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 .,,

New to this so bit unsure how it works lol

@Helenastro21 , at the bottom on the left of the pale blue box there is @Start new thread in this topic. It is above the bit where you add a new message.
Hope that helps.

Thanks 😀

I'm 51, going through menopause, and really uncertain as to whether I'm experiencing this. I do get wet enough for sex, but it feels like everything's 'shrunk' internally (and there was never much space to begin with, I seem to have been 'built small') and DH often can't get in, to put it bluntly. I've read about VA but have no idea whether it can cause this, or whether there's some other reason my 'structure' is changing so to speak. Had a pelvic exam and smear recently and nothing untoward was mentioned then, but I know I'm not the way I was any more, so to speak. I have no idea how common (or otherwise) this is. Need to go back to the doctor really, I know, but I keep putting it off.

bringincrazyback
Could you have a prolapse ?
If you scoop down on your heels and look with a mirror or have a feel about could your cervix be poking down low.

Yes , you do get “wet” but it is not the same as before.
Go to Jo Divine website. Read the blogs . Listen to the radio tapes .
You may need HRT , supplemented with purchases from Jo Divine.

Update: blood test says I'm not menopausal yet! But GP agrees I'm probably having perimenopausal hormone ups and downs due to symptoms and was happy to prescribe me estriol cream which Made me feel almost immediately more comfortable, fingers crossed it will rejuvenate my undercarriage!

Golden
It’s not so much slack as the walls are not as plumped and firm... so little tiny air bubbles escape... it’s nothing like the fanny fart someone’s mentioned, those are loud and caused by the action of penetration during sex.
For me. It’s a combination of thinner inner walls and outer labia and thin watery discharge. Only I would know they’re escaping as they’re tiny and work their way up and out between the outer labia.
It’s more of a feeling than a noise! Thankfully
It usually happens before my period when I’m leaking more secretions which are watery.

Bringing crazy back
Just like meno is different for everyone so are the effects of VA.
If you google the symptoms a shortening and narrowing of the vaginal canal is one of the more common symptoms.
So is painful sex but I like you have no problems at all with natural lubricantion during sex, it doesn’t hurt me and I don’t have dry chapped skin or loss of pubic hair.
But I DO have watery thin discharge, pee on the hour, various pain inside and out, sense of burning to the skin, highly sensitive pubic hair which is irritating just rubbing against my knickers... and most of those symptoms are not mentioned.
So yes a shortening and narrowing of the vaginal canal is a symptom as is the interior walls losing the ridges (it normally has ridges) and turning into smooth flat walls inside.

Thanks for the feedback peeps, that's helpful. I have wondered about a prolapse too, guess I really should get a doc appointment scheduled and get this all checked out properly... grimaces

missclimpson

Thank you for sharing :)

@ceecee32

Thats interesting (inserting it near the bladder)

I had a pelvic exam and the front wall of my vagina (where the bladder sits next to it) was senstive to touch, made me jump a little. He tried to tell me I might have IC but the lady who wrote the book Queen mentioned messeged me to say she had the exact same response and was also told she had IC but once she was on HRT and Estring (Vagifem alternative) months later she had the same exam and no pain at all.
She said it was VA
You have to be REALLY careful not to be lead down investigative paths that require invasive tests like stretching the bladder or uretha bc these things can cause more symptoms than you started with.
IC is almost a trendy diagnoses now.
If your symptoms what ever they are started at or around meno then hormones are the link!

Update, I have now used the Estriol cream daily for two weeks and was told to reduce to twice weekly last Monday.

I’ve now got thrush symptoms. Do you think that can be an effect? And can I treat it with canesten at the same time or should I apply more Estriol? It seems to have appeared since I stopped using it daily.

I think I need a lubricant as well for sex as it’s still dry, any recommendations as I’ve never needed one before.

GP suggested trying this and if no got response after a couple of months to go on to patches and reduce my anti depressant. I have always been wary of hrt but I certainly wasn’t prepared for vaginal atrophy.

YesYesYes lubricant. Water based and oil based ones.
Online.

As I said before go to Jo Divine. Some interesting blogs on it .

I'd suggest trying plain old KY first.

QueenRollo

Reviews are mixed in terms of if flesh grows back I think I recall reading about women who claimed their bits grew back a bit. The flesh you do have will def plump back up. I know the author of a menopausal vagina book had lost her hood too and this caused her to have spontaneous orgasms due to the exposed clitoris and she’s much better since HRT and local oestrogen.
Either way, sooner you’re using it the better!
Good luck,x

My identity

I’ve heard of a few women who get thrush although it’s not been my experience. Not sure why.
You will need to use local oestrogen for life or HRT or both! As soon as there’s no oestrogen again things will revert back you see.
I had never heard of va either... I got some rather upsetting symptoms physical arousal without provocation or thought... and a touch of burning
which then morphed into pain, stinging, burning, etc and then from my own research I learned about VA.
The arousal lasted 3 weeks and my libido also peaked to a level I’ve never personally experienced in my life it was not welcome or wanted.
I pray it never returns.

Do not think KY is ph balanced.

now I have been reading up I on the menopause I recall about a year or so ago having symptoms of a UI, like needing to go to the loo all the time and nothing there. The docs could not find an infection. I wonder i that was a sign of VA beginning. I was not sexually active then and had no other discomfort. Even when I started to sleep with my DP about 6 months ago I felt some pain initially but put it down to being out of action for a while/nerves. Another thing is I have been experiencing dry and itching around the anus for a few months now and the GP prescribed anusol, now I feel it was part of the atrophy.

I have bought some KY as a stop gap but will order some lubricant from the Jodivine as it is organic and I much prefer the sound of that.

I’ve had many of the symptoms of VA on and off for years but I’m only 42 now and this has been happening since I was in my late 30s. I don’t get periods bc of the coil but I really don’t think I’m anywhere near menopause. Yet here I am. It’s affecting my marriage and I’m way overdue for a smear. I was prescribed Ovestin by my GP and it didn’t help although now I think I may not have used it for long enough (nightly for 2 weeks then 2x/week for maybe 2 months.). But why would this be happening at my age? Could it be something else entirely? GP Gabe me a referral to a private gynecologist but she didn’t recommend a specific person. I haven’t gone yet, I don’t know why. Cost is not the issue.

I’m in west London so if anyone can recommend a great gynecologist who can help with this please PM me. I’ve looked online but it’s hard to narrow it down. Also what about the MONA Lisa touch? Has anyone tried that? I’m afraid the dr is gong to tell me to do that right away and if it helps that’s wonderful but I still don’t know why this is happening to me in the first place.

Some people get the menopause earlier than others@TheBhagwan

roseenglish1969 I've now read the book you mentioned and am recommending it to my friends.
I have done my loading dose of Estriol and now down to twice weekly. I have definitely noticed things have plumped up, in particular my clitoral hood as I'm now not being irritated by my underwear like I had been. Generally my vuvla is more comfy. DH says he can tell the difference too.
So far this is a positive experience for me. My urinary continence issues seem to be improving. They weren't really bad but I am aware that dealing with these things in the early stages will yield better results. I'm actually finding I can feel better while doing my pelvic floor exercises.

Interview with the author of My Menopausal Vaginal talking about Vaginal Atrophy

I've had to come off hrt for a while(I hope)and am having the watery discharge,urinary urgency and itchiness so this thread has been useful.Back off to the GP I think.