Estrogen vaginal creams

Has anyone compared the Premarin cream to the Estrace cream? Is there any difference as far as the vaginal/clitoral atrophy? The premarin cream is definitely helping but I would switch if they are the same. Thanks

A question I forgot to ask--has anyone noticed a strong musky odor after using premarin cream?? This is a little embarrassing and I hope noone notices it!!!Joeanne

The bio-identical estrace is my personal choice and I am not going to go into a rant about why. Seems some improvement in my vaginal tissues since I started it Monday, but not really examined the area to know for sure.

Now, my brain fogged little head seems to remember a post not long ago stating that the premarin cream had a horrible odor. For the life of me, don't know where I saw this post and since I haven't done a blind sniff test of this product, can't say if it is true or not. In the interest of being quasi-scientific, I went into the kitchen, refilled my coffee cup and sniffed my estrace tube. This humble test subject reports that in her opinion, the estrace did not smell unpleasant. Reminded me of a mild bath soap smell. Perhaps other women will sniff their topical vaginal creams and report too and we will have some comparitive data.

Okay, I am being a bit facetious Joeanne! Can't help myself sometimes. All I can suggest to you right now is doing the search function here and see what you find. And if you find my missing clitoris when you are searching around, I would appreciate you returning it. I am offering a reward.

Hi Joanne,

I am so glad that the premarin cream seems to be working for you. As I reported before, I did not do so well on it. I know what you mean about the smell. With my clothes on I can smell it and so can my husband. He would say, "Oh no you are using that cream again!" It was embarassing but I would have put up with the smell if I found I could use it effectively. I have never used any other types of cream but you've got nothing to lose if you decide to. If the cream doesn't bother your tissues you may also want to consider using vagifem. It is a little insertable pill that also relieves atrophy in some people. I can use it for a day or two and then just like the cream my tissues become quite irritated. It does help with the atrophy though. There is also a device called estring that you place inside for 3 months at a time. If you are really sore like I was to start with, it is uncomfortable for the first while but after that it is barely noticealbe. For me this works best, the only problem is that it doesn't relieve all my pain. I think that I am lacking something else like testosterone which is also supposed to help things. Neither the vagifem or estring have an unpleasant smell and are both not messy as the cream is. I was told though that the cream works quicker. Once you got yourself to a state where things are feeling better you could consider switching. I didn't have that option as the premarin cream burns me also... Just some things to think about. Good luck.

Shellynn

(((Joeanne))) I used the Premarin cream and didn't have any particular odor from it, so I wonder if maybe it reacts with something in some women's body chemistries?

I have been told that the Premarin cream is more effective than the estrace cream if you're trying to reverse atrophy (because the conjugated estrogens in it are stronger than estradiol) but that once you've fixed the problem and are in "maintenance" mode either one works fine, as do the vagifem or estring.

I also used KY Long Lasting and Replens for vaginal dryness (no atrophy though) until I started on testosterone and now don't need them anymore.

I'm glad you're having some success with the Premarin cream... my advice (and it's only my opinion) is that I'd stick with the Premarin cream until you've gotten really good results, and then switch over to one of the bioidentical methods for "maintenance" so the problem doesn't recur.

s,
-Linda