Gina pessaries any good?

[justasking111]

I'm a bit desperate ten years since last period. The itching at night is miserable. I'm slapping on sudocreme or caneston cream. It does come and go. I don't use soap at all just water.

You just need to try it.

You can see your GP and get the same stuff on prescription- it would be Vagifem (same as Gina) or Ovestin- a cream. If you are itching externally, the cream is possibly best as it is used inside and out- only from your GP, not OTC.

Thanks I tried to push the caneston pessary in last year. It was agonising. No sex for twenty years plus 10 years of menopause I wasn't sure I could do it. Will see GP

Saw GP have been given YES VM. Fingers crossed 🤞

I'm sorry but that won't do the job.
You can buy Yes in a pharmacy. It's not a prescription item.

yes is a moisturiser to use alongside estrogen if needed, or by the few women who can't use estrogen for medical reasons.

why has your GP not given you estrogen?

ps

YES and similar things do not reverse the changes of vaginal atrophy.

Topical estrogen actually changes the lining of the vagina so the cells are plumed back to their normal state.

Did you say that you can't insert a canestan pessary? You will be really dry and tight.

Your GP sounds an idiot.

Sorry but this makes me so cross.😡It's not the right treatment.

www.newsonhealth.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Vaginal-Dryness-v21-02.pdf

@JinglingSpringbells maybe because I told her I'd been celibate for 20 years. Long story older husband post op impotence

Nope.

Old ladies of 90 who are not having sex ( or could be - let's not be ageist!) use it.

It's not about having sex or being able to have sex (although obviously sex is harder and painful with an atrophied vagina.

Topical estrogen is used to keep the pelvic area in good health - it can help stop incontinence and urgency, and thrush.

You need estrogen to prevent things getting worse and then it's harder to reverse the changes.

Worst case- and this is not to scare you but to be factual- that in old women where it's not treated and gets severe, the vagina closes up completely as it's so dry.

Maybe try another GP as yours sounds as if she doesn't understand this at all.

Well I do get thrush and have urge incontinence. So will ask again. It did help with the itching last night I think.

Irrelevant whether you've been celibate for years by the sound of things you need estrogen replacing down there.
Ask for vagifem or/and an estrogen cream.

Update. Going crazy with itching YES made burning worse. So back to chemist for caneston. Was told that over 60s cannot buy it. To see GP 🙈

emailed surgery. This morning nurse phoned would I come in for examination. I did she agreed it was reddened did a swab and prescribed steroid cream. I did ask about estrogen cream but she didn't want to know. Is it very expensive @Crumpleton @JinglingSpringbells

The pessaries are also available under the name Vagirux as well as Gina and Vagifem.

Vagirux is more recommended in guidance now as it has one reusable applicator to rinse and reuse per pack where Vagifem has one applicator per pessary. It's all part of the phasing out single use plastic products but the pessary itself is the same under all 3 names

Well I'll try the steroid cream, wait for results of swab. Think I need to be more assertive.

Hi @justasking111

I'm surprised that you have been given a steroid cream, but stand to be corrected if it's the norm.
I'd tell the receptionist that you want to see a GP and if not make a complaint to the practice manager or PALS.

Are you in the UK?
I'm amazed that over recent years menopause talk is everywhere on TV but for some getting the actual treatment is still way behind on the list.

I get my Estriol cream and Vagifem on prescription from my GP, so for me just the prescription prices.

Although I haven't been using since October last year due to having needed/recently having a hysterectomy and am awaiting histology report to see if its OK to go back onto it I have myself been using YES vaginal moisturiser on my vulva area due to itching/soreness returning and it has also caused stinging but I put that down to being so dry and sore it'll take a bit of time before it works.

I squeezed the YES out onto a bit of tissue. It looks like aloe Vera.

@justasking111 You don't need to go to a pharmacy for Canestan- all the supermarkets sell it and you put it in your trolley.

. I did ask about estrogen cream but she didn't want to know.

I don't get this. What did she say?
Maybe you need to be a bit more assertive and say that is what you want. I don't see how it's her role to refuse- she's not a dr.

Gina is available OTC - you can google it for the price.

Ovestin is available from Superdrug- it's £25 which is a lot and it only costs £9 on a private prescription.

I genuinely don't get all this messing about and steroids on your vulva are FAR MORE RISKY than using estrogen. Nurse needs to go back for some training.

Although I haven't been using since October last year due to having needed/recently having a hysterectomy and am awaiting histology report to see if its OK to go back onto it

@Crumpleton This again is outdated and incorrect advice.
it's absorbed only in the vagina. If the issue is your womb, there is no need to stop vaginal estrogen.

What's wrong with some of the medical profession that they are so out of date?

Yes I thought that to.

But if there are signs of cancer the surgeon said it's possible that it could be caused by too much estrogen.
I did read that if you have a womb and are using estrogen progesterone should also be given to, but it wasn't until November just gone that I was given the mirena coil which contains progesterone.

As I've had my uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes and ovaries removed I can't see any reason why I couldn't restart when I fell comfortable to.

I don't have many menopause symptoms but VA has been one of them and for me it's awful so whatever the report states I need some form of replacement estrogen to stop the itching/soreness.

@justasking111
As @JinglingSpringbells says you can buy canestan OTC I get mine from Tesco pharmacy or Boots chemist as I use the one for fungal infection.
But it's never going to replace estrogen so in effect it's only masking the problem.

Equally I've seen posts where people do buy their estrogen cream via superdrug but again as said it's expensive and not what you should be made to do.

It's so wrong but many women have been fighting to get HRT over the years so keep trying.
I'm so surprised how some Dr's really advocate HRT yet others know nothing about it.
It really should be the same across the board.

@Crumpleton I'm sorry but I'm not aware of your medical history and what has happened and I don't want to pry. From what you have said, maybe you had hyperplasia with possible abnormal cells? Were you using estrogen-only for a long time, without progesterone? And if so, the question is who allowed this to happen?

I do know that HRT (not simply vaginal estrogen) is allowed for women who have Stage 1 endometrial cancer, as the stats show no risk of reoccurrence.

@JinglingSpringbells
Not prying at all as we're kind of discussing the issue.

I've been on Vagifem from 2006 and until recently didn't know about the progesterone side of things...but a quick Google and it's all there so why I wasn't prescribed it whi knows.

I'm not even sure when menopause started for me as I was using depo provera contraception injections and once stopped my periods never came back.

I'd been using Vagifem for a good few years then in August last year I had a bleed, first in 20 odd years but put it down to having a nasty UTI at the time.
When a second happened in October I went to my GP who sent me for tests.
First I had an internal and it showed thickening of the uterus lining, 22mm then I had the hysteroscopy and it showed
Atypical hyperplasia of the endometrium.

Surgeon didn't want me starting again until she's seen the report and knows the outcome but did say we'd have a chat about HRT once she had.
So hopefully it won't be a definite no can do.

Must add though...having had a hysterectomy when results aren't known does sound a very drastic move but it was discussed and even I decided it was the best thing for me as I was concerned that the mirena coil wouldn't work at thinning the lining.
At the time there was some thinking that the biopsy results weren't 100% on being clear and there were abnormal cells which could potentially turn to cancer so the choice was carry on with mirena and check regularly or hysterectomy.
I really didn't want to have regular podding and poking or the fear of getting cancer in the future so chose the hysterectomy.

Must add my GP/consultant/hospital has been so quick in dealing with all of this compared to how w long others have waited

Ah, okay understand now!

Just for the record, no progesterone is needed with vaginal estrogen. This is in all of the guidance. So using Vagifem would not be the cause.
The use of progesterone with estrogen is only for systemic HRT not topical estrogen (which is not classed as HRT.)

In the past they used to 'suggest' a trial 'withdrawal bleed' could be done every 2 to 3 years to see if any lining was there to be shed, being on the very cautious side, but it's no longer suggested or a requirement.

As I mentioned, there is guidance (all online) from the RCOG about using full systemic hrt after endo cancer, and why it's usually okay- and of course you may be ok and it was not cancer anyway. Fingers crossed for you.

Hit the menopause ten years ago. Palpitations sent to hospital a few times. Put on beta blockers in the end after seeing cardiologist privately . No-one mentioned menopause. Breast scares, mammogram all clear no-one mentioned menopause.

Bladder problems ignored, went privately had an MRI, the darling professor cleared my bladder but told me there was a bit of wear on one hip. OH and I had scoliosis, born with it. Well that's explained Forty odd years of a chiropractor.

IBS no-one had a clue Even after colonoscopy. No-one mentioned menopause meant giving up gluten, using lactose free milk except my son.

No-one suggested at the start of all these symptoms in my fifties that apart from scoliosis that it could be menopause related.

I have never had even a sniff of HRT treatment in the last decade. Much money has been spent, not one medical professional has mentioned menopause as a possibility. BUT it fits

@justasking111 But unless you were seeing a gynaecologist and one who's a specialist in menopause, it's unlikely any of those other drs would.

IBS and food intolerances are not a result of menopause (usually.)

Neither was your scoliosis as you were born with it.

The thing to focus on now is getting the right treatment.
Don't wait for someone (like the nurse) to 'diagnose' and dismiss what can be effective treatment.

Sometimes you've got to push for what you want.