What does your doctor say? I'd follow his/her advice. I would suggest a topical solution, not oral antibiotics. There are creams designed for bacterial infections that work well. They are antibiotic creams, though. I don't think you're going to be able to do much without antibiotics. Often bacterial infections take hold because the normal flora of the vagina are compromised somehow. Douching can do this, oral antibiotics can do this, as well. Also, generalizing that you've had bad reactions to "antibiotics"...there are a lot of different kinds of antibiotics. You can be sensitive to one and not another. You'll need to tell the doctor exactly which you've had problems with in the past in order for him/her to avoid the one/s that have bothered you. But all antibiotics are not created equal, so don't assume you'll automatically have a problem with all of them. I am not a doctor, but I've got a degree in microbiology and used to work as a lab tech in a health clinic where we saw tons of vaginal infections. I've also had my share of infections myself. The info I'm giving you is from my direct experience, my education, and my work experience, but I still think you should consult a doctor and not rely on advice from a discussion board.

Wow, sorry no one got to you before this. Let me see if I can try to answer you. 1. Go ahead and start. If a period starts, stop and count 7 days, then start again. 2. Your schedule is 3 weeks on and 1 week off. The other schedule is for women with regular cycles. 3. Not sure about your brand, but it sounds ok. 4. I think you would do well with twice a day. But if you want to start with once a day, you can always work up to twice a day when needed. 5. Fleshy areas are preferred. Yes always rotate areas of application. 6. I can speak from experience for insomnia and night sweats that you may very well find relief. I think all your symptoms will be relieved, because they are a result of low progesterone. 7. Sorry, I don't know anything about the tests, and I have never been tested. I have been using cream since Jan'00 with great success. 8. In the first few days, many women experience a PMS-like feeling, including headaches. It should not be unbearable, and you should continue using the cream. It's a hormonal adjustment period that only last a few days. A small minority of women experience a higher level of discomfort such as increased anxiety and feel they need to stop. Many women have no adverse reactions at all and find relief right away. 9. The cream is safe to use for the symptoms you describe, and will not worsen the fibrocystic breast condition, and may actually improve it. Hope this helps.

Some time back a woman on the forum was talking about using the OTC progesterone cream vaginally. I believe she had consulted a "natural" health care practitioner who recommended this use. No one else had heard of it. I was using Progest at the time and so one evening being in an adventurous mood, I tried it. Didn't seem to make any difference one way or the other. My biggest concern would be the possiblility of irritation caused by other ingredients in the OTC creams. I also wonder why you are considering using it this way. I cant speak to reducing estrogen after starting progesterone. I started the progesterone first and later added a small amount of Estriol cream. I no longer use OTC progesterone, instead I have a prescription from my doctor and get it filled at a compounding pharmacy. I believe this is a more accurate way of obtaining the desired dose.

The idea is that progesterone is the raw building material for a number of hormones, one of which is testosterone. In peri-menopause, our testosterone production drops dramatically. Testosterone is one of the key hormones influencing libido (but not the only thing involved in sexual response). Some of us can compensate for its decline; others cannot. The situation is worsened by taking estrogen, in a way, in that estrogen increases levels of a protein that binds testosterone. When you have fully-functional ovaries, these things balance out: you make enough testosterone to still have enough left after the protein gloms its share. When your ovarian production goes down, as in menopause, and you take HRT that contains estrogen, you are in effect hitting the testosterone with a double whammy: lower output and the protein to skim off what you do have. By adding progesterone, some women find they are able to manufacture enough testosterone again to regain their libido. Others, in whom the libido loss is due to some other problem, may not find progesterone helpful in that regard (although it may or may not be in other ways). Generally speaking, there's no way to tell whether it will help or not without trying it. But oral progesterone should work for this as well as the cream does. There are women for whom oral progesterone is ineffective--either because they do not absorb it or they too readily get rid of it--and for them, a trial of the cream form may be useful to see if it's route-related. The main difference between oral and cream seems to be that the oral route produces more sedating metabolites; otherwise, they should work the same way.