Is this vaginal atrophy?

[buddy79]

Hi, wondered if anyone can please tell me in laypersons terms whether they’ve experienced this? I’m 44 and been having irregular periods and hot flushes for over a year, confirmed as peri by a blood test last year. I haven’t had a period now for 16 weeks which is my longest gap so far.
For the last month I’ve had much more vaginal discharge than usual, to the extent I’m scared I’ve peed myself, one episode where my labia became sore and swollen for a few days, and strange “watery” bleeding after sex. Is this the start of vaginal atrophy? I’m going to try to get a GP appt as it’s starting to really upset me, but everything I read online is about dryness - I seem to have the opposite. Anyone experienced similar? Thank you

Yes, it can be.

It's not always obvious or well known but yes, what you've described can be VA.

You should maybe have a swab done as it could be BV (bacterial vaginosis) - think you can buy OTC swab tests for that. (online info on it.)

It can be caused by a change in the pH values of vagina through loss of estrogen.

Easily treated with vaginal estrogen.

Are you interested in starting full HRT? You're young to be missing periods and it's often suggested you top up your estrogen to age 52 at least.

Thank you so much for your reply, that makes sense. No one I can talk to in real life so I really appreciate it.