I have been going through the menopause for the past three years. I'm now 54. But I didn't start on HRT to start with because I wanted to try without but I was having the night sweats, bad moods and dryness. I have a boyfriend so I felt that I should try HRT after 9 months of it as I was just hell to be with.
I was first prescribed Elleste Duet which made me bleed every month. That was absolutely awful, bad cramps and really heavy periods, worse than when I had them naturally! So I went back to the doctor 6 months later and was then able to go on to Elleste Conti so I had no bleed. This was much better however the doc prescribed this as a “one size fits all†HRT being fully aware that I suffer from migraines. So the migraines have continued, they used to be every three weeks to a month but in the past few months I've had one a week. They are totally debilitating as any migraine sufferers know and I get them for three days. I take sumatriptan for these but I now have to buy them online because the HRT has given me high blood pressure so I now have to take Losatan for that so more prescription charges, and the doc won't prescribe sumatriptan as it interferes with Losatan! So more expensive costs to buy the Sumatriptan and his answer to my migraines was that he could prescribe medication to prevent them, which would probably be some form of antidepressant! Hence even more money for prescriptions when all this could be avoided by putting me on the correct HRT. At my last three monthly repeat prescription for Elleste I was given Kilofem 2mg/1mg which is the same quantity as I take for Elleste as they had ran out of stock of Elleste but I was worried about even more migraines by switching tablets and I saw online that Kliofem was even cheaper to buy and some sites said it was now no longer for sale; which begs the question is it worse than Elleste? I didn't even touch them, they are still unopened in my drawer.
So in desperation I bought some Evorel 50 online to take instead of the Kliofem once my Elleste has ran out, because my friend takes them and said they are great, I also read that patches are better for women with migraines (so why didn't the doc prescribe me patches - is it just down to cost?) and also because they don't go through the heart directly they might be better for blood pressure. But I was worried about all the scary reports I had read of side effects. However I've been on them a week and I feel fine, no side effects whatsoever. They stick really easily too. So I'm just posting this to reasure anyone worried about trying them that we are all different and some of us may suffer with side effects and some may not. The only thing I haven't monitored yet is my blood pressure because I've had a stinking cold this past week and have been taking decongestants which raises the blood pressure. I haven't had a migraine since using them either but is early days. I'm just hoping that I will find my blood pressure is lower and my migraines lessen. If they work for me then I will be insisting on them when I next go to the doc. Incidentally my friend goes to the same GP practice as me but a different doctor!
