Post menupausal nightmare

[Cammy]

I hate having to deal with an aging body from the perspective of still being a 19 year old. The latest indignity among many is an ongoing feeling of cystitis. It feels like you've got this chronic bladder infection when in fact you don't. I've resumed the hormonal vaginal tabs and there's some improvement, but since this took years to occur I don't suppose it's going to clear up over night. Anyone else here experienced problems like this? I'm hoping that resuming the hormone therapy will eventually resolve the issue, but I need a little hope. If anyone here has gone through something like this I'd love to hear about your experiences. I'm taking a cranberry pill every day along with probiotics, plus I'm on a strict regimen of vaginal lubricants that are used every three days. Some days I'm so uncomfortable that all I can do is shower then go commando in a long muslin dress for comfort purposes. No wonder I don't feel like leaving the house half the time. Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. If this is too much information I apologize. As a medical professional I tend to not be shy about physical issues - after all, it's just stuff about the body and I regard it all as just normal stuff - no more embarrassing to me than an ear infection. If I've offended anyone I sincerely apologize, but I've always adopted an attitude of openess when it comes to normal bodily functions.

[mosaic]

i can't say that i've experience anything similar (we are the same body age) but i want you to know that someone is listening. is the hormonal treatment prescribed or OTC? just curious about whether you've gotten a physician involved in treating it.

[Cammy]

Hey Mosaic: Well I treat this three ways: 1) My physician prescribes me vaginal estrogen tabs 2) I correspond with a retired ob/gyn nurse who has been a Godsend, to say the least, and 3) I used approved OTC products recommended by both my doctor and the nurse. I think what happened to me is that I neglected my estrogen Rx for years after menopause, and this led to tissue thinning and all the problems I cited. Now I'm trying to rebuild everything, but it is slow and often super uncomfortable. My sincere advice to anyone who has the first sign of problems is to get to their doctor, get some kind of hormonal therapy and stick with it. Don't do like I did and abandon it. It is a lot harder to get things back to normal than it was to mess things up, but that's usually the way with everything, isn't it? Sheesh - you'd think I'd know better - duh - I really dropped the ball big time.