Vaginal dryness without Estrogen therapy

[KristinSchwick]

Okay ladies, time to be blunt- what is going on down there?
Anyone having problems with dryness and found a solution that didn't involve estrogen creams or other estrogen treatments. It seams like this is really common among post-menopausal women, so speak up!
Lets share our experiences and help one another and not suffer in silence.

I have tried coconut oil as lube (works temporarily)
KY liqui-beads
and latest luvena, a prebiotic

Any other ones out there to try?

[SoCalGal]

After trying many, many lubes, oils, gels, creams, (refresh, renew, cocoanut oil, olive oil, organic & natural lubes, Crem de la Femme) I've had to resort to vagifem (tiny pills preloaded on a super thin applicator for easy insertion) to restore interior membranes, and enjoy a normal sex life. We also use lube, (creme de la femme is def. my preference) but without the vagifem there was pain and tissue tearing.

I am not er+ and my docs were ok with risk/benefit. Even if I was er+ I would use the product, sex is one of my deal breakers in life, I don't think so much hormone is released that it would exacerbate disease, but we each have to decided for ourselves. When I first started using it, I could cut way back on the maintenance (1 pill each week) and still get a benefit. Now I use a pill every 4 nights and it seems to work.

Vaginal dryness, loss of function has been an on-going issue on the board. So far there haven't been any major breakthroughs that I am familiar with. Just some breakdowns and break-ups.

With anti her2 therapies, there is a side effect of dryness. Add in ovary removal and its very dismal. And unfair. Perhaps we should consider phoning the Genentech hotline and reporting this as an adverse side effect not listed in literature. At least they would become aware of the problem.

[KristinSchwick]

SoCalGal,
Thank you so much for your input, are you by any chance stage IV? It makes a difference as early stage women are worried about the cancer coming back, versus stage IV women worrying about it progressing faster.

I've heard about vagifem and my oncologist said that even with those treatments that they can detect estrogen in the blood stream. I am not on any anti-estrogen therapy right now, only ovaries out- so I would assume there is a little estrogen floating around in my body already. I am ER+, but they don't know if anti-E therapy is effective with Perjeta, Herceptin & Taxotere as it is so new.

Please ladies, chime in with more info.

[SoCalGal]

Must have clicked something weird - the ipad is temperamental---
Here's my signature. Yes, stage 4, 6 years and counting!

[Becky]

I use a product call RepHresh. They use the pH in the name because they have a sister product called Replens. These are long acting lubricants only and are OTC and no estrogen. They are sold in preloaded tubes and need to be reapplied every 3 days. The first day is alittle messy and you may need a pad (even though you might apply at night you will need a little pad or something the next morning - the good news is that it's lub action works 3/4 days and the other days are not messy). The difference between Replens and RepHresh is that the Rephrest is pH buffered. Many of us also get our pH off (acidic) and so this product helps with that. I find RepHresh a better product for me. Try it. It works and no estrogen/OTC - . However, if you used to use a contraceptive jelly and that bothered you down there, this could. Some women are bothered by those jellies because they are bothered by the NP-9 in them. This is the active ingredient. But some are bothered by propylene glycol which is just a formulation ingredient. Propylene glycol is a formulation ingredient in these products. But you say you use KY and propylene glycol is an ingredient in many of these products so if you can use that, you can use this.

[msmanuf]

My gyno called a pharmacist that mixes up a salve that stimulates the blood vessels in and around the vaginal area as well as the clitoris. You do need a prescription and it is a bit pricy $70 for me.

[Jackie07]

I've had so many UTIs that I finally asked my primary physician for the low-dose antibiotics. So instead of taking the twice daily antibiotic for five days to treat UTIs, I now take one capsule immediately afterwards. It's been working the past 2 months.

My husband and I also worked out a routine to get both sides satisfied with minimum irritation to the inner tissue. K-Y jelly has been working fine, though I did use Replense for a while in previous years.

[dchips1]

short comment to the above I ordered this product, a little pricey, but it is a good product, especially after several months of no "appointments" due to pain. http://www.yesyesyes.org/female_lubricants.htm It comes from Europe, non irritating, I have a lot of allergies, and this caused no problems at all.

Prayers and Blessings to all
Darita