ovestin cream

[ParrotPirouette]

I read about ovestin cream on here for vaginal atrophy and Dr Google suggests this is what I have. I'm 53, haven't had a period in 5 years and I have been rather blase about menopause, no other symptoms until now.

I do suffer from recurring thrush and it has taken a while to realise my current symptoms are different, burning, itching, bleeding etc.

Anyhoo, tried to buy some ovestin cream online but they wouldn't prescribe it, not sure why other than I haven't used it before.

I get bad migraines and years ago I was warned never to take the combined pill, only the mini pill. Does this mean that I really shouldn't consider an Oestrogen cream now?

thank you for any advice!

You can absolutely have oestrogen cream with migraine.

If you do want HRT you can have that too but it has to be patches or gel.

But you should definitely do the vaginal oestrogen even if you don't want to go the whole hog, there will be no more itching/thrush/UTIs.

Ask your GP for it. Watch out that the instructions say every day for 2 weeks then twice a week - it is very normal to need it more than that.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news , but I found ovestin cream gave me horrendous thrush every time I tried it .

Thank you. I wanted to buy it online as I can’t bear the thought of an internal exam, or even trying to get an appointment. Do I just say I’ve had it before?

I've never even been examined! Just say dry itchy vag plus menopause at the GP.

Women don't need to be examined for this.
You just describe your symptoms.

You can buy another version of it which is a small tablet to insert, rather than the cream.

It's called Gina and you can get it from most pharmacies.
You will have to 'tick' boxes such as being over 50 and post menopausal.

I used ovestin and it's great. I'm also prone to thrush but for some reason it's not caused it for me.

I can’t use a tablet or pessary, it has to be a cream unfortunately. It is a shame because Gina appears to be readily available and ovestin is out of stock everywhere.

Can you explain?
You've never used any of this before, or had a consultation, so why do you think it has to be cream?

The pessary is tiny- like a grain of rice. And if you use Ovestin, the applicator is far bigger than the one for Gina.

Ovestin is NOT out of stock. There are some threads here explaining whats occurred. The brand name has ended but the product is still available with a generic name.

You really need to see your GP. It's a very common issue and nothing to be embarrassed about- and they won't examine you.

It gives me headaches and nausea, sadly.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor , I think i remember you saying that on a thread . I just don’t do well with oestrogen.

Probably, I've tried it again since and it's the same old story.

I've always found Ovestin (which is called Estriol Cream now on my repeat prescription) to be effective and good, helping with dryness and pain, and actively preventing thrush and UTIs. I genuinely don't understand how it could cause thrush - but I'm very interested in understanding more. Could it be method of application, the individual bodily environment, or something else? It's not good that women have to suffer these conditions.

And in reality Ovestin/Estriol Cream is so weak that I've never regarded it as being HRT. It's really extremely weak in comparison to oestrogen patches or gel. Jingling has helpfully posted the statistical comparison on other threads that I've seen.

I have never had an internal exam for it.

@AutumnCrow , in my case I don’t deal well with oestrogen, I suffered with thrush when pregnant and on the pill . It seems the same with ovestin .

You can buy it on line.
Although l get it prescribed.
I have it for vaginal atrophy and prolapse bladder until l get my operation.

@AutumnCrow never caused me thrush .. in fact prevents its ..also
helps with preventing BV and UTI's too.
I went through medical menopause age 38 after total hysterectomy.
Had HRT for that.
But l use the cream for the above and my prolapse bladder until l get my operation.
I think if people are getting thrush they need to see their GP.. it's not the cream giving it to.them

https://www.pharmacyonline.co.uk/product-landing/ovestin-estriol-01-cream-15g/?ref=PPC&gad_source=1

I can’t use a pessary because I can’t reach to insert it. I just want to try the cream.
I went through the Superdrug online doctor process for HRT and there was a long list of choices; tablets, patches etc but no ovestin. Is it a different name I should be looking for?

The cream can be used externally but to be honest, you possibly need to use it internally as well because whatever's going on outside will be happening inside too.

Why can't you reach to use pessary? You don't need to do much more for applying cream.

The cream is estriol 0.1%

A poster has left you a link today recently for it.

Thank you, yes, I saw the link after I posted. I have ordered some from pharmacy online.
though it might be cancelled and refunded like my last attempt.

inserting a pessary is very different from applying some cream with a long mobility aid designed for the purpose.

@ParrotPirouette good luck with it.

I just started it yesterday after a year of trying to sort out things myself. Not realising until a recent thread on here that my symptoms may be part of the menopause.

i have to say I’m not liking the feeling of having the cream on so far. feels like I always need to wipe 😳 and I feel uncomfortable but if it works for the hideous itching and skin texture changes il persevere!

it funny though the gp when she examined me said oh yes you look very angry. I don’t think iv ever been told I have an angry vulva before lol I suppose it matches the rest of the menopausal me now!

I hope I can just buy some, I’m really not up to an examination. Mine is very angry too 🤣😡

I've been going mad with the itching. Nurse examined me agreed it was bad and prescribed hydrocortisone cream. That helped but not allowed anymore. So they gave me blissel last week. Unfortunately I got a UTI which ties in with atrophy. Was on the loo all the time so GP said forget blissel and take the antibiotics. So I've been using sudocreme which helped.

So now I'm nauseous with the antibiotics, acid reflux.

I'm really teed off.

I couldn't use a pessary because it was agony trying to insert it.

@justasking111 You should ask for Ovestin which you can insert with your finger. If you can't use the pessary it shows- sadly- that the atrophy is pretty bad because the applicator (as far as I know) is tiny- like a matchstick? You could use some lube to help.

Try to get some cream or a pessary in there! Blissel is very weak (one of the weakest) and not sure why they gave you that?

I asked for Ovestin. Apparently there's a shortage reading elsewhere.

No shortage - it's become a generic brand now so the name ovestin is not on the package