osphena

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balance
balance Member Posts: 49
edited June 2015 in Sex & Relationship Matters
osphena
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  • balance
    balance Member Posts: 49
    edited April 2015

    Anyone taking Osphena for vaginal dryness? I was at a medical conference today at which one of the speakers spoke of prescribing it for patients with a history of breast cancer. My oncologist wasn't enthusiastic when I brought it up a while back, but I think this was, at least, partially because he didn't seem to be very familiar with it.

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  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited April 2015

    Drugs like Osphena might be ideal for the downside devastation caused by cancer treatments. Instead, because cancer patients are prevented from participating in the clinical trials during the development of these drugs, medical practitioners who could prescribe them don't have the clinical trial evidence to know whether they are "safe" for cancer patients.

    It is worth pointing out that drugs used for treatment of cancer are used for cancer patients even though practitioners cannot match them with certainty that they will be effective for each patient being treated, and the majority of patients receiving them do not receive any benefit from them, and patients are exposed to risks by being treated with them.

    And after being treated, they are prevented from obtaining relief from the ongoing after-effects upon sexuality because practitioners don't have the clinical trial evidence to know whether drugs like Osphena are "safe" for cancer patients.


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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited April 2015

    The prescribing information for Osphena says it should not be used by women with a history of breast cancer

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  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited April 2015

    My gyno wanted to prescribe Osphena.  I asked my MO, who was very much against it.  She said it would compete for receptor sites with the femara I'm taking (or...something like that...) and wasn't safe for me. 

    Since I'm convinced my BC popped up hard and fast due to the hormone replacement therapy I was on, I'm leery of any drug that mentions breast cancer as a contraindication. 

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited April 2015

    I asked my OB/ gyn about it last year, as I thought it sound exactly like tamoxifen with all the same side effects. He was familiar, and said it is basically a tamoxifen with a few different biomarkers.

    He said it wouldn't completely surprise him to find out that they might use it for a BC treatment at some point, but no studies he knew of currently.


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  • lbrewer
    lbrewer Member Posts: 766
    edited May 2015

    Alaska is completely right. So they just say not for BC and we get left out

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  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited May 2015

    Yes. If they were operating from the basis of evidence and TRUTH, it would be reasonable. But they aren't. They are operating 100% on the basis of fear and innuendo, not fact. And as a result. the only people not entitled to get benefit from such drugs used specifically for the problems we face, are bc patients. And it is happening because we went through recommended drug treatments that resulted in these problems.

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  • GraceB1
    GraceB1 Member Posts: 213
    edited May 2015

    I've been taking it for almost a year now. It wasn't just vaginal dryness but my genital area looked and felt "all beat up" according to my OBGYN. It was a real quality of life issue not being able to get good sleep at night or sit during the day. Things are much better now. My MO wasn't thrilled because there's no testing done but it was either go on Osphena or go off the AIs and I'm 100% ER+.

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  • Monical
    Monical Member Posts: 2
    edited May 2015

    Hi! I wondering the same thing. I am 46 years old and am having a horrible time with vaginal dryness. My Oncologist said that Osephena has a cousin to Estrogen so I can not use it.

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  • BetterDay
    BetterDay Member Posts: 116
    edited May 2015

    My ob/gyn suggested it to me today.  He said that he believes that there is no basis for the relative contraindication to breast cancer and that it acts like tamoxifen (I'm triple negative in any event), but that I should ask my MO to see what she thinks.  I'm reluctant to take any drugs at this point after all the drugs I had pumped into me during treatment.  It's nice to be not taking anything at all.  But I would love to hear additional information about others' experiences with this.

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  • Lamp
    Lamp Member Posts: 43
    edited June 2015

    Hello Graceb1, does osphena plump up the vagina making it more comfy for intercourse!

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  • GraceB1
    GraceB1 Member Posts: 213
    edited June 2015

    Sadly I have no personal experience with that. That is what it is advertised for on TV though. My whole genetile area was just raw and uncomfortable.

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