I'm married, what's sex?

Hi Maggiecttr, I use Estrace Vaginal Cream for Vaginal Atrophy. Symptoms are dryness, burning and itching on outside and painful intercourse. My life was miserable before starting this medication. The Vagifem worked but not as well as Estrace. I use about 1gm everyother day inserted into the vagina. I was told that by inserting medication into the vagina, it doesn't cross the blood stream like HRT oral pills do. It is a lot less harmful than HRT but yes it is still estrogen.

I have been using an estrogen gel for several months. It does help moisturize the vaginal tissues. I used it daily for I think a week, then cut back to a maintenance dose of once a week. I noticed a difference after a few weeks. The gel is a bit messy as it liquifies quicker than the cream, but I had a reaction to the cream. I get the gel from a compounding pharmacy. The gel doesn't tackle my other symptoms, the main one being hotflashes, so I take a low oral dose of estradiol daily. The only side effect is breast sensitivity(from the oral med), but I can live with that. I can't live with the hotflashes. I've been on HRT for several years. I tried many types of estrogen after trying natural remedies(and other meds)first with no success. I get my blood tests done regularly and take the lowest dose that stops my symptoms. I would go ahead and try the cream to see if it helps. Just pay attention to how your body reacts and let your doctor know how it's going.

This is an update since I posted last Sept, and I'm very happy to say that i did check with a different doctor who was happy to prescribe Premarin vaginal cream, which I applied 3 times weekly for a month, then twice weekly for a couple months, and now I apply it once a week - and I feel like a totally new woman. I had almost forgotten about my earlier misery and I am never in that kind of discomfort any more. As the poster above said, things have completely improved for me sexually. I have experienced no side effects. So, altho I know how concerned women are about hormones, I also had a really crummy quality of life for a few months before i went on the Premarin cream, so to me it is totally worth the risk. I hope this helps.