Post from george from Evorel conti thread:
"Hi hurdity, I notice you are using utrogestan. This has been suggested to me as being one of the kinder progesterones. I have read a lot of threads where women were not too happy with this, tiredness and bad breath I think. How do you find it and are you conti or sequi. Need to make up my mind this week as it is either this or the coil.
Thanks
Xxx"Hi george
There is no doubt that Utrogestan is one of the kinder progesterones - it is identical to our natural progesterone we produce whereas all the other pills and patches contain synthetic progestins.
The thing about side effects is that most women throughout their fertile lives have some sort of reaction to progesterone. Increasing amounts during the menstrual cycle (and much larger amounts in pregnancy) can cause breast tenderness, bloating, tiredness, sometimes nausea.
The rapid fall in progesterone just before the period ( ie the last week) also causes symptoms in most women - in particular headaches, tension, irritability,
fuzzy head, anxiety, weepiness etc.
For some women these symptoms are intolerable monthly throughout their lives.
I only say this because it would be unusual to find any progesterone that caused no side effects whatsoever - either while levels are high, or when they decrease, and lead to the period.
Those women who have suffered from bad pms - are much more likely to have problems finding a suitable HRT progesterone/progestogen.
Therefore you are reading about those who unfortunately fall into this category and are struggling to find something that suits them.
How were you with pms and I can't find what you've tried before? Also are you supposed to be on conti or cyclical regime?
I would certainly recommend trying Utrogestan.
The main side effects I found are just tiredness while taking it - but that is really minor! I use it vaginally (200 mg) as I don't like taking HRT by mouth. I am using it every two months as I am post meno and don't want to feel tired all the time so I'm putting up with a bleed. Some women as you've read have found it gives them migraines. I got a migraine with it but that's because I mixed it with alcohol ( I think!).
Both times ( I;ve only taken it for 2 cycles so far) I did not get a migraine after I came off it, just before the bleed, whereas when I was using another natural prog - Cyclogest pessaries - I always got a 3 day migraine when I stopped each month.
Some say it builds up in your system over a few months so I need to wait and see whether further migraines develop...
I don't have a problem with the breath ( and hadn't heard of this until recently!) because I don't take it by mouth but it's a question of weighing up all the pros and cons and see how your body reacts.
On the positive side natural progesterone has a sedative effect (which manifests as tiredness) but in smaller doses women have reported a calming effect.
This is less likely to happen with the synthetic progestogens which can have the opposite effect ( depressive).
Do read the threads on the Mirena coil - several have posted recently - there are quite extreme reactions to this. It seems to be either wonderful
or dreadful!
Good luck and keep us posted with whatever you decide.
Hurdity x
