Doctor Visit 10/16/18
Posted , 4 users are following.
I was using INTRAROSA, a vaginal hormone suppository for 3 weeks. I saw my dermatologist last Friday and after examination she said it is probably yeast. She prescribed NYSTATIN, an ointment to use on vulva. I then saw my GYN yesterday and she took samples to see if i have an infection. I also told her that I am taking PREDNISONE & BENADRYL since I broke out in hives over the weekend. She thinks it may be the INTRAROSA since i had no problem with NYSTATIN before. She asked if i wear sanitary pads. i told her that i have been wearing them for years. She suggested to try not to wear them on a regular basis since they may be irritating the vulva. She told me to use FREE AND CLEAR laundry detergent and try to sleep without underwear. She examinec me and said i have some moderate atrophy but nothing too terrible. She prescribed PREMARIN, an estrogen cream to use nightly for 2 weeks and to continue with the NYSTATIN for the vulva. Has anyone tried all cotton, fragrance free cotton inserts to be attached to underwear instead of sanitary pads. I also have slight incontinence. I continue to take baking soda sitz baths. I appreciate any advice.
0 likes, 11 replies
beverly52803 maryann35553
Posted
maryanne, it's difficult to weigh in when a person starts a new topic if we don't know your history. I tried clicking on your name, but find it confusing & time consuming to try to trace every conversation people have entered. Don't know if others have this same problem; I am technically challenged for sure.
Anyway, I would not use any kind of a pad with a plastic backing. And certainly don't sleep without your body being exposed to air. I haven't ever slept with underwear myself. Sleep on a towel if need be. I do that just for the creams, etc.
Absolutely use a fragrance free detergent. Am amazed your dermatologist hadn't said that from the outset. Also re cotton underwear. These are all basics for someone having skin and/or vulval issues. You will notice a difference re cotton.
Re the "probably" yeast diagnosis, my gyn has also got me mixing an anti-yeast cream (diflucan) with the hormone cream (for AV) because of signs of BV & also didn't test for yeast which disturbs me.
In retropect I think metrogel would have made more sense as flagyl in pill form has been the only thing that eliminated my phantom slight itch & odor. (Odor is a sign of BV not yeast). I also have LS and am using steroids for that.
As the weather is turning cooler I find "infection" symptoms lessening. Difficult to determine what is affecting and causing what. I think we should all be keeping a daily diary to help get it straight in our own heads. Certainly the doctors aren't following us that closely and can only go by what we report & they see that day.
Suki_girl maryann35553
Posted
Mary Ann, I'm sorry to load this on you when you obviously have enough going on. I would never use Premarin. It is made with pregnant horse urine. PREgnant, MARes, urINe. The mares are kept chained up for their whole lives - imagine horses never being allowed to run - they have to be pregnant so they are forcibly impregnated by a man shoving his arm up their vaginas and once they have given birth their foals are taken from them and slaughtered, then the whole process begins again. That is their life until they are too old to have babies then they are slaughtered. To concentrate their urine and the hormones in it they are given very little water. This is a totally unacceptable practice when there are alternatives available. Furthermore, the horse hormones are not the same as human hormones and therefore incompatible with our physiology. Premarin was the first HRT to be tested on humans and they had to stop the trial because the side effect were so severe the women were at serious risk due to cancer and cardiovascular problems. It is these trials that are the basis for all the side effect warnings on all HRT. There are far safer alternatives now. I use Ovestin (estriol cream) - estriol is known as the protective estrogen because it actually protects against cancer and cardiovascular problems.
maryann35553 Suki_girl
Posted
THANKS, SUKI. I WILL ASK MY DR. FOR ESTRIOL instead. i just posted about using the PREMARIN last night. I have horrible vulva soreness today. i am using AQUAPHOR to try to relieve the symptom. i will sit in a baking soda sitz bath soon. i appreciate your reply.
Suki_girl maryann35553
Posted
Thank you. I am sure that any decent woman would be appalled by what is done to the Premarin horses. Any woman that is a mother surely cannot condone what is done to those poor mother horses and their foals. I cannot believe that it is allowed to continue when there are plenty of alternatives, alternatives that are safer for women too. I once told another woman about where Premarin came from and she said she didnt care and she would drink their urine if it stopped her vaginal discomfort.
jude84900 Suki_girl
Posted
Suki_girl,
Kudos to you for continuing to get this information out to women. Why women are still being prescribed this stuff is beyond me. The dollars that it generates in sales to the drug companies is number one even over the health and well being of women. Then you take the other horror into account how this premarin is being made and the whole operation should be banned. They know this has been the culprit for making women sick ever since they had the women health study on HRT, but instead of taking premarin off the market they cut the dose in half, then in half again knowing full well, estrogen from horses don't belong in a woman no matter how low the dose. But doctors still continue to roll out the scripts for premarin everyday. You are right, there is much safer hormones replacement out there.
Suki_girl jude84900
Posted
The drugs companies dont care about our health, as ling as they make their money.
beverly52803 Suki_girl
Posted
True, but what reason do the doctors have to keep prescribing it?
It's what I was prescribed 3 years ago (I passed). This year I was prescribed Estrace (new doc). I am using a compounded version..
Suki_girl beverly52803
Posted
You might be interested that there was an article in the Telegraph about the fact that doctors involved in assessing which drugs should be prescribed to NHS patients are receiving up to £100000 per year from pharmaceutical companies. The wealthier the drug company, the more they can bribe drs and governments. The whole thing is completely corrupt and just depends on money, not what is in the patients best interest. Pfizer, who make Premarin and Prempro is very wealthy. Prempro also contains pregnant horse urine hormones. It is also very risky to health and actually doesnt have much benefit:
In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a study of more than 16,000 women using Prempro, was abruptly halted by the federal government after it concluded that HRT raises a woman’s risk of having a stroke by 41 percent, her risk of suffering a heart attack by 29 percent, and her risk of developing breast cancer by 26 percent. A follow-up study of the women a decade later found that, in addition to an increase in breast cancer rates, the cancer tended to be advanced and cause death. Dr. Freya Schnabel, of New York University’s Langone Medical Center, cautioned, “I think from this point onward any woman who’s considering taking hormone replacement therapy will need to genuinely consider these risks.”
The WHI also found that Prempro has no meaningful effects on women’s physical or emotional health,
If you want to find out more about it there is a very good article on the PETA website.
beverly52803 Suki_girl
Posted
Suki, I thought that was exposed some years ago and assumed it put an end to the practice, at least in the US, but maybe I'm being naive. I remember a doctor telling me quite a while back they no longer got free samples to hand out to patients which I assumed was part of the crackdown on the "bribing".
I was surprised when a gyn prescribed Premarin for me 3 years ago (which I didn't use). Assumed doctors in an area so close to a major medical center would be more knowledgeable and sensitive to the issues with that drug. My current gyn prescribed Estrace instead.
I was avoiding HRT for 20 years because I trusted none of it. My paranoia was eventually justified when they ended the nurses study when the danger of HRT was exposed. My unfortunate sister who was more compliant was on it for years. She died of breast cancer 2 years ago. But with my LS diagnosis I have given up the fight.
Current gyn says lack of estrogen has caused the AV (which I was aware of but it seemed not to be causing issues) and the LS. Am using a compounded estradiol cream as the Estrace was so pricey. Have a follow up appointment soon and will ask my gyn about switching to estriol. Have a list of questions for her.
Suki_girl beverly52803
Posted
Hi Beverly, i think the risk is very low for topical HRT. Was your sister on systemic HRT?
beverly52803 Suki_girl
Posted
Yes. She had a rough menopause. I did not, but the gyn was still pushing them as the next best thing since sliced bread. She was not happy that I failed to see all the benefits...which eventually proved to be dangers instead.
I don't like the idea of using either the hormone cream or a steroid, but there are apparently no other options for me now.