AIBU to wish I had known sooner about vaginal oestrogen cream?

[Seriestwo]

I am nearer 60 than 50 and have had lots of UTIs and vaginal dryness for ages. Peeing stinged, wiping was sometimes painful. I have been on HRT for about 10 years. Mentioned it in passing to GP who gave me cream in an applicator and you must know about it! Within 2 weeks I was so much better and comfortable. I hadn’t realised how uncomfortable it was.

I've been meaning to ask for this from the gp myself, thanks for the reminder!

I had a serious UTI and was in and out of hospital scans etc and various antibiotics saw my lovely local GP and she said strong link between vaginal dryness and menopause and UTI suggested some supplements the NHS do not prescribe, plenty of fluids and oestrogen pessaries every night for two weeks and then three times a week. Was on antibiotics was 6 months before and sex was still uncomfortable after two weeks of pessaries it was all back to normal and no UTI since.

That’s the benefit of going private.

I initially suffered 3 UTIs and NHS gave me 3 sets of 3 day antibiotics. Went away and returned. The final time I had enough and went private. They took my bloods, saw I had ecoli, treated it with the correct antibiotics and put me on HRT + vagifem straight away. It was costly but I haven’t had a UTI since. Private tell you what you need as we’re paying for it. NHS seem to hold back as we’re not. Now I have the correct prescription I will move back to the NHS with it.

@Seriestwo 7 months of suffering was enough for me, how you stuck it out for 10 years I have no idea. You poor thing. Glad you eventually got what you needed.

Yanbu, it’s appalling that women aren’t offered this more frequently. I had dryness on and off for years pre menopause. Also while breastfeeding- I only found later I could have had some.

Have to say that through eating lots of ground flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, nuts and omega3 / oily fish I actually don’t need it much. I do when I remember

(Not on hrt, on tamoxifen, possibly post menopausal now.)

I'm 46 and found out about it here... It's the best thing ever. Ever. Ever ever ever.

My NHS GP prescribed it readily and said most women will need it at some point

It’s good stuff. Im
never coming off it

It's 100% available in the NHS but women need to know about it and many GPs need to be more on the ball.

Apart from anything else, it has really helped my urge to wee every five minutes. It apparently plumps up the tissue around the urethra, so that has really helped. It is not an instant fix though, it took a couple of months to see a difference. I'm late 60s, and rarely get UTI either. Which is a good thing as they can make a person go a bit doo lally in older years. I'll be using this cream as long as I'm able, and there's currently no age restriction on it.

So many women feel miserable with a vague UTI feeling, general irritation etc, but it doesn’t seem bad enough to see a GP. So we drink more, and blame ourselves.

I really wish we were informed about the possibility before we start suffering! It’s not beyond the realms of possibility to text age related updates about these things.

Can you buy it on the Internet, rather then the hassle of the GP?

My GPs won't prescribe it, they just say buy moisturiser at the pharmacy.

You need to ask for a second opinion then. I'm 43, my NHS GP confirmed Peri with blood tests late last year, swapped my coil in Jan for me, started prescribing me HRT in the form of my choosing (patches) alongside pessaries.

Went back for 3 month review and asked for estrogen cream as well as the pessary and asked for the dosage of the patches to be increased.....not a problem at all.

Also made sure I knew about the HRT annual pre paid prescription......you deserve healthcare!

My GP wouldn’t prescribe it either, I’m 41 and they told me it was for post menopausal women. But I have some peri symptoms, dryness and chronic/embedded UTI. Why are they reluctant to prescribe?

I’m sorry for those who’ve been denied it. It really is marvellous.
It’s kept my downstairs comfortable and operational.

If you are post menopausal you can do an online consultation with a pharmacy and get cream or pessaries and pay privately.

Is it an external cream?

Yes, you can buy cream or pessaries through an online pharmacy.

I was prescribed it by a young female GP after being vaguely diagnosed with dermatitis by a gynecologist who offered no practical solutions apart from washing my pants in sensitive washing powder 🙄

GP said "I thought the gynecologists were just giving it out to everyone these days". It was a revelation...

My blood tests (which they insist on despite me being late 40s) are "normal" so they say peri is not the problem.

has anyone tried using it on their face? I keep seeing suggestions about this online, and if it does for my eyebags what it’s done for my fanjo I will be ecstatic.

You can buy it over the counter as Gina

would this be suitable for me (I’m 44) if I’ve been having recurrent thrush for 2 years, some pain and occasional bleeding during sex, the need to pee more often? I’ve been talking all possible thrush medication and it goes away, only to return the following month or when the treatment is finished. Getting an appt with a female GP is very difficult.

why are GPs reluctant to prescribe it, does it have bad long term consequences?

Yes you can
Oxford online pharmacist

I had this was driving me crazy, my gp prescribed weekly fluconazole (sp?) tablets for I think 12 weeks, cleared it up.