Estrogen cream-can't tolerate

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Sex was v painful, so l went to doctor who gave me estrogen cream to insert.

For 4 weeks everything was great. Pain free sex, no soreness or itching, and l thought l'd cracked it.

Then l got thrush. And once l get it, it's almost impossible to get rid of, I've been plagued by it since l was 13.😭

I can't use that cream anymore. Is there anything else? I've had no Mel pause symptoms apart from this

Vagifem which are pessaries and much less messy.

Isn't vagifem estrogen based? It's the estrogen that's causing the thrush. I'm bloody desperate.😭

It may be the fillers in the cream though causing the thrush rather than the oestrogen

I use an estring, a small ring which sits by the cervix and provides a small amount of oestrogen daily for 3 months. The fillers in the cream and pessaries gave me thrush & itching.

Good point drama queen. I had forgotten about earring. I think it's the fillers etc rather than the oestrogen causing the itching.

It may be the fillers.... but l could never take the pill because it gave me thrush.

How do you put one of those ring things in?

Pill is different as it is synthetic hormones HRT is more natural called bioidentical hormones. Slip it in up to your cervix. Also lack of oestrogen can make you itchy too.

I know it can, l had 3 1/2 weeks of no itching when l was using the cream, and easy non painful sex. Prior to that sex was too painful to contemplate😰

It seemed perfect, and then l got thrush😭

Is there anything that doesn't contain estrogen?

No nothing that really works only lube

Basic and obvious question but what are you using to teat the thrush? Oral Difluclan?
Thrush ought not to happen as it makes the vagina more acidic and thrush likes an alkaline environment. However, it's the change in the flora that can set it off. You could try reducing the treatment to once a week. The other thing is that sex itself can start off thrush by the friction it causes.

Could you try the cream alone and see how that goes? And do all the other stuff to help thrush- no hot baths, no tight clothes, cotton knickers, no tights etc and reduce sugar in your diet.

Then if that helps, if you have sex and the thrush comes back it could be the sex (and your partner can carry it too if you aren't using condoms.)

I have sometimes had an itchy thrush like reaction to Ovestin but tbh if I keep using it, it goes away.

It could be a temporary 'blip'.

Or, as others have said, ask to try Vagifem instead.

Vaginal atrophy will get worse without estrogen. You need to find something that helps and lube just coats the surface- it doesn't change the actual cells to a pre-meno state.

If you have always been plagued by thrush, are you sure it's the cream causing the thrush?

Nothing but estrogen is going to help with the atrophy. Lube of various descriptions will lubricate to different degrees but only estrogen will actually change the cells of the vagina back to where they were pre-menopause.

So your options are: how are you treating the thrush? Are you using the most effective way to treat it?
And is there another vaginal estrogen that would suit you better?