09 Mar Dryness, Itching and Burning… HELP!
Dryness, Itching and Burning… HELP!
Have you been suffering from vaginal dryness, burning, painful intercourse, discharge or itching?
These symptoms COULD be related to vaginal atrophy or the medical term, atrophic vaginitis. Vaginal atrophy is the thinning, drying and inflammation of the vaginal walls that may occur when your estrogen levels drop. Vaginal atrophy occurs most often after menopause.
Vaginal atrophy not only can affect your vaginal health, but can also cause urinary symptoms such as burning, urgent or frequent urination, recurring urinary tract infections, and/or urinary incontinence.
If you’ve tried and failed commercially available prescriptions or had side effects, there are a few compounded treatment options that utilize bioidentical hormones which may help lessen or even get rid of these agonizing symptoms
Estriol 0.1% Vaginal Cream
A woman’s body secretes three primary estrogens: estradiol (E2), estriol (E3) and estrone (E1). Estradiol is the strongest of these hormones, being primarily responsible for inducing ovulation and thickening of the endometrium. Estrone is the least prevalent of the estrogens and the storage form of this estrogen can be converted to estradiol when needed. Estriol is the weakest of the three estrogens and was formerly thought to be nearly inactive. However, research has indicated that this mild form of estrogen can be quite useful to a woman’s body. Research has demonstrated that oral estriol can help control hot flashes, and it has a positive effect on lipid and bone metabolism.1
When administered vaginally, estriol has been shown to improve vaginal dryness, relieve vaginitis, reduce urinary urgency symptoms, prevent recurrent infections and improve stress incontinence.
DHEA Vaginal Cream
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) has been studied for libido and sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women. Intravaginal doses studied include 3.25mg, 6.5mg, and 13mg versus placebo. A parameter of this 2009 study considered the benefit of intravaginal DHEA on vaginal atrophy, dryness, and itching. Results showed that at the end of 12 weeks, all three doses had an equal benefit on vaginal dryness and no adverse events were reported.2
These medications are created in our compounding lab, specifically for YOU. If you have any questions or would like to speak with our hormone pharmacist, please set up a discovery call by clicking here!
These options for vaginal atrophy are only a part of our compounded bioidentical hormone therapy services. Our pharmacist can review and discuss your symptoms, hormone test results and make a recommendation to your provider to balance your hormones and eliminate menopausal symptoms.
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28622049
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19424093