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[sashanasher]

Hello
I am the 4th white pill in to my 2nd month of Elleste Duet 1mg.  When will the black cloud lift.  I have suffered for years with hot sweats, depression, mood swings and fatigue. I am 51, 52 next week in 2nd month of HRT.......please make me normal. How ling will it take.

[dazned]

Hi and 

I started like you on estelle duet 1mg when I was 49 and it took about 3/4months before I settled ,sadly hrt takes awhile to settle your body needs time to adjust ,keep on going and look forward as positively as you can unfortunately no overnight cure. Let us know how you get on.

[sashanasher]

I know, I think I expected to feel better after the first pill. It is just debilitating sweating all the time and my breasts feel like they are going to blow up!!! lol . I feel like I have wasted years of my life with this silly menopause ! 

[Briony]

Minimum of three months ... and don't be surprised if you have a few blips before you finally feel  the benefit. I expected immediate results and then felt disheartened when they didn't work. It's a marathon, not a sprint xx

[Taz2]

The HRT patches tend to work quicker on hot flushes/sweats than the pills. I've had total relief from those sort of symptoms within twenty four hours of applying a patch but emotional symptoms tend to take a while longer both on pill and patch HRT. There are different types of HRT to try so if, after three months, you are still not feeling the benefit then it is well worth going back to your GP to try a different one.

Taz x 

[GypsyRoseLee]

I've been taking HRT for 11 weeks now. Patches with separate Utrogestan. Have been very, very up and down with mood swings, depression and random anxiety. Some very good days but plenty of bad ones too.

I expected to feel much better within 24 hours of applying the very first place  6 weeks later I was panicking like mad because I still didn't feel much better. I felt like everyone else in the world felt HRT had worked wonderfully for them within 48 hours, apart from me. Then I had a real set back because I stupidly had a spray tan which interfered with my patch absorption which set me back by about 10 days in total I think?

I'm now into my 11th week and I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Have felt so, so much better this last week. Much better than even any of the 'good' days I have been experiencing over the last few months.

Greenfields mentioned that her GP told her that HRT works more quickly on the physical symptoms, and that it can take a few months for it to lift the depression and stop the anxiety. But at least now you're on the right path so try and stick with it xxx

[Jude65]

Hi I've started to take prempak-c the strong ones . I'm on 5th day now and things are looking up.. I had a few really bad days with the pills to start with. Seemed to get worse if anything then on the 4th day around tea time it felt like the fog had lifted and flushes charmed down. I can think better and getting few flushes but nothing bad.. I slept last night from 1.0clock till 5 . Longest yet for about 6 months  so hold in there .....hope you feel better soon x

[Greenfields]

I'm now into my third cycle of HRT - so into the 3 month period and I definitely feel more like myself these days than I've ever done - really noticed it this last week in particular (despite having some ups and downs) - so definitely give it 3 months.

Having said that, if you experience crashing fatigue - like I did on my first HRT treatment - then I would look into seeing the Dr sooner.  I was on Nuvelle Continous for a month and it was the most hideous experience - crashing fatigue (couldn't get out of bed) followed by days where I felt so wired I scared myself. 

Now I'm on Evorel 50 and Utrogestan 100mg - been on them for 8 weeks and 4 days (yes I'm counting!) and have felt better and better and better as time has gone on - but it does take a while to kick in and I did have side effects for the first few months in particular (I'm very sensitive to meds).

The first Dr I saw was dreadful.  The second Dr put me on the new meds and said she wanted to see me in 11 days - and that really helped - she checked up on how i was doing early on whereas the first Dr didn't do a check up and when I went to see her about the fatigue she gave me an AD which made me very ill - whereas it was actually the HRT I was on that was making me so damn fatigued ...

[Briony]

I'm now into my third cycle of HRT - so into the 3 month period and I definitely feel more like myself these days than I've ever done - really noticed it this last week in particular (despite having some ups and downs) - so definitely give it 3 months.

Having said that, if you experience crashing fatigue - like I did on my first HRT treatment - then I would look into seeing the Dr sooner.  I was on Nuvelle Continous for a month and it was the most hideous experience - crashing fatigue (couldn't get out of bed) followed by days where I felt so wired I scared myself. 

Now I'm on Evorel 50 and Utrogestan 100mg - been on them for 8 weeks and 4 days (yes I'm counting!) and have felt better and better and better as time has gone on - but it does take a while to kick in and I did have side effects for the first few months in particular (I'm very sensitive to meds).

The first Dr I saw was dreadful.  The second Dr put me on the new meds and said she wanted to see me in 11 days - and that really helped - she checked up on how i was doing early on whereas the first Dr didn't do a check up and when I went to see her about the fatigue she gave me an AD which made me very ill - whereas it was actually the HRT I was on that was making me so damn fatigued ...

Hi Greenfields
Really interesting post. Are you taking the Utro 100mg continuously? I too have suffered from fatigue like you describe - worse when I was taking nothing, but still bouts of it on both HRT and the pill. I am trying to find a pattern and 'think' it's a combination of lowered estrogen combined with higher progesterone - hence the reason I get it only at certain times of the month. I took Evorel 50 and 200mg of Utro for days 15-26. I am sure I'd have been better off on 100mg for days 1 - 26, but still having periods, doc wouldn't let me :-(   
Really hope you continue to feel so much better x

[Greenfields]

I'm now into my third cycle of HRT - so into the 3 month period and I definitely feel more like myself these days than I've ever done - really noticed it this last week in particular (despite having some ups and downs) - so definitely give it 3 months.

Having said that, if you experience crashing fatigue - like I did on my first HRT treatment - then I would look into seeing the Dr sooner.  I was on Nuvelle Continous for a month and it was the most hideous experience - crashing fatigue (couldn't get out of bed) followed by days where I felt so wired I scared myself. 

Now I'm on Evorel 50 and Utrogestan 100mg - been on them for 8 weeks and 4 days (yes I'm counting!) and have felt better and better and better as time has gone on - but it does take a while to kick in and I did have side effects for the first few months in particular (I'm very sensitive to meds).

The first Dr I saw was dreadful.  The second Dr put me on the new meds and said she wanted to see me in 11 days - and that really helped - she checked up on how i was doing early on whereas the first Dr didn't do a check up and when I went to see her about the fatigue she gave me an AD which made me very ill - whereas it was actually the HRT I was on that was making me so damn fatigued ...

Hi Greenfields
Really interesting post. Are you taking the Utro 100mg continuously? I too have suffered from fatigue like you describe - worse when I was taking nothing, but still bouts of it on both HRT and the pill. I am trying to find a pattern and 'think' it's a combination of lowered estrogen combined with higher progesterone - hence the reason I get it only at certain times of the month. I took Evorel 50 and 200mg of Utro for days 15-26. I am sure I'd have been better off on 100mg for days 1 - 26, but still having periods, doc wouldn't let me :-(   
Really hope you continue to feel so much better x

Yes I am taking the Utro continuously - I take it for days 1 - 25 and then I stop.  The Dr instructed me to take it again the moment I have a period but I haven't had one the last 2 cycles so when that's the case, I'm instructed to take it on Day 29 - which then becomes Day 1 of my next cycle (if that makes sense?). 

The Dr said that as I was so sensitive to medications, taking Utro this way - she thought - would benefit me more on a regular basis and it's possible to do it because it's a low dose (100mg) - she looked it up in her book.

I did query it with her initially because I read the manufacturer's leaflet and thought I should only be taking it for a few days like you do but apparently there are other ways of taking it such as the way my Dr suggested for me.

I hadn't had a period in a while when she prescribed it - just a little break thru bleed in 2014 (June I think) so I don't know whether that influenced how it's prescribed.

I don't get the crashing fatigue on this regime that I was getting on Nuvelle Continuous - that was horrific. I would be so fatigued that I could barely get out of bed and I used to spend most of the day lying down on the floor doing relaxation exercises. I would have days of that alternating with days where I was just very 'wired' - it was horrible.

I also don't get the constant stomach upsets either that I had on Nuvelle Continuous - I wish I had been put on my current treatment right from the beginning as I would be so much further along in terms of feeling better now I think - but I have to count my blessings - if I had stayed with the other Dr, I would probably be still on the same crappy treatment and getting the same awful health care as she clearly didn't know what she was doing - she prescribed me Sertraline as I couldn't get out of bed for 2 days - now, when I look back, it's clear to me that was due in part to the Nuvelle Continuous - but I was so so ill from Sertraline - I never want to experience the 2 days I took that stuff again.

[Briony]

Thanks Greenfields. I still get periods so I do't think I'd be able to do the 100mg daily. Really hope it continues to keep working for you xxx

[LW44]

hi :-)

just wondering how your getting on now with the elleste duet 1mg ? im only 10 days in... seeing flickers of light :-) and back at work.. but still waking with anx/dep for some reason... and low mood on and off throughout the day... have to add no stress or anything to cause this its just there x

[peegeetip]

Hi LW44

if your ok during the day but then awake feeling odd then the dose of hrt your on may just be running low in your system by the morning.

I'd said this on an earlier post but you could delay your tablet by 12hr till dinner time. Then see if that improves the morning.

If it does then you might need a little top up with Gel Estrogen option.
That way you can dab some on around dinner/bedtime and that might make your night a bit more bareable.

The Elleste duet 1mg has the same amount of prog part as the 2mg tablet so if you use gel in the evening then you can take the full equivalent of 1mg gel if you needed it. The benefit of gel option is you can adjust it better to when you need it and how much helps you overnight.
However if you go straight to 2mg elleste duet option then you've not really any option to adjust. Also some ladies metabolism might process the 2mg quicker so you might find that 24hrs later the benefit when you need it is not quite there.

Hope that makes sense. Certainly the only extra you'll have is the prescription cost for the estrogen gel option.

 

ps. again it took me a month or so to get out of teary mode, then a few more months to get periods back into normal "flow", then other problems down below were improving after 6 months+. If I'd been on a higher does then the latter might have been resolved quicker.