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[Teresa667]

Hi I am a new member to this site. I am 49yrs and I'm in the peri menopause. I was getting no where with my gp because I'm still having periods so gp said I couldn't be menopausal. I've been off work for 5 months as I hit a brick wall with the symptoms and just couldn't function. I am low mood, negative thoughts, crying over nothing, night sweats, greasy hair, anxiety really bad and I have a period every 2 weeks when the flooding is so bad I can't leave the house. So I paid out of my savings to see a consultant privately and she has confirmed that I have been peri for years. I had a biopsy under general of the
endocrine lining and it came back negative and the consultant could find no other problems. As I take meds each day to control a silent migraine she has advised the following treatment plan. That I have an injection Zoladex 3.6mg every 4 weeks so that I don't have a period and I take a tablet Tibolone 2.5mg to deal with the side effects of stopping the periods. Must admit initially I was hopeful of this but there are so many bad stories on the net about the injection I'm now worried about having it. If anyone is on this treatment plan and having good results I'd love to hear your positive experience. I know everyone is different but I really need to get back to work and can't risk feeling worse than I do now, which is pretty bad.

[vintagefiend]

Hi Theresa- I've held off replying because i did not have agood zoladex experience- sorry! BUT, the gynae i saw was shocked that i'd had such a bad time, stating it had neverhappened with  a patientbefore. so, it would  seem that i'm more of an exceptionthan a rule. be aware, the first month seemed to be a paradoxical effect where- rather than being dampened, my hormones were in overdrive! for me it wasthe 2nd month where it was obvious i was switched off. hopeit worksfor you- ihad to give up work and am sort of ok on venlafaxine and 25mcg patch oestradiol, tho i dont think i could face work at the mo (do some from home- away frompeople!) so i'm not really living a proper life- butnot as horrendous as hasbeen andi look forward to things like xmas. i'm sorry u having such ahard time- your symptoms arevery familiar- u will find some way of getting through this. i wish there was asupport group in real life cos i need social interaction with understanding people! anyway- i digress- letus know how you do and sendingpositivevibes! sorry my spacebar sticking!

[Teresa667]

Hi, thankyou for your reply. I'm really not keen on having the Zoladex injection as I'm feeling bad now and can't risk getting worse and having to wait 4 weeks for the injection to leave my system. The consultant only prescribed this because my periods are so heavy every 2 weeks. But as she didn't find any fibroids etc logically to me it would point to hormonal. I'm going to contact her and see if I can just take the Tibolone tablet which may lighten the bleed. I don't like taking things that I don't feel I have control over. At least with the tablets I can just stop them if they don't agree with me. The bleed is the least of my problems it's all the other symptoms i.e. low mood, depression and crying that are the worse. I've been off work nearly 5 months and really need to get back and get my life back. 

[vintagefiend]

oh i agree! without wishing tominimise the physical symptomsof peri- i'd take thema hundred times over the emotional ones! i'm interested in tibolone too and notice thereare  a couple of ladies on it- i had it during the zoladexbut idnt take it for long as mistookthe nightmare that was zoladex for the tibolone. so u have very regular periods(!) and are acandidatefor tibolone- do you know what u expect the tibolone to do? will it override your cycle or co-exist- is it hrt strength ratherthanbirth control? i will read up on it anyway! i dontlikeprogestogens- donttake one at present- but i gatherit's differentin  tibolone. also the testosterone sideof tibolone would not go amiss! hope u get theok to use  tibolone

[Dancinggirl]

Teresa667 - welcome to MM
It sounds to me as though you are seeing a gynae who is pretty clued up.  Don't listen to horror stories - it tends to be  the ones who have problems that post their negative stories.  We get a few women on this site posting about their problems with progesterone and this tends to scare women who are starting HRT for the first time and then they look for problems from the outset.
When I saw my specialist gynae a couple of years ago he told me that he often gives younger women with problematic bleeding Zoladex with great success.  He also said he had an unusual case of a young women that had extreme asthma attacks whenever she had her period - she ended up in casualty every month - he gave her Zoladex and added in appropriate hormones and the asthma attacks stopped!!!!!
I would follow the advice you have been given - it seems really logical to me.  The Tibilone can be excellent for meno symptoms and I bet you will feel great not having all this bleeding. Your alternative to the Zoladex could be to have a Mirena fitted as this will usually reduce bleeding and allow one to use a bit of oestrogen alongside.
The problem is, I doubt you could use Tibolone without the Zoladex as you would need to be post meno (no periods) to take this.
Give things a go - you have everything to gain and nothing to loose as it seems you need to get your life back on track.
Dg x

[Hurdity]

Hi Teresa667

I initially answered on your intro thread and glad you your new thread has reached a member who has had Zoladex on here 

Just to add that I agree with Dancinggirl, that you would not take the Tibolone if you had not had the injection to shut down ovaries as it is for post-menopausal women, and in fact could make the bleeding worse, as one of the side effects can be thickening of the womb. I'm not sure what it does to the cycle in peri-menopause though as it doesn't act like normal HRT?

Hurdity x

[Teresa667]

Thankyou dancinggirl for your reply it's reassured me. I didn't want the mirena coil just a personal choice. My consultant prescribed this plan because I have a silent migraine 24/7 and I'm on medication daily for it. I'm in the UK and my consultant has 50 women on this plan successfully. I paid privately out of my savings to see her and she is very good. I suppose I don't like things that I feel I can't control and this week has been horrendous hormonally so my thinking is all over the place.

[SueLW]

My advise would be to try what the consultant said.  You paid for that advice.  It seems logical and good advice.  So do as recommended.  Nothing is forever.

I too fall into the category of getting easily scared by the horror stories.  But as DancingGirl said, only the people with horror stories write them up in forums.  Those that take the treatment and get well have no idea that it might be a big deal somewhere so they don't think to look for places to write up their success.

Being hormonally challenged is really hard.  it makes thinking and deciding on a cause of action nearly impossible!  I know that if I feel really depressed and so down I can't move that I need to add a squirt of Estrogel.  But when it happens I can't decide to do it.  So I've written it on my fridge and my husband tells me when I should add the gel based on how I'm behaving!  I can't decide if I should make a sandwich or not when I feel like that! 

You say you don't like to take something you are not in control of.  But at the moment you are not in control of your hormones so taking this injection and tablet might give you back some of that control you want to have.

Good luck.   

[Teresa667]

Hi SueLW thankyou for the words of encouragement. You are right I have no control over my hormones at the moment so I really should give this a go. I've just spoken to the consultants Secretary and if I need to see the consultant next week to discuss this further she will get me in. Why wasn't I born a boy 

[donnacrichton]

I could have written this post myself. After numerous hrt my peri symptoms became unmanageable and was also off work for 1 year. I've had a great consultant who has never had someone as complicated.  I had zolidex injections firstly 3 monthly then moved to every 4 weeks as my cycle was still creeping in. I've then been moved onto buserelin nasal spray and this had definitely shut me down. I still struggle with hrt but the fluctuations were unmanageable. You can only try your specialist advice and wish you all the luck in the world as I feel not many people realise how debilitating peri can be xxx

[Teresa667]

Hi Donna thankyou for your reply. It's good to hear from someone else whose on the injection. Even though your still trying to sort out the HRT do you feel better having gone on the injection? I'm nervous that it could make me feel worse. But I have all peri symptoms really bad anyway the only one I don't currently have is hot flushes and I can't function or work. X

[donnacrichton]

My biggest problem wasn't flushes it was tingling head zaps and burning body. I thought I was going mad signed myself in psychiatric ward only now to realise it was very high estrogen.It has taken a long time to work it out. It was my only option left. It has been hard but been back at work now which I couldn't do before xx