I discovered Activia myself even tho I am lactose intolerant. I take the pills in morning by Equate(Wal Mart) that are about same as Lactaid, I had tried the other 1 can't remember what it is called but it didn't help at all. I was taking lot of meds for headaches & my stomach has always been touchy(like my dad's).I had taken a number of probiotics from health food stores but I think when it is in a pill it is probably dead as never helped. Activia got rid of my hurting stomach in about 2 weeks taking 2 a day. Easy as I liked most of the flavors. It was advertised for stomach problems back then & later changed to sound more like a laxative! Now I think they say it makes "you feel better" (somebody probably sued) I had looked up what could be wrong & it sounded like I was getting where my intestines couldn't handle food any more. As with anything some things work for some & other things for others. Otherwise 1 antibiotic would be all that was needed for everybody. Our 98 or so elements seem to be slightly different in each person making it where each person needs meds just for them. Mom got her 1st UTI from them putting in catheter & leaving it in too long, that really set her on bad course. About 80% of meds act against her so it is difficult when she has to change something. Hope she does better after getting pacemaker after dr. gets back from vacation. Jan

For others reading this board/faced with Vaginal Atrophy: At least for me, nothing moves quickly, in regard to healing Vaginal Atrophy. I most likely would be able to engage in intimacy, if the opportunity struck. However since trying a dilator (which confirmed narrowing and dryness), I am now aware of this sneaky little challenge of VA. I am using a vaginal moisturizer, which (like many) has claims to reverse VA. If that, the dilator (and to be added in a couple of weeks bio-identical progesterone) fall through, then I shall test for my estrogen levels. According to Dr. Lee, Atrophy is a sign of estrogen deficiency (By the way estrogen of any type, should never be taken without progesterone), and I may indeed have to do a minimal dose 2x week of estriol, once those tests come back. While I am not eager to go on any estrogen, not even this safer, weaker estriol, I am not going to be in pain due to irritation that dryness was presenting. I've also heard of the Vulva shrinking over time due to VA. There is a point where a fraction of the estriol, may at least maintain what I have, while being comfortable and infection free down there. I have not had the pleasure of an infection yet, but the dryness had been presenting irritation, the type of itch and pain that you feel before a Vaginal Bacterial infection. Is that how I want to live my years? I should think not! So I have reordered a book I believed I didn't need anymore... Dr. John Lee's. For the next few weeks, I will use the special Vaginal inserts which are by NeuEve, and they are indeed having a moisturizing effect which lasts for a good 4 days. Let's see what happens. I already shared that information on the NeuEve with a friend, and she and her hubby had painless intimacy... Lucky she has a husband who is interested! For all you VERY lucky ladies that have an interested partner, that may be something to try. Here's my thinking. I want to maintain my health. I may indeed find intimacy again, and in the meantime I deserve to be pain free and comfortable. The above is just my way of sharing, and not just taking from this message board, for we are truly all in this (life) together and should share.

Janice, like many others I waited so long to try Rogaine. But I did try it on June 27th. Just a small amount in one spot to see if I had any reactions (the burning and itching) that some people had experienced. All I felt was just a SLIGHT burning. I gathered up my courage and used a full dropper for my evening dose and have been using Rogaine (the 5% extra strength MEN'S forumula) ever since that day. It's been about 14 weeks since I started it, and I *do* see a difference in my hair. Like you, I was scared to see more shedding than I had been going through before I began the treatment. Before using Rogaine I was shedding hair allll day long. I'm looking at my journal now.... hmmm.... okay in the middle of July (about 2-3 weeks after starting the Rogaine I reached a peak shedding incident when I counted 76 hairs that fell out onto the bathroom vanity after I had washed and just fluffed my hair very gently with my fingers. THAT was scary, but I decided to keep up the routine with the Rogaine. It took a lot of faith to do that, but then about a week later only 36 fell out after a shampoo. On Aug. 23 there were only SIXTEEN hairs that fell out. Now I have about that many shedding hairs, sometimes much less. I figured an AVERAGE is just that... some days I am going to have more and some days less, but I would say on average it is less than 16 a day, sometimes I see only 5 or 6 fall out! Wheeeeeeeee!!!! I am thrilled with what the Rogaine has done for me. I have little hairs, about an inch or two long over much of the crown of my head now. The other day I even got a compliment on my hair. Not only does it look thicker, it feels thicker, too. Just a couple more things... I had been under a very big amount of stress the last few years. I first noticed the hair loss after having surgery and having to wait for the biopsy results, negative, thank God, but the hair thinning sent me to the dermatologist, who diagnosed me as having telogen effluvium (TE). I waited and watched some regrowth, but then I had to deal with marital problems. Every time I made some progress, something seemed to set me back. I begain seeing a marriage counselor (by myself...husband refuses to go). Just talking to her reduced my stress levels enormously. i highly recommend this option to others who feel that stress is contributing to your hair loss. This has been long, but I hope it has given you some guidance in making your decision as to use Rogaine or not. I know that there were times that I was really frightened by the initial shedding, but I just kept using that great stuff twice a day. :-) take care... daisy

Thanks for the well wishes, HU-536588320. Sorry to hear about your alternative doc. My wife had a scare years ago, while she was using Prempro (or Premarin - forgot which.) Doc said she had a non-atypical hyperplasia in one of her breasts. Scared the crap out of us both. She then discovered Dr. John Lee's books, and that's why she started using natural progesterone cream. We learned about terms like unopposed estrogen, etc. Quite a journey that launched us both onto. I think you're right about DHEA being like a building block. I think some of the books we read called it a precursor...so instead of a woman deciding that her body needs more estriol, or estrone, or estradiol, or progesterone...if she supplements with some DHEA...then the body will turn that into whatever it needs. That's why I was so eager for my wife to try it some time ago. So, I was bummed to find out that she didn't respond well to it. It's been a while, but I think it irritated her tissue. I did some research, and turned out the provider or manufacturer of this particular DHEA suppository used a base that contained glycol (maybe even ethelyne glycol - been too long ago.) Well duh - that's what's in antifreeze! So the questions I asked and reading I did seemed to suggest it wasn't the DHEA my wife had a reaction to - it was the base they used. Not long afterwards, my wife came across the bezwecken cubes. They didn't bother her. So I read up on it a bit, trying to understand why she reacted favorably to that, but not the DHEA suppositories. Well surprise, surprise - the base used by the hydration cubes was kinder or more gentle - didn't contain that crap glycol chemical, lol. I wondered if we kept looking, and just tried a different supplier or manufacturer of DHEA suppositories...that also used a kinder or more gentle base...how would she respond to it? But since the hydration cubes did the trick...I guess we never pursued it any further. Wow - thanks for passing on the tip that, the DHEA does exactly for you what my wife and I are looking for. :-) Maybe I should get that recipe from you for the DHEA after all! :-) You know, you can spend a lot of time studying and researching all this stuff...but the human body is so complex and interesting...it still surprises you. It remains to be seen what kind of approach this OB/GYN will come up with. The first step was for my wife to get an ultrasound. I think that's in like a couple of weeks.