Hi louisianna
I was originally on Femoston 1/10 when I was peri-menopausal after a battle with my then much older GP who insisted the menopause was "natural" and to go on antidepressants. Well, the menopause may be "natural" but the psychological symptoms I had of anxiety, depression and feeling unreal aren't. I felt fine on Femoston for the first year (which was about 5 years ago) but over the past 2-3 years, I had increasing physical symptoms of thinning hair, very brittle nails, a lovely moustache, eyes like decomposing oysters and associated and increasing psychological problems such as generalised anxiety, constant low mood, no motivation, etc.
I eventually worked out I was probably low in oestrogen went to my 12 year old patronising female GP who said that at 55 I should be "weaned off" HRT and onto liquid antidepressants.
I'm (personally) not a fan of AD's, plus I figured how would that help my low hormonal levels and the horrible symptoms?
I had my hormones blood tests done on the NHS and my oestrogen levels were lower than most adult men, let alone women!
Long story short, I was totally clueless and confused about HRT, which ones worked, what the right dosage was, etc. I did loads of research and decided to see Prof Studd privately.
I'm now on the bi-identical Estrogel/Testim/Utrogestan regime like Mary G and have been now for about 9 weeks. I have 3 pumps of Estrogel daily, a pea sized amount of Testim (testerone) daily and Utrogestan 9progesterone) 100 mg for seven days every cycle, to get the withdrawal bleed necessary each month to get rid of the womb lining.
It was worth every single penny of the £300 consultation fee (I'm far from well off) and I already feel better now than I have for years. In fact within 2 weeks my anxiety levels were a lot lower probably because I had virtually no oestrogen in my body despite being on Femoston for so long
Studd told me that Femoston was useless for me (either 1/10 or 2/10), as you have 2 weeks of oestrogen only, then followed by 2 weeks of progesterone only. It seems to be high levels of progesterone for too long that causes so many problems for women, as well as lack of continuous daily oestrogen .
This Femoston cycle of treatment seems to be ineffective and from I have read in so many clinical articles, continuous (i.e. applied daily) transdermal oestrogen in gel form (or a patch but the gel seems to be more effective) is the safest and most effective treatment regime, with a much lower level of progesterone and for less days than the NHS often prescribe.
Go onto Studd's web site and read some of his articles- especially "Ten reasons to be happy about hormone replacement therapy: a guide for patients".
The Femoston regime was useless for me after the first year, plus oral HRT in the form of tablets is less effective and less safe that transdermal HRT. It's "gentler" because it's less effective than HRT gels, but paradoxically it still has horrible side effects especially when you're on the progesterone only part of Femoston (the grey tablets).
I know I sound a bit evangelical about Studd and his regime, but he has really changed my life!
I also found out during the consultation with Studd following a bone scan, that my left hip pain was due to osteopenia (i.e. low bone density and a precursor to getting osteoporosis). When I complained to my 12 year old GP about my hip pain, she told me to find an osteopath in Yellow Pages and to pay for treatment! Without Studd I wouldn't have know about the condition I had.
In my opinion I think many NHS practitioners (including many NHS consultants) stick to outdated and ineffective HRT treatments primarily because they are: a) dirt cheap and b) they aren't that well informed about current research nor actually care about the menopause or c) both. They aren't omnipotent.
Looking back on my experience of Femoston I think my mood swings resulted from the cycle of sequential oestrogen and then progesterone, both at the wrong amounts, the wrong method (tablets) and for the wrong length of time.
I had lots of Femoston left over when I saw Prof Studd and I instantly started on his regime. I gave all my house plants regular doses of the oestrogen (the white tablets) and they have really perked up!
Also I get all my HRT as recommended by Studd on the NHS, so it can be prescribed on the NHS.
Sorry for the long post! xx
