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[Darlingbabs]

Hi all, I've posted fairly recently as I have been trying to suppress my cycle due to horrific mood changes in days 14 to 28 of my cycle (I am perimenopausal). I had been on depo provera (Progesterone injection with no side effects) for most of my adult life so didn't really ever have a cycle (thank god as the depression and anxiety are so awful).
5 months ago I went on estrogel 2 pumps with 12 days of utrogestan. The utrogestan sent me even more loopy so I tried it vaginally, 1 a day for 7 days to the same horrible effect. Meanwhile estrogel was put up to 4 and then 5 pumps. However,I knew I was still ovulating and blood tests recently confirmed this - I clearly just wasn't absorbing the gel.
So I went to another gynae to go and get the mirena with a view to using this as the progesterone bit and finding some other kind of estrogen bit. However,she said that, at my age, 39,I could just go on a combined pill so I went on loestrim 10 days ago. There were some fairly horrible lows to start with but I have now had 3 days of feeling like a normal human being (yay!). But then,massive bummer, I got a migraine last night so I now have to come off it so am slightly losing the will to live with the process as, so far the HRT has made me much worse.
I don't want to give up though as my short stint on the pill has shown me that I might actually be able to tolerate progesterone so long as I get a continuous amount of it- it seems to be the fluctuations I can't cope with.
So what next - I am desperate never to go through the last year again and so want something I can take until I am over the menopause completely, suppressing my cycle until I no longer have one. Is there such a thing?

The only 2 options I am aware of (before going nuclear and asking to get everything taken out) are going back on depo provera until I'm over the menopause - I guess this could be 15 years?! I have had a bone scan and all is currently very good but presumably I would put this in serious jeopardy by going on depo for that long.

Or do I try another kind of estrogen? And if so what? I think I could probably tolerate the mirena now that I have tolerated the combined pill and the last few days have been ok emotionally. My problem is I just can't bear the ups and downs and am terrified that whatever estrogen they give me won't be enough to stop my cycle and they will make me build it up over months again and I just don't think i have the mental capacity to cope with this. I have already had to cut down my work and there have been numerous times during the period that I have been on estrogel and utrogestan where I have felt suicidal. I also had a similar experience at the beginning of the pill.

Does anyone have any suggestions before I pack the whole attempting to suppress my cycle thing in and whack up my antidepressants to the Highest level instead and try to cope with my natural cycle?

Also my bloods show a testosterone level of 0 which I assume is not good and was low before the HRT but is now rock bottom.

Any suggestions anyone can make I would be eternally grateful as I am struggling to cope with this emotional roller coaster. Thank you.

[Darlingbabs]

Oh also I now have about 16 (unopened) canisters of estrogel if anyone wants them and lives near Cirencester!

[Dancinggirl]

I can't remember whether you have been diagnosed as peri meno?

It would be worth trying the Mirena as this would give a consistent dose of progesterone and if you simply used a very small amount of Oestrogel, perhaps just one pump per day to start with, this might give a good consistent balance. The high doses of oestrogen are clearly not helping. I doubt it's the type of oestrogen or the delivery that is the problem, it's the fluctuations in your own hormones, that are part of the peri meno, that are causing your problems.
In my experience high doses of oestrogen in peri menopause are not always a good idea and clearly attempting to suppress your cycle with high dose oestrogen isn't working. Logically, looking at your positive experience of progesterone in the past, I think the Mirena may just be the best option.
The peri stage is tough and you may need to increase or change your ADs alongside hrt to get you through.
 DG c

[dangermouse]

I see you also found Day 7 of the pill to be the magic number - literally everything seems to work in cycles!

The migraine may also have just been the suppression of your cycle causing a big shift which caused a temporary blip but may have been fine after that.

Perhaps you could stay on the pill a little longer and see if it continues. If not then you could go back on the DP as it suited you, there may even be an option with that to add oestrogen if you feel that you need it.

[Hurdity]

You have been prescribed one of the synthetic CCP types with strong synthetic oestrogen and one of the harsher progestogens. There are a couple with the same oestrogen that is made in our bodies - QLAIRA and ZOELY - and Qlairai at least has one of the newer generation progestogens that are better tolerated.  Although Qlaira is tri-phasic ie has varied concentrations of oestrogen throughout the month, it has only 2 tablet free days and you take progestogen I think for 22 of them out of 28. It might be worth thinking about this. I know there have been members using this - one member Briony - but hasn't been on here for some time, and I think it suppresses the cycle after a couple of months or so? You could go to the forum home page and do a search or look up her posts?

Hurdity x

[Darlingbabs]

Ladies thanks for your replies. It really is much appreciated and I can't tell you how much this forum and people's kindness have helped me through some dark, dark days.

I think that I definitely need to have something that totally shuts off ovulation so I wouldn't want a pill that didn't do that. The last 3 days of loestrim have been amazing - it is so amazing to feel myself again -its like being on happy drugs! I am going to try to persuade the gynae that I stick on this as it is working until I experience another migraine (like dangermouse says,it is possible that the migraine was caused by the chance in hormones rather than the hormones themselves?). If it is ok and I don't get any further migraines to stay on this type of pill to menopause?

However, if it isn't ok or it doesn't work are there any other combos of estrogen and progesterone that are safe until menopause but that are not the estrogel which I didn't absorb. It would have to be CONTINUOUS progesterone and estrogen with no break days as that's when o go loopy. What options do I have? I also need something that works quickly to shut down ovulation, ideally so it doesn't come back when moving from loestrim to the new method. What would be best? I'm more than happy to take pills but am a bit less keen on mirena as am slightly terrified by the time a nurse at the surgery tried and failed to put one in....

Thanks so much