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[Morwenna]

Two months ago I changed from Femoston Sequi 2/10 to Femoston Conti 1/5 on the advice of my GP. I was happy to do this because (although Femoston sequi suited me to an extent), I seem to feel better when taking progesterone, and continuous HRT delivers it on a daily basis and of course there's the added benefit of no periods. However, the conti version of Femoston contains a lower dose of oestrogen and this reduction has caused one or two 'symptoms' to break through, namely hot flushes during the night (which I can cope with if they don't get any worse) but more worryingly I am now suffering poor quality sleep - I wake up almost every hour and as a result feel wrung out by morning. I used to sleep so well on the Femoston Sequi. My question is does anyone think that given time these issues may settle? I am 55 now and have been on HRT for four years. I would be happy to stick with the conti regime if something could be done to help with poor sleep (that doesn't involve more medication) there's always something with this menopause lark!

[Hurdity]

Hi Morwenna

Sorry to hear this - the answer is I don't know and I think the extent to which symptoms settle after a reduction in oestrogen dose depends on the individual's response. It's always better to reduce oestrogen gradually (although there was a piece of reserach to shwo it made no difference to the eventual outcome - whether flushes or sweats returned), and easier to do this when on patches by cutting little bits off.

I know I tried to reduce from 50 mcg to 37.5 mcg almost 2 years ago but even that small reduction caused a return to flushes. because I was ( am) working, albeit part-time - I wasn't prepared  to wait and see if it settled - eg this might take a year or never. I went back up to 50 mcg and still there. Disturbed sleep is one of the most debilitating symptoms.

Is it not possible to ask if you can double the dose? It's deliberately kept to a medium dose because the idea I presume is that post-meno women should not be on higher doses and makes it more difficult eventually to reduce - but depends on your personal circumstances as well as your general health too.

Sorry that's probably not much help!

Hurdity x

[Morwenna]

    I didn't think the reduction from 2mg of Oestradiol to 1mg would be too much bearing in mind my age and general good health? It's not so easy to cut little bits off tablets and I'm reluctant to ask to increase the dose at this early stage as I really want to try and manage with less oestrogen - I don't know why, just an instinctive feeling. Who knows - I could be one of those lucky ladies who 'come out the other side' post menopause and feel much better for it? If I stay on a higher dose of HRT for ever I'll never know? Anyway (especially as there isn't a 2mg version of Femoston Conti) I'll persevere with it a bit longer and see how I go - it could be that after a few more weeks I feel fine (or on the other hand I may be banging on the GP's door begging to change my prescription!)