Hrt just for 'Gina? Worth it??

[Flickitspinittwistitbopit]

Not a taat but off the back of a thread about women who are "anti hrt" - I'm technically in menopause now (last period in summer 2024) and didn't go for hrt as beyond the odd hot flash and a bit of weight gain/muscle loss from doing feck all reduced activity and energy levels, I didn't really feel I needed it, however I'm now getting worried about the dreaded vaginal atrophy 😱 has anyone experience of using Just the topical gel for this and that alone?

Also curious as to whether, should I change my mind, one can start hrt after menopause, and what are the potential benefits/risks (& will it restore my old lady metabolism 🙈)?

Anyone help?

Ok so I definitely think I want me some of this!

Is it better to use pessaries or gel/cream? Are they all pretty much the same just different branding? And does it affect your libido at all?

Sorry for all the questions!

I like the little pessaries. Zero mess. But with the gel/cream you can choose the amount

Don't forget kegels!

Libido - no pain or dryness = way hay 😊

I was prescribed Vagifem pessaries at first. They caused me a lot of pain. Think I had a reaction to the Estradiol. Owe my life to Estriol cream. Xx

Oh you’ll know x

It was shooting pains up the urethra. Bladder pain. Couldn’t hold hardly any fluid. Stinging. Burning. Constant need to wee. UTIs. Utter misery xx

Pale vulva
Soreness during sex and before sex and after sex
Peeing as though you have the worst UTI but you don't
Leaking constantly
Leaking a little poo sometimes (kegels fix this)
Feeling ill through lack of sleep because of vulva pain and constant peeing

I didn’t know what Gina was anyway.

You can use grown up words in titles on here 😬

Thank you for the valuable contribution to the thread 🙄

And what isn't "grown up" about abbreviating a word? 🤔 It's not like I called it a twinkle or fooffoo or some other infantilisation 😂

You're just being a grumpton 😉

Thanks for being so candid, ladies. This info is really helpful

I should point out that the symptoms of VA can vary hugely from person to person and that I had none of these symptoms (although I wasn't having sex so can't vouch for that one!) and mine were limited pretty much to soreness after walking. If it hadn't been for needing that smear test and absolutely DREADING the very idea of something going up there, I might never have discovered Gina at all.

So it might be the case of you needing it without knowing you need it, iyswim.

@CreepingCrone GPs at my surgery didn’t have a clue. Kept prescribing anti biotics. One sent me to a gynaecologist. I told him about all the stinging. He didn’t have a clue either! I was left like this for six years. Six years of pain and misery. Could hardly leave the house. Did my own research and asked to be prescribed Ovestin cream (that’s what estriol used to be called). Absolute miracle.

I wasn’t the only one confused. And it is twee and usually only used by very small children who can’t pronounce the whole word!

Obvs typing the whole word would have made it clearer but I understand why you didn’t -it would have entailed one extra whole keystroke. 🤣🤣

This happened to me too. GP no idea. Consultant no idea. In fact the Consultant wanted to operate under a GA to open up my urethra. Fucking moron

At that stage (6 months down the line) I saw a specialist physio. Sorted. Literally sorted after one appointment and 2 weeks of kegels and pessaries

I have never ever ever been so disgusted and disillusioned with medics in my life

@MyNextDoorNeighbourVotesReform I did an inadvertent snigger at ‘fucking moron’.

I feel like GPs have got a lot better at this since Davina et al made such a huge noise about it all, but maybe I’m being optimistic. There’s a GP at my practice who has done the menopause module and seems to handle all the HRT queries now - between that and other obs/gynae stuff the poor woman probably doesn’t get to do anything else, but at least she knows what she’s talking about.

I appreciate the snigger !! 🤣🤣 I was so so angry

This all happened early 2025. So......not sure about things improving. I hope they do, though!

@Flickitspinittwistitbopit it's personal preference. Gel is messier, occasional discharge but I didn't get on with the pessaries, they seemed to increase the UTI symptoms if anything so prefer gel. I haven't tried cream.

Be kind to Gina. Use the cream/pessaries!

OMG it’s actually astonishing isn’t it. I think if we’d had chat GPT during my six years of suffering I’d have been able to get the help sooner ie I’d have known more than they did. The gynaecologist was one all the women were hoping to see. Really? I wouldn’t give you tuppence for him. F idiot x

It really is astonishing, I agree. And it really really shows how we need to research and advocate for ourselves rather than blindly trusting what fucking idiot consultants tell us.

Imagine going under to have ever increasingly large wires poked into my urethra over and over again with all the inherent risks involved (which he explained to me with great alacrity) when all I needed was an amazing physio

Blows
My
Mind

Do people really refer medical issues to ChatGPT? I’m all for AI but I had no idea

Of course the flipside of awareness means that the world ascribes everything to meno or peri from the age of about 25 - you only have to see posts on here where any OP feeling tired etc is told it’s peri).

I had an incredibly painful medical condition (to the point I was phoning 111 at 1.00 am sobbing my heart out because I couldn’t stand it and had to go to A&E) and they just assumed it was menopause related. I wasn’t taken seriously, they mentioned HRT but didn’t prescribe anything.

Two days later I was sent to hospital for a couple of days (no ward so was stuck in a corridor for the whole time)

They let me suffer for 6 fucking weeks before actually testing me and finding out it was nothing to do with it.

I haven't consulted Chatgpt about anything medical so far, no. But I definitely do my own research and reading.

Yeah that makes sense - I just have visions of people loading their symptoms into ChatGPT 😱

It’s better informed than the GPs at my surgery. What a mess eh x

Many people do. I don’t see anything wrong in that as long as you keep it in perspective