Good afternoon. This may be a bit long.
I'm a 53 year old post menopausal woman and had my last period 4.5 years ago. Until HRT I had constant and severe hot flushes. I also have shed loads of other symptoms. I've been getting in a right mess chopping and changing HRTs.
About April last year I went on Estrogel for a few weeks. I felt I was getting nowhere and stoped it. I can't remember timescales but I then went on Elleste Duet Conti for eight weeks around June/July. It was 2mg estradiol and 1mg noresthisterone. It soon stopped the hot flushes. That happened in about two weeks. My severe all over body pain was still there but reduced. My migraines were a lot better and the vaginal dryness improved.
But, I was getting side effects. I was crying non stop, angry and irritable, I had swollen painful breasts most of the time I was on it apart from the first couple of weeks, started getting night sweats which I hadn't had since peri, my ‘brain zaps' which started when I stopped an SSRI antidepressant got a lot worse and stayed worse the whole time and generally, I was suffering from all the things I used to get when I had PMT. My hair was falling out in fistfuls. My chronic fatigue reached narcolepsy levels and was severe and constant on that HRT.
I then stopped it and a few things started calming. But the pain got excrutiating again and I felt hot flushes creeping in. I ended up cutting my HRT in half. I couldnt get an even cut so I was yo-yoking about with doses. I did this for about a month. I think I even went back to normal dose for a few days at the end! Somewhere along the line, my severe LPR/GERD improved to about 80%.
I then stopped early September and decided to try to grit my teeth through the menopause. My hot flushes stayed away initially. I had a massive withdrawal migraine. Around a month or so later, the hot flushes came back with a vengeance. My body pain became worse and I felt like my bones were breaking! Then the GERD/LPR came back worse than before. I'd lost the side effects of the HRT although my hair was continuing to fall out in fistfuls (and still is).
I then went back on Elleste Duet Conti. I didn't have the strength to go to the doctor and get a different one so I just used a 3 month pack I already had. I've been on it 2 months. Doctors prescribed lansoprazole for the stomach acid and I was very reluctant to take it as I'm scared of medication. I've been trying to take it. The HRT took much longer to start working this time, possibly because my oestrogen had plummeted and also because I think it's not absorbing as well because of the lansoprazole.
It took about 3-4 weeks this time for the flushes to stop. The vaginal dryness is slowly improving and my body pain, although severe, is less severe than with no HRT. My LPR and GERD are horrendous still. Things got complicated as I suddenly developed hives for the first time in my life. I don't think it was lansoprazole as I stopped it and the hives continued. They were all over my body and I was watching them all quickly appear. They calmed down after about five days and taking a couple of antihistamines. I eliminated all possible causes, except HRT. My skin has continued to itch like crazy and I'm still getting one or two hives. My scalp is covered in itchy flakes. I stopped the HRT for three days as a test and the itching calmed down but seemed to restart after restarting HRT. I also have dermatitis all around my eyes. It's bright red and itchy. That seemed to calm off HRT but start again on HRT.
I'm just starting to get the same HRT side effects as last time I was on it. Swollen painful breasts, night sweats etc etc. My brain zaps are terrible again.
I don't know whether I need to stay on Elleste Duet Conti a few months to build my oestrogen up and see if this all clears up but my gut feeling is that this is the wrong HRT for me. I'm tempted to stop it again and see if all the severe all over itching and dermatitis clears up along with the other side effects and a reduction in the brain zaps.
After doing this, I will see the doctor and discuss a different HRT such as Femoston Conti. I'm not sure about patches because of my hives and the noresthisterone in the patches. I'd rather have a more natural progesterone.
Does this sound like a good plan? Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm a mess! (I'm also very ill with loads of other ridiculous physical, mental and neurological symptoms. Psych meds are not an option for me as I react to them.) Thank you for reading my ramblings!
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Topic: Elleste Duet Conti - reaction to it? (Read 2787 times)