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[GypsyRoseLee]

Briony, I'm the same as you in getting a bit phobic about posting any good news on here.

I think I have posted 2-3 times saying how much better I feel, and I genuinely am feeling so much better when I post. Only for it to all go pear shaped within a day or two. I even had a 5 week long spell, where I barely posted on here because I felt so good and thought I had recovered, only for all my symptoms to come back and bite me on the bum.

Still at least I can hope that my very honest descriptions will show how much of a roller coaster you can be on with peri menopause 

[Sunnydays]

Hi Hurdity
You say about continuous progesterone not being good for you, especially if synthetic. Can you explain these effects. I posted the other week about the progesterone in Evorel (n something!) often being referred to as not very kind and asked if there was any particular health implications from taking this as oppose to another type.
I'd be grateful for any feedback you can give.

[Briony]

50mcg is still only a medium dose, and you're still young within your meno journey, so I suspect it'll take longer than nine weeks before things get better, especially if you've been without sufficient estrogen for a while? Hang in there if you can xx

[Greenfields]

Just to say I saw my lovely Dr this morning and was asking her when the side effects of the medications I'm on will settle down - I'm on Evorel 50 and 100mg Utrogestan.  She said to me it usually takes 3 months for anxiety issues to settle down (i.e. for early morning anxiety to be addressed).  She said it takes about 6 weeks for depression to be addressed.  I'm still experiencing anxiety but I've only been on my medications about 6 weeks and, as I'm recovering from a breakdown, that is thrown into the mix too.

Anyway, I just thought that I would post that here as I think that you really need to take a medication for a while (i.e. 3 months) before assessing whether it works for you or that the side effects are just not clearing up and that it doesn't work for you.

[GypsyRoseLee]

Thank you for posting that Greenfields. I am too impatient. I'm desperate for something to start workoing YESTERDAY! And it doesn't help that I have read lots of posts on here and other sites, saying that their depression/anxiety lifted within 7-10 days or whatever.

[Greenfields]

Thank you for posting that Greenfields. I am too impatient. I'm desperate for something to start workoing YESTERDAY! And it doesn't help that I have read lots of posts on here and other sites, saying that their depression/anxiety lifted within 7-10 days or whatever.

Have you tried increasing the amount of exercise you do?  Only I've found it's been really helpful.  When I feel yuccky, I drag myself out to whatever class or walk I'm scheduled to do and I've found generally that I always feel better afterwards.  I went on a walk yesterday and people asked me how I was at the beginning and I said not good.  At the end, someone commented that I looked a lot better - and I did feel a lot better too.  I don't know whether it's the exercise or the company or the fact that people patiently listen to my story about what has happened to me - but it definitely helps.

I spoke to my GP today about the anxiety - because I still find it at times overwhelming (which I think is normal given the crap I'm going through!) and she very kindly prescribed beta blockers - so I am going to give those a go on days when I find things too overwhelming (for mornings where I can't get out of bed for 2 hours - haven't had any of those in the last week thank God!) - and just having the medication to hand in case I need it really helps me feel a bit better.

We talked about SSRI's and citilopram as well but I'm so scared to take them as I had such a bad experience with Sertraline and given that, if and when I move back to Canada it will be another drug to pay for, I am going to try for the next month to see if I can manage without them.  The Dr was really impressed with the amount of exercise I've been doing and the progress I've made over 6 weeks - so I'm due to see her in a month's time and I'll see how I am then.

My GP is just so lovely - I'm so so lucky.  Just really wish I had switched practices sooner because then I wouldn't feel under quite so much pressure to get better quite so quickly - I would have a month in hand so to speak.  But I'm doing the best I can with the circumstances I find myself in.

[Briony]

[/quote]

Have you tried increasing the amount of exercise you do?  Only I've found it's been really helpful.  When I feel yuccky, I drag myself out to whatever class or walk I'm scheduled to do and I've found generally that I always feel better afterwards.  I went on a walk yesterday and people asked me how I was at the beginning and I said not good.  At the end, someone commented that I looked a lot better - and I did feel a lot better too.  I don't know whether it's the exercise or the company or the fact that people patiently listen to my story about what has happened to me - but it definitely helps.


[/quote]


I feels so envious of you when I read this. Until all this hormonal madness I ran 40 odd miles a week, loved exercise and was vice chair of a local sports group in my spare time. Now, thanks to my crazy hormones, I can no longer run. If I try, my legs/ankles either go numb or else really, really hurt. It's caused by water retention niggling the nerve endings and it's so annoying. At times, I can't even wear normal socks or bracelets/necklaces without discomfort.  I've also found that it's much harder to exercise out doors when your hormones are playing up as I sometimes get that dizzy, almost 'drunk' feeling which scares me (don't fancy being in the middle of a remote field and feeling like that, alone). Again, this is apparently linked to the peri menopause. More positively, I have found that Pilates is good for de-stressing, but still wish I could go out and run off some miles like I used to. If you can do it with company, like you say, it's even better.  I'm hoping that once my body is more used to the new, greater dose of hormones, it might start behaving itself enough to run again ! 

I totally agree with you that it has a positive effect - kind of ironic that it's hormones that have stopped me exercising when mentally, it's when I need it most.

[Greenfields]

Aw I'm so sorry to hear that Briony - exercise has helped me so much and I'm so grateful for it at the moment.

I don't know whether it's any help but I go to aquafit which is like aqua aerobics in the swimming pool - and it's quite a workout - so maybe that is something you might explore?

The other thing I do is exercise classes at the sports centre and also I go to the gym there.

I got a GP referral to the sports centre which means that I get 12 weeks membership for 78 pounds - and I can go to everything (classes, gym etc). Normally i would have to pay a joining fee and 43 pounds a month to access all this - so it's saved me quite a bit of money and I go practically every day at the moment.

the other thing is that in my area there is a group called Walk for Health and they do 2 and 1/2 mile walks each week - its mostly retired people but they are so friendly. I think its a national organisation so if there is a walk in your area maybe you could do that? I know its not the same as running but walking in a group in the countryside is really nice. There's also the ramblers although I haven't explored them in my area because it costs me more money (the walk for health is free).

Pilates is good - haven't done it for a while. I like yoga too.

Sending hugs - this whole menopause thing is so hard and I'm so grateful for people sharing on this board and the support people give to each other xxx

[Hurdity]

Briony - you could always go to a cardio-based exercise class - not quite the same as running outdoors but at least you would be burning some calories and getting your heart going - and no danger of falling over like in the middle of a field!

Sunnydays - there is some info about synthetic progestogens and breast cancer risk in this paper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1974841/
There is also some information on progestins ( which are synthetic) and what is termed "natural" progesterone here:
http://www.project-aware.org/Resource/articlearchives/differences.shtml

In this context natural progesterone is what we call bio-identical progesterone ie in this country/Europe as Utrogestan, and Prometrium in US.

The progestogen in your HRT is norethisterone. Many women do tolerate this very well and if it was harmful in the short or medium term it would not be licensed so no need to worry on that score. I just like to take stuff that's as close to natural as possible and that includes in my diet - so when I started HRT I had a "nil-by-mouth" approach - I didn't want HRT to go through my digestive system, and I wanted to use bio-identical hormones. I started with Evorel sequi because I didn't know about progesterone back then (2007) and utrogestan wasn't around so there was nothing licensed for HRT. If it suits you then do go on using it! If you've been on HRT a long time or intend to do so then maybe think about switching when you get near 60!

Hurdity x