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[KayJay]

Hi Ladies

I'm currently REALLY struggling without HRT as I came off it 5 months ago. I did take Femoston 1/10 for over a year and I felt fantastic on the oestrogen days but on the progesterone days I'm not a very nice person at all. Everyone at work avoids me and I speak to customers appallingly. I asked my GP for help last November and I stopped taking HRT until she checked the option of maybe a 3 monthly bleed.

I'm 47 years old and still having regular periods. My GP wants me to go on Femoston continual even though I have regular periods between 19 and 32 days apart with the odd shorter one as well. Has anyone tried this? Is it a good idea? I'm worried that I should try alternate options with progesterone first as a monthly bleed. I can't have the marina coil but having read other experiences it seems like maybe there are other options.

I'm currently in a very bad place, I'm so low that I'm not even going to work or leaving the house and I'm so ashamed of how I feel and the person I have become I'm now wondering if it's depression because of peri menopause or if I'm actually going mad.

Reading other posts on here has given me some hope and Ive made an appointment at a menopause clinic for next Friday. Any suggestions of help would be greatly appreciated.

[Clovie]

Hi Kayjay  Sending virtual hugs...

I know exactly how you feel. Exactly. I'm lucky in that I don't go out to work (I'm a housewife and mum of teens) but if I did I'm sure I would have been off sick an awful lot over the last year. Customers or colleagues didn't bear the brunt of my irritability and sometimes outright rage but my poor husband did   
Have a look for my old threads and you'll see I was the same as you, plus low, anxious, paranoid and downright mean  before I got sorted with my current combo. How I remained married to a lovely man I' do not know!! 

Your experience with the prog phase sounds very much like mine, and I'm progesterone intolerant.
I went through various types of prog until I was eventually given utrogestan. It's by far the lesser of many evils - not perfect but as near as it's going to get.

Before this, at the age of 48 with regular periods I was given long cycle HRT (Where you only have prog and a withdrawal bleed from it every 3 months) I was never given the option of conti HRT as I was and still am in peri. It was discussed however that I might want to have a hysterectomy which I thought was a bit OTT.
 
Perhaps you could ask to try utrogestan and estrogel? Both these are bio-identical forms of HRT and whilst I didn't want to get into the whole rubbing in gel malarkey I have to say I'm so glad I did. 

Any-hoo, you're not alone. Plenty of us have felt like you do right now, and plenty more will in the future. Hang in there, keep posting, and here's to you getting sorted out soon and starting to feel better    x

[KayJay]

Thank you Clovie 

Ive just read your posts and a lot of it could be written about me. I truly believe nobody likes me even my husband and kids although they don't understand why I think that.

This peri meno is cruel, I finally think I'm going forwards and something and nothing sets me off crying. I seem to suffer more on the emotional side with mood swings and irritability. I have dry skin, stress incontinence, insomnia, crushing fatigue and I often feel like just giving up.

I'm glad to hear you have finally found the right combination for you. I will speak to the menopause clinic on Fridys to see if the same would suit me and you may have saved me years of wasted trials 

It's so refreshing to read other ladies feel the same and I'm not alone. My GP is not very supportive so I'm on a steep learning curve via the Internet and the wealth of information on here from others is so helpful

[Dancinggirl]

Kayjay - I'm afraid your GP is wrong to offer you conti HRt if you are still getting regular periods - you are likely to get erratic and problematic bleeding on a conti HRT.
I do wonder if you would be better on Oestrogel with Utrogestan.  In the peri stage it can often be a mistake to use too much oestrogen because you are still producing some yourself - though this will be fluctuating. You could just use one pump of gel per day and Utrogestan 200mg for 12 days each month.  This is all bio identical and often brings fewer side effects. I'd print off the details from this site to show your GP.
Unfortunately the type of meno symptoms you are experiencing are difficult to control.  I would really look at lifestyle e.g. diet, exercise and, very importantly, relaxation etc. The best thing I have tried is Mindfulness, my GP recommended this  - it takes some time to get in the habit of making it part of your day but I find it really helps when I'm feeling tired and low. There are books and tapes or even things on Youtube you can use to learn this.
I do think one needs to take an holistic approach and not expect HRT to cure everything - I'm afraid HRT really can't solve everything.  DG x

[KayJay]

Thank you Dancinggirl I did think my GP was wrong to suggest the continual yet so I wanted to check on here what thoughts were.

I have been in peri menopause for about 3 years now at least. The first 2 years I managed on an holistic approach with plenty of vitamins and meditation and my head in the sand. Then last year I was on HRT and it made such huge difference between life being worth living and not without. It has taken about 4 months off HRT to be back where I was before I started the HRT. I never realised how much anxiety I suffered until I started the HRT

I'm just so wracked with guilt about the way I treat people on the progesterone part, I stopped taking it all but without it i can't cope anymore and with it my family can't cope 😓

The desperation I feel makes me so sad I just don't know what to do for the best

[Hurdity]

Hi KayJay

 

I agree with Dancinggirl. How strange that the doctor would suggest you had continuous combine HRT - not just because you are peri-menopausal - (although that is the usual reason!) - but when you felt so bad on the progestogen phase!

Great that you are going to the menopause clinic. As Dancinggirl says look at the different types available -  under Treatments/HRT preparations (top tabs). As well as gel there are oestrogen patches which come in a variety of strengths fro 25 mcg up to 100 mcg so it's a matter of preference initially - patches are usually changed twice a week, and gel applied every day. Estradot patches are the best in my opinion if you go for this option - in that they are very small!

Good luck and let us know how you get on

Hurdity x

[MIS71MUM]

Hi KayJay

All I can say is that I've been where you are....not leaving the house or working. I've also been off F1/10 for 4 months and really underestimated what it did for me. Like you, I also suffer from the emotional side of peri but the physical ones are now showing up too.

You're not going mad....I truly believe it's peri.

On Friday I started a regime very similar to Clovie's. I know it's early days but today I felt calm, it scared me a bit as I haven't felt like that for ages despite being on AD.  Also had reflexology on Friday too which has helped.

Try not to beat yourself up about your mood swings too. I've suffered from anxiety and depression 12 years ago and it was nothing, and I mean nothing, like this rollercoaster of peri.

The ladies on here have kept me going through some very difficult times.....so you'll never be alone.

Take care and keep posting

[Lizab]

Hello KayJay

It's the hormones. I have hardly left home in almost 4 months. I really thought I was losing it. I've now been on hrt for 3 months and am finally feeling mostly sane again and slowly getting back to life as usual. It's almost unbelievable how the hormones mess with your mind.

My gp also encouraged me to take continuous combined hrt, and though my period were few and far apart, it hadn't been a year without. I insisted on a sequential hrt.

[KayJay]

Thank you all for the comforting words and advice.

I have done a lot of reading the past few days including John Studds webpage. He seems very knowledgable in not only treating but understanding the menopause. He seems keen on prescribing oestrogel and ultrogestan combination but when I looked at the HRT options tab above it seems the oestrogel isnt listed as an option for Peri which is a shame as so many seem to be ok with this combination.

Does anyone know why it's not a recommended on the options tabs above for Peri?

Many thanks xx

[Hurdity]

Hi Kayjay

the options for peri are just the combined HRT types not the separates as well as the progestogens. If you scroll down this is what it says:

PROGESTOGENS - Progestogens are given with estrogen to protect the womb lining from becoming thickened from stimulation by estrogen. Progestogens are generally not required after a hysterectomy (removal of the womb). (See Menopause and HRT after hysterectomy)

In the Perimenopause, progestogens are given for part of each 4 week cycle of estrogen, leading to a 4 weekly bleed in most users. This is known as “Sequential” HRT.


Please note: Patients should consult a health professional to decide on the appropriate treatment option to be prescribed.

As well as being given as part of a ready made combined therapy, the following progestogens can be given with estrogen only regimes:

http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/perimeno.php

The oestrogen only preparations are given here:

http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/treatafter.php

...and it says this at the bottom:

"All estrogen only preparations can be used in patients who have not had a hysterectomy, as long as an appropriate progestogen is given in addition."

Hope this helps

Hurdity x

[KayJay]

Thank you so much Hurdity

No matter how many times I read it I couldn't see what it was saying and then the penny dropped  when I read your post

I'm blaming the foggy brain 

Thank you xx

[KayJay]

I've been to the menopause clinic today and she was definite not to go on the continuous HRT as my  GP had said and go on oestrogel and Ultrogestan which I now have an NHS prescription for as well.

I would have gone down the wrong path had it not have been for this site and the correct advice from you ladies.

Thank you all, keep your fingers crossed for me

Wishing you all a lovely weekend x

[Trufflecat]

So glad that the menopause clinic is being useful. Good luck on your new regeime. I have been using heprt for ,9 months now and it seems to take three months of using something to see if it suits . I asm in peri and yet my GP put me on Utrogestan for 25 days initially.....now down to 7!