Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Stillsearching]

3 months ago I posted that I was taking a break from HRT. My GP had prescribed 4 different strengths of HRT over a period of 12 months and I'd been bleeding more or less the whole time. I stopped the HRT and changed my GP. Initially I felt great. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly, I had more energy and felt more alert. It didn't last long  The hot flushes soon started then the night sweats.

I visited my new GP. She made me an appointment with Mr Tony Parsons, which came through for mid December, and told me to come back in a month because the symptoms might have gone. I returned a month later by which time I was having hardly any sleep due to the night sweats and was having panic attacks even in my sleep. Because of my history of bleeding the GP wouldn't prescribe anything and even said that as I'd stopped the HRT and I'm nearly 60 that it might not be possible for me to restart which really got me down.

Other symptoms had started to come back. My finger joints are painful and I'm finding it difficult to open bottles and jars. My feet, heels particularly, are hurting. Any kind of exertion brings on a hot flush and nausea. Out of the blue my skin will become incredibly itchy, It's very frustrating and making me a bit snappy.

I phoned the clinic and said I would be able to take a cancellation at short notice and this Tuesday I had a phone call offering an appointment for the next day which I jumped at.

I had about 30 minutes with Mr Parsons who is a lovely man. I took with me a list of all the medications I've been given over the past few years together with a written history of my periods, childbirth and gynae stuff I've had done in the past. We agreed that the bleeding was nothing sinister. He explained the thinking behind not restarting the HRT at 60 but having my history in front of him and looking at my weight now and blood pressure he is happy that my risk of stroke and cancer are both minimal.

He has prescribed Indivina 1mg/5mg and I have another appointment in 2 months to see how it's going. I asked about how long I could stay on these pills. He said there is no arbitrary limit. If they help then we should give it 3 years and if I want to try coming off them then do it gradually. If the symptoms start to come back then just up the dose again.

At the moment I'm a happy bunny. For the first time I feel that I've spoken to someone who knows what they're talking about.

[Hurdity]

Hi Stillsearching

Sorry your post got missed - I (and I presume others too) don't often look in this section as most of the new menopause posts are in all things menopause!

Thanks for giving us your detailed update about your specialist appointment which is really helpful! How reassuring for you to spend a decent amount of time with a specialist gynae who could advise you properly in the light of all your recent experiences with bleeding and different HRT types.

Great news that he has prescribed you HRT once more - and interesting that even at nearly 60 he is happy to prescribe tablet HRT - but by looking properly at your medical history and personalising the likely risks rather than a blanket refusal.

I do hope it is working for you and you have a positive bleed-free time with it! As a matter of interest did you discuss another Mirena and if so is there a reason why you decided against it - as I see from your earlier posts that your bleeding problems only started after this was taken out? Nevertheless in post-menopause, if you don't have anything wrong with your uterus lining - continuous combined HRT should eventually be bleed free especially at your age if you are absorbing the hormones properly and the balance is right.

Let us know how you get on with this and hope your symptoms abate very soon

Hurdity x

[Stillsearching]

Thank you Hurdity, I'll copy the post to All things menopause.

My whole history since my periods began has been of unpredictable bleeding. Even during my pregnancies I had periods, although lighter. While I had the Mirena coil in I also had quite a lot of spotting and recurrent BV. I had considered having another one fitted but the thought of going through all this in another 4 years put me off. If I can sort out a medication and stick to it I'll be better off. Mr Parsons said that I'm less likely to have bleeding with these pills than with transdermal options. We will see. I told him that I'd rather deal with spotting than put up with all the other symptoms that I'm having now.

[Hurdity]

Hi again Stillsearching - sorry I didn't mean to imply you had posted it in the wrong place - it is fine here really! It was just an explanation as to why you might not have got responses because lots of us who post (well me anyway!) tend to go to that section first and there are often so many posts to read and respond to that we don't get around to looking at the other boards quite so often,  like this one! Sometimes they just get missed as members might only look at the posts from the same day and once we're into the next day - it's gone!

Yes the tablet he has given you has a higher dose of progestogen in it - I see sensibly that there are two progestogen strengths for the 1 mg Indivina which means that women who continue to get bleeding can try the higher prog dose (ie the 5 mg instead of the 2.5 mg) provided they can tolerate the progestogen - MPA - OK.

Anyway do hope it all works out for you

Hurdity x