Vaginal atrophy - Lets mention the unmentionable

[roseenglish1969]

So, it happens to 50% to 60% of women at or around menopause time yet very few women approach their doctors about it suffering in silence with painful sex and all of the other horrible symptoms.

The sad thing is once the damage is done you can’t reverse that damage and your bits do shrink.

The clitoral hood often shrinks back exposing the clitorus which can lead to extreme pain and sensitive as you walk about or move. So tight jeans are a no no.
The inner labia shrinks sometimes to nothing and the inner labia has glands which provides moisture to the outside of the vagina. So no labia no moisture equals dry itchy broken skin. Pain in and outside the vagina, burning to the skin around the vulva and bottom,.
VA also affects the bladder causing leaks, urgency, increased frequency and nighttime trips, so Tenna pads ARE avoidable, we don’t have to accept incontinance as part of getting old.

The difficult part is getting your doctors to
a) understand what your symptoms are
b) give a damn
c) prescribe it as they think vagifem is HRT. It isn’t

Most GPs know next to nothing about VA or menopause so it’s up to you to take some printed information off and ask for vagifem.

A years worth of vagifem amounts to just two full HRT tablets. That’s how little oestrogen is in it. And most of that is absorbed by your reproductive organs as it’s a pessary not a tablet and designed that way for that very reason.

What are your symptoms?

I do wonder if some women are confusing increased libido (sex surge) with VA, I know I did, I thought the sudden sensations to my vag was some new meno symptom which it was but it was because my skin below was thinner and the nerves more exposed and sensitive. I felt arousal below out of the blue, no thoughts of sex at all and it was a very confusing time for me. It’s not a common symptom and I fell into a rabbit hole of health anxiety which I’m still not over... I thought I had some rare nerve disorder that effects the vagina. I literally wanted to die rather than live with the condition. Thanks Google.
Videos of women having 100 involuntary orgasms a day haunted me and I was sure that’s where I was heading.
As I say, still very raw to me as I’m trying to accept I don’t have the condition and have VA.

So I wanted to reach women who perhaps had symptoms and were too afraid or shy to ask,
Pm me if you wish .,,

Read this (very informative) thread last night and have been worrying about the air bubbles. I occasionally get these involuntary fanny farts, usually when standing up. Is this a sign of VA?

No fanny farts are a sign of slack muscles so pelvic floor exercises are the answer.

I was diagnosed with VA by a Urogynaecologist who I saw for a prolapse. I had no idea about this beforehand. I am single so did not have the sign of discomfort with sex.

l had two symptoms which should be warning signs. My last smear test was extremely painful which had never happened before. The nurse just said that sometimes happens as you get older but it's not a problem as I don't need another one - she should have explained. Twice I thought I had thrush and self treated with Canesten, despite being over 60 and it says do not use if over 60 but I ignored it. I know now you should go to the GP as it was obviously a symptom of VA. Also my outer skin is very dry but I thought that was just part of my overall dry, excema type skin.
Since surgery if I don't use Oestriol, I am incontinent.

Thanks @QueenoftheNights That's a relief, better start clenching then!

I can’t use these hormonal creams. They all gave me thrush, and then l couldn’t get rid of it.

Saw a fab gyneacologist who recommended something called YES. It’s been great for me.

However, what l really want us a procedure called Mona Lisa Touch. This uses a laser to restore the tissues. Unfortunately it’s not on the NHS, but it’s about £500. I can’t afford it at the moment. But that is my aim. I do suspect that it would be more cost effective on the NHS rather than a life time of pessaries

Why is it so hard to remember to clench regularly? Maybe as a service to the majority of members, MN should auto-insert a message 'Clench!' on every hundredth post.

Pilates can be good for pelvic floor too

This is ringing bells for me. I've had treatment for recurrent thrush which I've never had before but just feel generally uncomfortable there.

Can anyone recommend a very mild shower gel as most seem to irritate me?

Errol there is an NHS app Squeezy which sends reminders to your phone

Can anyone recommend a very mild shower gel as most seem to irritate me?

Unperfumed glycerin soap and don;t use anything except warm water on your vulva- def not shower gel or soap.

Thanks for the thread; it's got my thinking of my last 2 smear tests, which were extremely painful (prior to this in my 30's they were a breeze).

Could this be a symptom? I haven't had sex for 6 years so wouldn't be having painful sex.

Thanks for this thread OP it is very interesting.

I was recently prescribed oestrogen pessaries for dryness and itchiness but because I don't like taking medications I decided that I would not use them and that I could put up with the irritation.

The thing is you don't ever get any level of detail from your GP do you? They didn't tell me that the condition had a name or that I could expect things to deteriorate!

After reading this thread I think I will go and get my prescription first thing tomorrow

Errol there is an NHS app Squeezy which sends reminders to your phone

Yeah, but I need a reminder to check my phone more often!

Errol I have a need now to run around all the boards and post Now clench. It was all good when teachers did exam invigilation, there was nothing else much to do. May be I will focus on clenching in assemblies and staff meetings now.

Thank you. I’ll be back to respond to your very helpful post. Been a busy day.

In the meantime- there used to be a poster called something like pelvicFloorExercises. I’ve not seen her in ages but I think we should all change our name to something similar.

QueenoftheNights Thank you!

I will go to my GP.

I’m incredibly sensitive to progesterone too. I tried the more a coil but had to have it taken out as I felt so ill. I blew up like a ballon and GP thought I had a good intolerance. I had the coil removed and got better very quickly.

I can’t do pelvic floor exercises as no one has successfully managed to explain what they feel like! I’m doing my approximation of them as I type (TMI) but I’m pretty sure I’m just breathing in and clenching my anus. Oh god.

I do Pilates but I know I should do it more than my weekly class.

Anyway. Thanks all. This is what makes MN so brilliant. I’m sorry to meet so many breast cancer sufferers here though. Boo.

For those of you needing to address your pelvic floor, I'd recommend the work of bio mechanical scientist Katy Bowman
www.nutritiousmovement.com/pelvic-floor/
(Link might not work, so just google!)

Kegels aren't necessarily the best way to go and can actually cause more tension. There's several other parts of your anatomy that are key to pelvic floor health.

Golden- google Gussie Grips- it's Elaine Miller who is a women's physio and comedian who talks at the Edinburgh Fringe amongst other places, about women's health.

She has some great Youtube videos showing you how to do your PF exercises. Also Michelle Kenway(OZ physio) masses on her website/ videos.

Such an informative thread. Thankyou ladies.

I have been on hrt (ellest duet) for nearly a year, prescribed by a gynaecologist because I was having dreadful flushes. This has really helped with vaginal dryness (and the flushes) but I still find it very hard to reach an orgasm during (unfortunately infrequent!) sex. Would the pessary help with this do you think? I am so hoping that the answer is yes!

Also, could my uti symptoms (dull pain) also be caused by VA even though I am on hrt?

What do you mean by cancer risk?
Queen I had a scan that showed thickened lining of the womb following some post menopausal bleeding. I've declined a hysteroscopy because of my phobia of hospitals and anxiety. I've been referred back to my gp who is currently on holiday but will be making an appointment to speak to her when she returns. I'll ask her about norethisterone.

I can't believe they discharged you with no treatment! why didn't the specialist prescribe Norethisterone for you? How thick was the lining- do you know?

A scan isn't fully conclusive sometimes and it would be sensible to have the investigation if you possibly can.

The risks of it being cancer are low - depending how old you are and how long since your last period- but it's something you should not ignore.

I'm sure you know all of this :)

Thanks. The lining was 10 thick i believe. I can't go through with it due to my phobia. I'm 54 and it was just 14 months max since my last period. The bleeding felt like a period. I only had it once since, 6 months after that, which also felt like a period.

itsthemenopausenotme

has your GP not suggested you have treatment for your phobia? Have you looked into it yourself- hypnotherapy or CBT?

It's obviously in your short and long term interests to get over the phobia because at some stage you may well need treatment for something.

The hysteroscopy ; I've had it done and know other women who have. Can't say I looked forward to it, but it was ok.

I've had lots of counselling and tried hypnotherapy which didn't work for me.

I am 38 and my GP thinks I am perimenopausal. I have had symptoms of anxiety and weepiness along with vulval irritation.

The vulval symptoms started a a couple of months ago when I had cystitis for the first time. GP prescribed antibiotics based on my symptoms. They worked but I then developed thrush as a result.

This cleared up but things didn't get fully back to normal. I rang my GP with ?thrush again about 3 weeks after the first episode and following my period when I had used sanitary towels for the first time in over 12 mth (usually use a mooncup but had worried that had possibly caused the cystitis the month before) and she said it sounded maybe more like irritation which actually made sense as I had generally irritation and soreness all over my vulva including my urethra.

She prescribed hydrocortisone cream which helped a little but not totally. I persevered for a week and it didn't settle in fact it started to get worse. I rang my GP and he suggested a stronger steroid cream which over the course of a week worked and things settled.

That was a couple of weeks ago. Things settled but not completely so I then had a GP appointment two weeks ago and my GP who carried out an examination of my vulva and said it all looked fine. This is when she diagnosed perimonopause - I have been having anxiety and weepiness around my period and ovulation for about 9 months. She said to carry on with the steroid cream as and when I needed to use it.

I have done this but this week my urethra and around my clitoral hood has been sore. Not cystitis but not unlike the pain. It is worse it I wear jeans and they rub etc It isn't constant but is sore at some point most days.

I am going to use some steroid cream again but reading this thread I'm worried that I have VA and that the steroid cream will be making things worse long term?

Just a quick question to anyone on HRT .
Anybody experienced nausea when using vagifem or HRT vaginal ring ?

You might be better starting a new thread @Helenastro21