Cannot seem to finish the race - Climara or Bi - est? Safety etc.

15 years ago

I am a 55 yr old woman and I have had problems with vaginal atrophy for a few years so my Gyn put me on a fem ring. That was my only from of estradiol. Last week I had an appt. with him and my Dr. did bloodwork that confirmed I was post menopausal. (Not sure why I actually cried when I heard this, it's not that I didn't "know" this, I guess it was the finality of the lab work that made it so definitive and final )

I had a partial hysterectomy at age 44 but kept my ovaries.

My issue is this, all of a sudden, within the last 8 months the v.a. has gotten worse and in addition, I now am finding it very difficult to reach orgasm. Even if I try to masturbate, I sort of drop off at the end. Ok, my best description is this, I am a race horse, I cannot wait to run the race, and once the race begins, I run like crazy and have no problem with the running, but then..........all of a sudden, the race horse just drops dead on the race track. Poof. Gone. And I am left thinking, huh? what happened?

Dr. has offered me two options: compounded oral Bi-est or a Climara patch. I understand the compounded oral Bi-est Rx is bio identical and the Climara is just estradiol.

Price is a bit of an issue ,I am going thru a divorce :-( , but more a question in my mind is the safety issue.

Is the Bi-est really a safer choice or is Climara pretty safe? Will either the climara patch or the Bi-est help remedy the non orgasm issue?

I have no incidents of any breast cancer in my family at all, and also I do not have a uterus.

Any feed back would be so helpful.

Thanks again.

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Comments (2)

vala55
15 years ago
Been there done that. this is sort of embarrassing to talk about, but here goes. Every doc I saw told me it was atrophy and finally I went to a gyn my daughter recommended and she said it was not atrophy, but an incurable disease, not catching or deadly, just uncomfortable. When I would squat to pick up something from the floor I could feel tissue tearing in that area. The disease is Lichen Sclerosis and what physically happens is the tissue grows over the genital area. In my case it has grown over the urethra, so urine is expelled from the vaginal opening. After the disease is advanced the opening can be as small as a half inch and you can no longer have sex. the pain would be unbearable. I am assuming that we can no long have an orgasm because skin has grown over the sensitive area. The doc said there is no cure and everything has been tried including surgery to repair the area. She said she has 5 year old patients with the same disease. Poor things, I don't know how they will ever be able to have a happy marriage. Not many young men would put up with that condition. If this sounds like your condition, you don't need a doc to diagnos it, just use a mirror.

I don't remember when I started having pain in my early 60's maybe, but my husband was really understanding and did not try to make love to me again. I was very lucky in that sense.
vala55
15 years ago
I forgot the most important thing in my post, the treatment. She prescribed Clobetasol for the symptoms. It was no cure, but it took care of the tearing and burning discomfort. Very inexpensive and a little goes a long way. Very glad I found that doctor.