dry bits

[gail]

ive noticed that im v.dry down below, and wondered whether it could also be hormone related. im taking progesterone cream - wonder if that helps!

[susanneb1984]

Hiya hunni,

I'm not sure, it's not a problem I've personally dealt with, quite the opposite actually. You could ask at a chemist, I'm sure they would tell you. Sorry I don't have any answers other than buy some KY Jelly or something, it might help.

xxxx

[Veritee]

Hi - A difficult problem I know as I have experienced it .

However I was wondering if the progesterone might actually make it worse ?

Did you have this before the cream?

I do know the lack of some hormones causes a dry vagina but not sure which one specifically does -

I don't know which it is thats you need for lubrication - estrogen or progesterone ? so perhaps we should look it up?

But I ask this because I used progesterone cream during the worst of my menopause and I had this problem then

- yet now I am well through menopause with few functioning hormones at all - I don't have any problem like this.....

yet you would have thought I would be more likely to have it?

So now you mention it - I remembered it seemed actually to have improved once I stooped the progesterone cream - but this could very well be co-incidence.

But worth looking into perhaps?

But I do know that any major stress can have this effect anyway.

I take it that you are talking about dry generally - and that you are still dry even if sexually excited ( this was my experience) and not just when you have sex?

As if this is happening only in sex and especially if you are aware of having less interest in sex at the moment, then increased dryness would be understandable and simply because you are not actually aroused enough..

In this case lubrication could very well be your way forward as if you are lubricated enough the friction it can lead to arousal even if you did not start that way.

Lubrication will help anyway even you do not lack desire but are dry anyhow.

If using lube is embarrassing and you do not feel able to tell your partner - try what I did for a while and keep it in the bathroom and go to the bathroom before sex to put it on.

Sorry if i sound like a sexuality agony aunt - its just I did a 'sexual enhancement/awareness' course years ago in the 80s when it was a fashionable thing to do.....

I did loads of weird courses at that time ie, racial, gay and body awareness and acceptance, 'encounter' and self knowledge groups, interaction therapy, assertiveness training.

Most was of no use whatsoever bu occasionally I find myself dredging up stuff from this - I did find the sexuality one useful on a personal basis.

anyway I will look up the side effects of using progesterone

all the best

Veritee

[Veritee]

Hi Again Gail

I seem to have been right ! It seems to be the cream that is causing your dryness - it is apparently estrogens that aid lubrication of the vagina and using Progesterone

( especially if you are overdosing it which is easy to do I found with a cream as if you are rubbing it in it is hard to make sure you have the right dose - have you thought about getting your progesterone in the forum of cyclogest vaginal pesseries as you will then be sure you are not having too much?And too much is not advisable at all from a health point of view)

anyway this site :
www.wdxcyber.com/nmood11.htm

Gives the following explanation of your problem - but I also found the same noted as a side effect of progesterone in the British National Formulary:

Progesterone tends to promote vaginal dryness by counteracting the effect on lubrication of estrogens and it can also decrease the amount of menstruation or block it entirely by reversing estrogen effect on the growth of the uterine lining. If a woman has stopped having menses on a birth control pill, the progesterone component needs to be decreased if menstrual bleeding is desirable.

So perhaps it would be advisable to use less for a while.

All the best for now

Veritee

PS. this was interesting to me to as it explained why through menopause despite being interested in sex the lack to lubrication hindered my enjoyment.
It is interesting to note th sat when I took cyclogest for PNI, which is a natural progesterone prescribed by your doctor in measured doses, I did not have this problem.

I think it must be because we took too much progesterone and although too much progesterone is apparently very sedating so it will calm you down, it is not a good thing for other reasons

- but using the cream will be very difficult to get the right does for yo9u without a lot of experimentation and even if you work out how much to rub in - what is absorbed will still alter daily due to things like heat, grease, humidity altering the absorption rate of the skin.

[gail]

hi Veritee

thankyou for taking the time out to reply to me. hope you're feeling better.

i remember i had vaginal dryness when i was pregnant (from about 30 weeks onwards)
and i have noticed it again since my lochia has gone.

it makes not difference whether im aroused or not : (

ill keep an eye on it as ive started using the progesterone cream - i have noticed that the progesterone is very calming and my anxiety symptoms have all but disappeared - i dont think its a cure but it has been a great and i think that i would rather have tried it first before going straight to anti-depressants!

why do you think that it (the cream) is not really recognised by GPs as something to try during PNI?

i spoke to Simone Plaut from Apni and she said that this cream was a 'lifesaver' - and now i can understand why!

anyway, going back to my dry bits (!)...i think its hard to pinpoint at the mo because as you point out, so many factors could be contributing to it! i am very rarely interested in sex and my dry bits are making my libido almost zero so its a vicious circle!

to be honest though id rather be feeling good like i do at the moment and have dry bits as there are always things we can use!

i think that when i buy it (progesterone cream) again, i will invest in the pessaries as this is a constant dose.

but for now, when the time comes i think we'll just use some lube!

thanks Veritee!
love gail x

p.s ive noticed /am paranoid that my anxiety is making my written expression appear to be blunt/rude, i notice when i read back over my posts at a later date.

just to let everyone who reads my posts know that this is not intentional, it just comes out wrong/ weird.

[yoyo]

Glad the progesterone cream seems to be helping on the one hand - that's great, even if just one bit of hte pNI can improve it makes all the difference doesn't it?!

Don't worry about how you come accross - it's hard when writing to get it right anyways - I've never read your posts and thought that they're rude of blunt.