His and Her Health

Can anyone give me any advice on vaginal atrophy and painful symptoms. I have been on every known HRT that is supposed to help with these symptoms. Only one that worked (and only for one year) has been Vagifem. Suddenly around the first of December it failed me. I can't seem to get it to work although I am still trying to use it regularly. Problem is worsening. Is there something else I can do. This is resulting in urinary tract pain but no infections. I am a 47 year old female that had hysterectomy with removal of ovaries 4 years ago. Have been in this kind of pain ever since.

Help

Naturemom

Dear Naturemom,

Thank you for logging onto our website and I sincerely hope we are able to help you. I've consulted with one of our medical advisors, Dr. Mary Jane Minkin (Clinical Professor OB/GYN Yale University School of Medicine) and here is what she had to say regarding your concerns:

Dear Naturemom-
I'm not sure why the vagifem stopped working-one thought: for some women, vagifem is really great up inside the vagina-but sometimes, near the vulva, and underneath the urethra, some topical cream (Estrace, or Premarin) can be very helpful-if that is where the pain is located. Just take some cream and apply it with your finger-if that's the problem, application every night for two weeks or so should get it under control-and then you can continue to add that to your vagifem routine twice or three times weekly. However, sometimes the tissue (for whatever reason) gets very dry-and some systemic estrogen (like patches or oral pills) can be really helpful. I just had a patient who was really uncomfortable-she had tried vagifem and Estrace cream every other night-and she was getting nowhere-I really encouraged her to do one month of oral estrogen -(she was anxious about doing it-and she preferred oral pills to patches)-and in just one month, her tissue really responded beautifully, and she is now maintaining her tissue with just vaginal estrogens, and she is doing very well.
So these are things I would consider, and do check in with your care provider.
Good luck,
Mary Jane Minkin

This is helpful information but my problem seems to be mostly very internal. I bought Replens today. Can I use this in conjunction with my Vagifem successfully or will it diminish the effectiveness of the Vagifem?

Naturemom