Vaginal Hormone Treatment

I asked about these when I went for my oophorectomy pre-op visit. Right now Estrace seems to be considered safe to use. However the warnings that come along with it seem to indicate that enough of the hormone enters the blood stream to have other hormone related effects (ie blood clots). There is a new med that recently came out called Intrarosa. It is a vaginal suppository with hormone precursor (DHEA) that gets converted to estrogen locally in the vaginal tissues without raising the estrogen/estrodiol levels systemically to standard lab detectable levels and does not have the same side effect profile & warnings as traditional estrogen creams.

There was just a medical article that helped untangle the estrogen warnings, which are based on oral rather than topical use and therefore are potentially irrelevant in relation to vaginal use. Let me see if I can find and post it.

the Intrarosa is $25 with their coupon card even if you're cash pay or insurance does not cover it.

I wanted to let everyone know that has been using 1% Estradiol vag cream of a high systemic response when used! This is what happened to me, two years ago I had my Estradiol checked just for curiosity, I am way past menopause and I was curious, my number was 33pg/ml as expected. I have been on Arimidex since 1/17, last month I thought I should have my Estradiol number checked. The result was 181.1pg/ml!!!! I was shocked, what could of caused it to be so high, interesting enough I had used the vag cream the night before my blood test. How could it be so high when I am on Arimidex? I read all the material I could find and yes Estradiol vag cream can affect you systematically even though my doctors told me it was fine to use. I had my blood level checked yesterday, three weeks after my last blood test and of course NO Estradiol ……my blood level for Estradiol today was 21.1 pg/ml, right where it should be. I had used the cream infrequently but I am so happy I had my blood levels checked, I will never use Estradiol cream again. I was diagnosed on 9/16 with a 7mm pure mucinous, Stage1 Grade1, estrogen and progesterone strong positive, HER -.., neg node. I had a lumpectomy and radiation. The FDA approved mama print test was not necessary when you are low clinically so my doctor did not order and my doctor is not sold on the Oncotest, based on the kinds of tumors tested, it is also not FDA .approved. I have my Masters Degree in Nursing and love keeping up with all the posts.

Thank-you Lula!

momoschi- glad you were able to try intrarosa and it worked quickly. That’s reassuring. Thank you for sharing. To help put your mind at ease, in the clinical trials for Intrarosa the levels of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone did rise very very slightly however nowhere near the rise that the labs doctors use would never pick it up. It’s that slight and that far below the sensitivity capabilities of normal lab equipment. Those levels were detected using very sensitive specialized lab equipment to get a view of the absolute values. Unless you’re an GYN, odds are you haven’t gotten the opportunity to explore the data, how it works and what makes it different than the other choices like vagifem and estring and estrace. So a PCP typically will not have been inserviced on it by the rep or the medical liaison. I don’t work for the company that makes it, but I do have a science background and did my own in depth review after having it recommended by 2 unrelated GYNs who never write estrogen/estrodial products for BC patients. Be well!