whatever. So I do that. But that bladder shift definitely causes a lot of VA discomfort. Secondly, I am thinking I am seeing a correlation between my drinking coffee and VA symptoms. When I keep my coffee consumption to 1 cup a day I don't notice anything odd with my urinary tract or that feeling of having to go all the time. But when I add in an additional cup of coffee (like in the afternoon after my lunch) I seem to have more UTI like symptoms. I know that caffeine can make urinary tract issues a lot worse. So I wanted to mention these two things to see if anyone else has thought of them or noticed anything like this.
Sorry to say it Pat but if that's not a prolapse I've no idea what it is, but it sounds like a prolapse to me! It also sounds to me as though the prolapse is rubbing against the vagina and moisturiser might well help, but I think you need to see a specialist to get a proper diagnosis and find out what your options are. It sounds like a stage one or two prolapse to me so I'd guess your options are do nothing, or ask for a support in the way of a pessary, or when or if it gets bad enough, consider surgery, but you might find that pelvic floor exercises help while it's at the stage it is. There is a prolapse group on this site, so I'd suggest asking on there. But I've got three prolapses, and the worst is the bladder, which feels exactly as you've described apart from mine is further down the road.
I did go to the doctor immediately. He said it is not anything that I need to worry about - we talked about whether or not it was a prolapse and he said no - just that the bladder was pushing a little bit into the vaginal area. Nothing that required surgery or anything drastic. He did advise me to do pelvic floor exercises, which I do try to do (Kegels) but when I do them it seems to make me worse for some reason. I keep doing them anyway. I want to avoid having any surgery if possible, so I'll keep dong the Kegels. He also told me that using the Vagifem is going to help this problem because it will help to strengthen the vaginal walls. I have been watching the prolapse group ... boy, those poor women. It just sounds so awful for them. I hope I never get as severe as most of them seem to be. Thanks for your feedback Chris. It is most appreciated.