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Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/17/2012 9:05:19 PM

MistressDarkArt

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I was surgically slammed into menopause 4 years ago. Within a month, despite maintaining appropriate levels of bio-identical hrt, my skin and mucous membranes started thinning and losing elasticity. Adding to the discomfort, a further surgery last summer to remove a mass left a lot of painful internal scar tissue which doesn't stretch when I do. Lube solves the dryness issue, but it can't make the tissues less fragile.

My question for those in or having gone through menopause: besides hrt, what can be done to help mucous membrane tissues stay vital and healthy as we age?

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/17/2012 9:42:06 PM

LadyHibiscus

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Not a heap. There is a vaginal estrogen cream that helps, and a suppository version that works wonders. Neither estrogen enters the bloodstream to cause cancer risk.

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/18/2012 11:37:43 PM

MistressDarkArt

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Thank you, LadyH. I'll ask my doc about them. I assumed because I use oral hrt the topical applications wouldn't be needed. Apparently, it's not enough!!

< Message edited by MistressDarkArt -- 5/18/2012 11:38:10 PM >

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/19/2012 6:51:23 AM

JstAnotherSub

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A couple of months before I turned 50, I began to experience discomfort in the vagina. I thought it was yeast, so I got treatment at the drugstore. It for worse. I spent about 50 bucks on vaginal moisturizers in a couple of days, when it became painful, but it got worse. After missing 2 days of work because I was lying in the beds with my legs spread and an ice pack on my pussy, I called a gynecologist and got an appointment.

She gave me Estrace cream, I think that is the correct spelling, I am too lazy to get up and go check. I also have to take a small dose of hormones by mouth, because I still have my uterus and the cream can increase chances of uterine cancer. It has ended the pain, but I guess the days of being always wet are gone forever.

My eczema has gone bananas too. I have always been pretty much a shower and run chick, learning to take the time to moisturize everything is certainly challenging when you never had problems.

The 50's, they are gonna be a helluva ride I think-lol.

Good luck finding relief.

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/19/2012 7:00:54 AM

CynthiaWVirginia

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From: West Virginia, USA
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Ladies...thank you!!!

Mine started with my last chemo. I tried half a dozen herbal type hrts. My gyn didn't wanna give me nuthin...

Last year I twisted his arm really hard, cuz I still have a few periods per year and could get preggies. Condoms on my boy are a no no with his ED and genital piercings. One or both of us has a problem with what seems like almost every blessed lube on the market. Unless I get a better alternative, and talk of these estrogen whatzacallits (I only heard about progesterone inserts, and I read on the internet that manmade progesterone is what gave my lungs all those blood clots last October) are giving me hope, I am going to stick with vibes. I have vaginal and vulval and anal scar tissue, and somehow I didn't realize this was a problem until recently, when the types of piercings other women seem to enjoy made me...very uncomfortable.

My gyn is a complete butthead, and I am trying very hard to not wish for him a serious case of ED or that his wife's vagina doesn't dry up and shrink and become as fragile as mine. I will have to go to some STD clinic and ask and keep asking until someone finally gives me something that works. A name of the stuff would be helpful, along with the dosage other people's doctors have suggested. I've already asked if the progesterone cream was OTC...the pharmacist smiled and said heck no.

There are no female gyns in my area that take people like me; when I phoned every blessed office, I was told they only take pregnant women. My own darling gyn? The asshat doctor put his gloved fingers up my vagina and told me, in spite of the fact I had told him my problems, that there was nothing wrong with my vagina and I should have no problems having sex.

The butthead. (May the fleas from a thousand camels infest his arm pits.)

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/19/2012 12:17:05 PM

MistressDarkArt

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CWV-you have mail.

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/26/2012 6:55:39 AM

subgirrl

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quote:

ORIGINAL: CynthiaWVirginia

Unless I get a better alternative, and talk of these estrogen whatzacallits (I only heard about progesterone inserts, and I read on the internet that manmade progesterone is what gave my lungs all those blood clots last October) are giving me hope,

Nooooo!!!!! Maybe a strange thing for a lurker to jump in on, but I couldn't just keep quiet on this one!

You actually have the blood clot/estrogen/progesterone thing back to front!

I had multiple blood clots in both lungs almost two years ago. My left lung was the worst hit, with clots taking out over half of it (the VQ scan had jaws dropping every time someone looked at it, because I was just too young to be getting such massive clot damage).

My single only risk factor was the oral contraceptive pill, so I was told to stop taking it immediately. This left me kinda devastated because it had been working brilliantly for me for so many years . . . at least until it caused blood clots!

In my post-clot desperation to find a contraceptive I could take and that would be reasonably reliable, I dug my way through a ton of medical journals and had several chats with my specialist. Basically, I found that there is a definite and strong relationship between the combined oral contraceptive pill and PEs. But this is because of the ESTROGEN, NOT the progesterone. Other estrogen therapies have also been found to have a connection with PEs. Progesterone has also been found to have a link with PEs, but the relationship isn't statistically significant. That means that there's no proof those blood clots occurred BECAUSE OF the progesterone. They may have occurred by chance, or because of some other factor. Of course they may find down the track that progesterone DOES have a relationship with PEs but current research doesn't show a proven relationship.

I took the stuff I found to my specialist to ask him what he thought. He basically said that he wouldn't usually approve progesterone for PE patients, but because I understood that 'not statistically significant' didn't necessarily equal 'totally safe', he would okay it for me. His view of the research was that currently it seems there is no relationship between blood clots and progesterone. But as I said above, that doesn't mean they won't discover one eventually.

TLDR - Progesterone may be okay - check the views of your blood clot specialist. Estrogen DEFINITELY IS NOT!!!! Please don't take estrogen with a history of blood clots!

Err . . . and apologies for coming in all guns blazing as a newbie *blushes*

Hope you're recovering well from your blood clots Cynthia!

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/26/2012 12:02:33 PM

kalikshama

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When my VA doctor would not prescribe Prometrium, a natural progesterone, I bought it from Thailand-based edrugnet, which has since been shut down. I was kind of hoping I'd get busted for buying meds without a Rx because at the time I had a whole bunch of complaints about women's healthcare for veterans. That was in Florida - things have improved in Massachusetts.

I've always found that civilian doctors, who are not slaves to formularies, have been willing to prescribe whatever I request, as long as I make a good case for it.

CynthiaWVirginia - have you demanded Estrace by name?

Here's a list of prescription and OTC treatments for vaginal dryness as well as blurbs on the safety of local natural estrogen and the dangers of artificial estrogens (Premarin):

http://www.womentowomen.com/menopause/treatmentsforvaginaldryness.aspx

Many women suffering from vaginal dryness find relief by using locally-applied, natural estrogen products. As opposed to oral HRT, locally-applied bioidentical estrogen can help persistent vaginal dryness without passing large amounts of estrogens throughout the rest of your system. With most of the products below (with the exception of the Femring), only minimal amounts of estrogen enter your body’s circulation, so they are generally considered a safer option than oral (systemic) hormone therapy.

Of course, we always recommend proper evaluation and monitoring by your gynecologist to ensure no condition associated with vaginal dryness exists, and to ensure improvement of your condition. But before you go, be aware that the first-line approach to vaginal dryness for many conventional doctors involves a prescription for Premarin Vaginal Cream. This is a product containing conjugated equine estrogens, hormones that are not natural to the human female body. Fortunately, there are many safe biodentical estrogen options for localized treatment of vaginal dryness, and they are equally if not more effective.

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RE: Menopause: thinning tissue - 5/26/2012 12:50:15 PM

MistressDarkArt

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Kalik-you have mail.

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