Vaginal atrophy and prolapse

[AlisonMargaretBrand]

Why don't doctors as a matter of course invite women in for a menopause education session and physical review when we're in say our 40s? I had a symptom free menopause (or so I thought). I even bragged! No hot flushes or anything like that. I had my daughter when I was 40 and now 19 years later suddenly I'm in a mess - constant burning, terror of UTIs, prolapse etc. I wish I had known about the devastating effects of oestrogen drop. I'm now trying to stabilise the problems I've got and am hoping that starting nightly vagifem, plus pelvic floor exercises will do something for these awful urinary and vaginal discomforts. If men had the menopause there's be so much more funding and interest in treating it!

'Wasting away' - thinning, essentially.

I need to read this thread afford sleep & coffee.

Sahara springs to mind.

can anyone recommend some non fragranced lube that's nice to use. Please.

I'm another who sailed through menopause with minimal symptoms but then developed VA symptoms
It is worth knowing about Estring. It's a silicone vaginal ring that you insert and leave there just changing every 3 months. So much less messy than pessaries or cream and delivers a slightly higher dose so works well for those who find the "one twice a week" dose not quite enough
For those who want to know the product you can buy at chemists is called Gina

Have a look at yesyesyes.org, eg their OB range which is very good. There are other kinds, depending on whether you're using condoms or not.

I have vaginal atrophy and lichen sclerosis which makes for dry and painful PIV. So I have Oestrogen pessaries from my gynaecologist and a steroid cream for the lichen. I find the Sylk brand lube works well.

thank you so much for posting your experience. I'm finding that a large part of the emotional stress in all this is feeling so alone. Thanks for posting!!!

@Londonismyjam i too have LS and atrophy

Ime some GPs basically say prolapse? well, that's your age/result of childbirth, here's a link to NHS online, off you go.

A good pelvic health physio can help enormously, either via referral (if you have a decent GP) or finding one yourself.

You can. Or you can go online and fill in a questionnaire and it can be sent through the post.

Thank you for your reply, I'll have a look at that.

(no condoms if that affects any other replies)

@Londonismyjam thank you for your reply.

i think I'll look for a women's health clinic. Getting a GP appointment is impossible and even if I could she'd just focus on a different issue.

Ill look at the full too.

Just came on to say I totally agree. It's awful.

Hi, I remember years ago going to a menopause workshop so I was early 40s and the subject of vaginal atrophy came up, this one older lady talked about how moisturising your vagina was as important as moisturising your face or lips.
It stayed in my mind so once I started to feel changes I bought some moisturisers and they seemed to have helped, pure coconut oil is very good and is fantastic as a lubricant to. Plus boots do a good range. I'm abit reluctant to use hormone creams for myself as my body doesn't like hormones very much.

I started a post about this as well . I am having a vaginal ring pessary fitted next Friday , if anyone else has one , what's your experience of it ?

No one should suffer like I did with repeated visits to GPs who haven’t got a clue. I was even referred to a gynaecologist because one GP thought the irritation, burning and stinging etc was caused by a “brown mark” she saw when she examined me. Turns out that was nothing and not the cause. I said to the gynaecologist why am I getting all this burning and stinging??? He said have you tried Vagifem.? I said yes but I had a reaction to it and I could no longer use it. His response was “well that and steroid cream is all we offer”. Well that’s not true is it because Ovestin cream (which is the hormone estriol) has cured my problem. Bloody useless doctors. Do your own research and tell them what you want prescribed x

So, I'm 45 and in perimenopause... are you saying I should be starting her or hrt pessaries now?

No not necessarily but be aware of any burning, stinging and constant need to wee x

Thanks for the thread, I am coming up to 38 and literally have no idea about perimenopause or menopause or any of the related things that have been spoken about here.

What are some resources you can recommend for women coming up to perimenopause to educate / prepare ourselves? People on Instagram to follow? Thanks!

You could have a look at the Menopause Matters threads. Useful advice on there x

The thing is, you can have vaginal atrophy without much in the way of symptoms. I had no idea until I had a colposcopy.

id say yes. It turned out that I’d had VA for several years before I knew what it was because like lots of women I didn’t know it was even a thing let alone what the symptoms were. I’d heard the references to “dryness” but I wasn’t dry - I didn’t realise it didn’t mean dry in that sense. My symptom was pain on entry in PIV but I just shrugged it off until 3 years later the chronic itching started

i did loads of my own research and found out that if I had taken vagifem when I had the very first small symptoms I wouldn’t have ended up with the problems I have now.

you can buy ovestin cream from superdrug now. £23 a tube

Oh really? That’s good. I get mine on prescription for free because I’m 62 but I’m so glad it’s out there and available OTC for other women. Please don’t suffer like I did x

Yes it’s Superdrug online. Brilliant! Xx

I got mine free before I turned 60 thanks to also needing thyroxine which is one of those 'lifetime treatment' drugs which weirdly makes all prescription free.
That's another thing to be aware of around menopause btw, quite a lot of women develop hypothyroidism.