External vaginal gel plus an internal gel?

[BellissimoGecko]

I have been using Estriol for a couple of months and get on fine with it. At my last GP appt I asked for an external gel too, as I have noticed changes to my skin etc and think gel would help.

i get home and find the GP has prescribed me HRT tablets instead - wtf?

Is there a benefit to taking an external gel plus an internal one, or will the internal one benefit the whole area? Thank you!

He prescribed Tibolone.

What are you using? You say Estriol- is this the small tube of what was called Ovestin (white tube with purple writing)? It's not gel- it's a white cream.

The only vaginal gel is Blissel which is a very low dose.
This is for internal use I think.

Estrogen cream can be used internally and externally and there is an estrogen pessary (vagifem) which is only used internally.

What sort of changes and what effect are they having?

Yes, Blissel 50mg, on the maintenance dose of every 3 days. Internal use.

I’m itchy, skin feels dry, loss of - um, I’m not sure what the best word is. Volume? Shape?

You need the cream. Can't fathom how your GP prescribe d Tibolone- that's very odd.

Yeah. Me too. Don’t think he was listening. Will make a complaint. Thanks.

Can you not use the gel externally? I am having similar issues to the OP. Currently using vagifem daily and still symptomatic. We thinking I need something I can also apply externally but can’t use the cream as I am allergic to one of the ingredients.

The gel says it’s for internal use only.

If you're desperate till you see your (useless) GP, you ca buy Ovesse over the counter or online. Google it.
It's the same as you will get on prescription.

You may have resolved your issue now but thought you might be interested that I did some research and Blissel is fine to use externally in the same way as the cream. I spoke to my GP and he was happy to prescribe this in addition to the vagifem. I’ve started using it and had a very quick response. I hadn’t realised how sore and rough in places the skin was until it wasn’t! (To me i also have eczema down there so it’s hard to tell the wood from the trees!). Skin feels much softer and more moist and weird smell is gone too. I’m hoping it plumps things back up over time but we’ll see.

Thank you, @TatteredAndTorn, that’s really helpful! Will try that.