Could I use half an applicator of estriol twice a week instead of a whole one once a week.

Do you need the bathroom often for little painful amounts..Do you have a burning feeling all the time and worse after you have been to the bathroom. Are you post menopausal. 

I know treatment does take a few weeks to take effect but it is a terrible feeling. 

I put up with it like that for weeks and weeks until one day I said to my GP that I had the terrible feeling of having a UTI all the time and he instantly said it was vaginal dryness lots of post menopausal women get. He gave me estriol cream to use nightly for two weeks twice weekly for two weeks then once weekly for ever more..I did not want to use any oestrogen cream but my doctor told me it was a weak form of oestrogen and he did not expect any problems..Read about estriol cream yourself and it also says there are many benefits from using estriol cream. Anyway I am still using it once a week and it is certainly getting better it's still not 100% better but the burning is mostly gone and my nightly bathroom trips are much less being about five times of nightly agony at one point.

Everyone is different but estriol cream is worth a shot. 

Olive, thanks for the informative post. I'm a rookie at this condition so I'm learning a lot.

What do you do with the estriol cream - a pea size amount spread around or placed in the entrance to the vagina - or do you use an applicator, if so how high up do you place it?

Thanks very much for any advice.

well I have an applicator its about 5 inches long with a separate plunger. I attach the tube of estriol to the end of the applicator and squeeze out about 1.5 inches of estriol cream the whole applicator would hold about 3 inches of estriol cream. I then rub the applicator in YES VM or any of my numerous discarded for one reason or another, lubricants and push the whole applicator up as far as you can then push the plunger dispelling all the cream into the vagina..

you see I live in Scotland and think its different if you are in America.

The circumference of the applicator is about the size of a thick pen. After a long time I at last, feel it is getting somewhere, but on saying that it can flare up at any time. I believe that in using estriol or whatever estrogen you use it is the only way to get relief..that and one of the recommended lubricants is the best way to go.

What I can't use is vaseline is just doesn't feel good but I mostly use drapolene and had a lot of relief from it. I stockpile various lubricants use then once close them up and always go back to the drapolene and estriol..I really believe it is only through using a mild estrogen you get any kind of relief. I also get relief from doing exercises to tighten all the muscles round about. The exercises are putting your left hand on your right knee and pull up your tummy and area there then your right hand on your left knee and pull up then your hands on your knees and pull up your muscles. I think that helps too.

Hope that helps its a terrible condition and in spite of everything it flares up for no reason

olivev

Thanks very much, Olive, for taking the time to write such an informative reply. I know you are one busy lady!

I saw my PA on Friday and she said, to my relief, that it isn't really necessary to insert whatever estrogen we are using all the way into the vagina.

She much prefers the pea shape at the entrance and a little bit up like one inch or so.

I say I'm relieved by that because, unlike 10 years ago when I first came down with AV I just can't stand that applicator going up there - very painful.

My dear husband ordered me two boxes of pencil slim ones (2 different types) they are very slim but I'm just going to put them aside (for now..) and go back to the pea shaped amount as she says it all gets absorbed up there anyway.

I am not familiar with "drapoline" - will google it up. Thanks for the tip and the exercises - I will try them.

I have anxiety disorder and do this weird pinching of my inner core - unconsciously - when I'm rushing or nervous and that means I'm bearing down on my poor bladder in a painful way. I have to keep reminding myself to relax my stomach - keep it loose like a bouncing beach ball not tight as a tick.

Another thing I have to remind myself is to "sit on my sitter" that is, I tend to always sit way up front on my genital area instead of back further on the buttocks where we were intended to sit - nice and cushiony - makes sense doesn't it? Why stress the area further by putting all that sitting pressure on it??

BTW, I'm 5% Scottish as my dear mom was born in Northern Ireland and you know most of them emigrated from Scotland,

Hope you are having a good day!

i too was using ESTRIOL but stopped using it in december as i had a colposocopy and was told not to use it until i had healed. i gave been using yes vm since. the estriol used to burn - i have to say it definitely worked for va. i was inserting it right up as well. i am due to see my dr shortly and am going to see if i can go back on it although yes vm does work i think the estriol is better.

Hi Jan,

I use Smoky Mountain Advanced Formlua Estro-Life from Amazon. Its supposed to be a very light estrogen.

Just started using it - seems ok. No problems.

I do it once a day, just smear it around the whole inner vulva area.

2x a day I do a very thin dabbing of Clob on the inner area and around the top of the clitorus for my just diagnosed case of LS.

hi ro I suspect you are not in the UK I cannot see that Smokey Mountain on amazon.co.uk . thank you for your reply it is helpful I like you find it very painful to use one of those applicators have to absolutely smother it in yes VM i'm hopeful I'll get this sorted out within the next couple of weeks and then get on with my life fingers crossed !!

Hi Olive8, I'm doing a similar medication regime as you but I've been told to use the estriol cream 2x weekly....with full applicators, as advised in the instructions. It is certainly working though, I'm approx 7 months into it now, feeling amazingly better regarding those horrible symptoms, as you will know, they are horrendous !!!. Will need to use it indefinitely unfortunately for the VA, but I'm going to enquire to see if I can just use half an applicator 2x weekly, not sure if it will be as effective though.... will have to see how I go ! suppose if not, I can always resume the original dose. HRT, hormone is not for everyone of course and not ideal, can be a little messy at times, Vagifem tab is far more convenient to use, however it didn't agree with me. But when your options are limited, and when nothing else works, you have to consider if the benefits outway the risk and atm....they absolutley do, at least for me personally !!! as long as you are guided by your health professional on a regular basis. I also agree, regarding the trips to the toilet, they have become a lot less and a lot more comfortable......it certainly Is worth a shot !!! Take care !.

hi Moira i had been using eestriol but after having to have a letz last year due to a abnormal smear I change to YES Which is a gel specifically for moisturising the vagina as I did not like using the o which is a gel specifically for moisturising the vagina as I did not like using the estriol and wanted something more natural my doctors agreeing with me is the best thing I ever did are use it once every three days and touchwood no problems you might wanna have a look at that

This is the second time I started to write this, was nearly finished and think I fell half asleep and deleted my message by mistake. I used the estriol cream every night for two or three weeks to start with and  can't say it made much difference it was after that it suddenly felt better. 

I am still up about three times during the night and I feel like the inside of my bladder is sore but the burning has gone now. I think my problem was well established before I spoke to doctor. It is getting better and am using a whole applicator of estriol split in two  Wednesday and Saturday half each. I want to persist with that way for a wee while don't want to use more of the cream than I need. I used clotramazole for a while and thought it was better but doctor wasn't happy with that. Is the Dermol cream you are using  making it much better. Someone  else on this site was using half and when I think of it when I used a whole tube half of it fell out anyway so maybe the half staying in twice might be better will see.  Doctor says the once a week will probably have to be for evermore. Not if I can help it and will try to find something more natural. 

Will you let me know how you are getting on I just want this to be over and for it never to be what it was like before I spoke to doctor 

would you say you are beginning to feel better with the estriol cream and the Dermol. 

Marnie you are the same age as me. I feel (don't know how to describe it) sort of ashamed that someone of my age can suffer from this. My doctor said it was very common.  Well I wish they would find something that would work instantly to get completely rid of this. I am using just one half applicator of estriol on a Saturday  and the other half on the Wednesday. Just one full applicator a week. My applicator holds about 2.5inches of cream so try to use exactly half twice a week. I must check I am using mine correctly and not upside down or something but don't think that would be possible. I feel I need another cream round about the other parts too some of the ladies n here are using other creams too. The other cream you use do you rub it into the other parts when you use the estriol. I still feel the inside of my bladder must be inflamed because when I feel I need the toilet it is still quite uncomfortable. The other thing I feel is my urine can be cloudy one day and not the next my doctor said if he tested everyone where I live half of them would have cloudy urrine. Not sure about that because only time I had cloudy urine was when I had an infection. I would like to ask doctor to test my urine just to make sure there is not an infection lurking around. It's just horrible this. My daughter says because I use our closimatt toilet I am washing away all the natural lubricants I don't use it much. It's for our son who had to come home because when he was working in Canada he lost sight in one eye and was the start of the most awful thing he had the start of primary progressive MS and is totally blind and every bit of his body is affected. Swallowing bowel bladder you name it he has it. He was nine years young than his sisters and his dad and I care for him. My friends say he should be in care now we are getting older but you can't abandon your child just because he is ill if we are still fit to care for him.  So this on top of the other problem is driving me to distraction. 

Do you still have these feelings too. 

Any help you can give me too is appreciated and it is getting better. 

What are we like 

take care and let me know your problems 

Hi Olive, I am using Replens Moisterizer internally, the disposal applicater one the one for outer Replens irritated so don't bother with that one. I feel like I need outer cream too but don't know what to use either. Coconut oil not good was told to stop when I used it irritation too. Maybe Acquafor ok a nurse told me, Its a shame because I have allergies too makes it hard, even the wash feels drying, in the past I used Dial for 40 years no problems! Now everything changed. I tried plain water for a while in the past too but never felt clean. Last year I went in the pool and came out on firedown below, then Dr gave me antibiotic, which caused yeast and after uti , kept telling Dr nothing was working just keep treating this med that med even went to emergency room, no real answers to all this. maybe you can get urine test or bye test strips at pharmacy if it smells Ammonia might be , or if you have yellow or green discharge other kind of infection

hope you are improving 

the cream is called YES VM it's a water based vaginal moisturiser.  Don't know if it will help its £11 for six applicators and one applicator lasts three days. Don't know if it will be any use would try anything. 

Dont know if it's on prescription - the estriol is definitely helping but still not right. 

Are you still improving? 

Hope it helps, can you still use the hormone cream too? I'm still getting outer irritation, by entrance, but why I don't know if it's from the soap or from dryness or from the Replens cream residue . My mother always used plain Vaseline when she got some irritation now Drs say not to, do

Well the cream has arrived today, can't use tonight because tonight I use the estriol cream. The two halves every three/four days don't seem to make much difference and certainly far from resolved. I had bathroom trips three times last night am fed up of that and it  makes my bladder feel irritated or something like that certainly a feeling I never had before. Also am going to ask doctor to check urine sample because I never ever had smelly cloudy urine unless with infection. It's a strange thing to cope with. Do you have a body shop where you are my daughter says washing with their pure soap doesn't cause any irritation. I still use JohnsonAàz.          Hnnj.m..jmm.m..mm.mj.m.m.my,m.k.j,j,jj,j,just I am at the stage - if I thought it would help -.use anything except estriol. I have to say though the estriol is definitely helping I am just uneasy using it. 

hello yolanda

how are you doing now?

I now use three halves of estriol Monday Wednesday and Friday I went through a few months of quite a lot of symptoms coming bac k so tried another half applicator and that seems to be better. we are in lockdown in Scotland dont know when things will get back to normal, if ever.

hope you are well

hello olive just to let you know YES VM is available on prescription and you can get it in 100 mil tubes which is better because it last longer you can buy from yes with an applicator this is the only stuff I use now I have tried everything replens abd estriol among others. I found out about yes when I had a colposcopy where I couldn't use o I found out about yes when I had a colposcopy where I couldn't use estriol and I have been using it ever since over a year with no problems very happy with it

Hi Olive, doing better, stopped the estrogen cream a few months ago on my own, was still not getting right, occasionally i treat with yeast cream and gets better but returns weeks later, and useing vagisil wash sparingly. the estrogen cream was making me feel more itchy i think, trying not to see drs lol but who knows what next month brings good hearing from you !