Print

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

[westie]

Morning ladies

Am on week 6 of HRT and dare I say am gradually starting to feel the benefits, aches and pains improved significantly, flushes almost gone and anxiety much improved with the additional oestrogen so clearly what my body has been crying out for for a v long time.

Am currently taking 2 pumps of Estrogel and 100mg Utrogestan for 12 days ( I have had an ablation and my Gynae specialist, who is also a menopause expert says this should be sufficient.)

I did the first month Estrogel only, bit of a bumpy ride at first with nausea , increased anxiety etc but that has all settled now thank goodness.

My problem at the mo is the Utrogestan which I am taking vaginally every night as I am keen to negate any possible side effects and from reading post this seems to be the best way.

However, by day 5 I have been having awful stomach cramps wind and bloating. Not all the time thank goodness but a couple of nights the pain was enough to wake me up. My question is, has anyone else had this and does it settle down eventually? I really hope so as I am feeling so much better otherwise.

I know I have to give it 3 months but will be dreading first twelve days of each month if this continues!

Any view are v welcome

Thanks in advance

W xx

Thanks

[DownDillie]

Hi Westie,

I had a lot of cramps / bloating on Utro for the first few months (can't remember exactly now). It was never enough to wake me up at night though and it did go away eventually. I am taking it orally.

As with so many things, I find physical side-effects of HRT and indeed the physical effects of the menopause mostly OK. It's the mental / psychological stuff that I struggle with.

Generally, you should find the bloating / wind settles down. It's good to hear that generally you are feeling the benefits of HRT 

[westie]

Hi DownDillie

Thank you so much for your reply,it is very reassuring to know that it should settle eventually.
 
Like you I found the mental and psychological effects of this menopause lark far worse than the physical ones but I got to the stage before HRT that the two merged! I got to such a dark place I really wasn't functioning so had to do something. I resisted HRT for six years but nothing seemed to work.

I am really hoping I have found my missing link, I realise it is trial and error and that nothing is a miracle cure as such, but hopefully it,will make life a bit more bearable.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help and advice I have found from this forum. I even told my ( not very helpful ) GP to read it so she can see how many ladies are struggling through this phase of life! She said she would but somehow I doubt it, she is of the ‘ grin and bear it brigade'.

I hope things improve for you too and thanks once again for your reply.

W xx

[DownDillie]

Westie, I had also got to a very dark place before finding this forum and strong-arming my GP to prescribe HRT. It took me ages to realise what the hell was wrong with me. I had reached a point where one evening in a large shopping mall, I briefly contemplated the possibilities of just jumping off the balcony.

(It's a strange thing but shopping while already feeling low makes me even lower. I just don't want any of this 'stuff' the shops are selling, all of it seems so bloody trivial. And the sheer sensory overload makes me want to run away.)

I also resisted HRT, being very much the sort of person who avoids drugs generally. But I knew something had to give. With the GP, the first one wanted to prescribe anti-depressants. Then I found this forum, wrote down the prescription I wanted, and took it to the second GP at the same practice. The second GP was much more sympathetic and helpful but knew less about the menopause / HRT than I now did.

I'm still not right but I'm not as wrong as I was  . We'll get through this eventually.

[westie]

You could be describing me there! That's exactly how I was and I was also prescribed anti depressants which I never took.

Isn't it sad that we have to work out ourselves what is wrong with us when those who should know really don't know!

Like you I rarely take any form of medication unless I absolutely have to and have had similar thoughts to the one you had in the shopping mall.

I'm not fixed yet either but am much better than I was and that is good.

Onwards and upwards!

We should keep in touch to see how we're getting on.

W xx

[DownDillie]

I think the lack of knowledge in our GP surgeries is shocking, considering that this happens to such a large proportion of the population. What would be good is if each surgery had a GP specialising in the menopause, and perhaps run information evenings to educate ladies who haven't got there yet and don't know what's about to hit them.

I plan to visit this forum more often, so hopefully we can see how we are both doing 

[debra217]

Hi DownDillie

Can I ask how your stomach cramps are now?  I am on month 5 of hrt and just added testosterone a month ago and still have mild period type cramps most days and bloating.  Doctor says to give it 6 months.

Have yours improved?

tks

[Sammiejane]

Hi ladies

Have any off you experienced more frequent urination on Utrogestan as I took it last night and have been to toilet a lot more often today ?

Thank u

[Ladybt28]

Hi when I first started utro vaginally for the first 4 months I got cramps and bloating.n I had had really bad acid reflux though before I started taking it.  The pain would wake me up in the night around day 4/5/6 of a 12 day cycle but it settle after that.  The first 2 times I didn't know what it was but the 2nd 2 times I just took painkillers and went back to sleep...then it all stopped.  No pain or backache anymore.   I have to say it was quite a severe pain to wake me when it started and not nice.

My gel, utrogestan regime took 7 months to settle.  I have been on testosterone now since February. I'm not aware of any side effects when I added in the testosterone everything was fine and I got less foggy, more energy, better sleeping and libido back.
I have just completed 1 whole year on the regime and its the best I have been on, but everyone is affected differently.
I now have a life but then I started out with no life at all for a huge number of years and at one point, I too would have been like you DownDillie...so close to ending it all.  Just escaped by a hare's whisker thanks to this forum and the ladies on it.  I wasn't prepared to give up because my life was so bad.  It was continue to keep trying hrt or check out completely.  Sounds dramatic but that was it for me.  I'm 57 and had been put on a type of hrt when I was 45 which I discovered hadn't been working but I didn't know any different then and which had allowed my symptoms to spiral totally of control.

I have written here before that I think the longer our bodies are allowed to get into a distressed state the longer the hrt takes to settle. It would be my opinion that for some of us 6 months to a year to get it write would not be too far out.  Most GP's and consultants say a minimum of 3 months for any hrt before you settle or change and then you go another 3 months etc.  If you need to try 3/4 (or even 6 types like me!) types before you get the right one an absolutely huge amount of time will have passed. I knew after 3 months with the other types pills and patches that they were not for me.  When I started the gel and utrogestan, my flushes, and panics settled fairly quickly but the rest took, as I say 7 months before I woke up one day and thought oh todays going to be another good day and that I had gone nearly a week without a bad day.

I'm proof it can be done but it takes perseverance and it is not for everyone. xx

[debra217]

Thank you LadyBT28 - that's very helpful to know that 5 months is still early days. May I ask how much testosterone you are using?  I was on 3 pumps a week but found my bloating/cramps worse so have put it down to two but already my sleep has improved greatly and libido back.

[Ladybt28]

I am on Tostran 2% gel. I use one pump, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  I found that the testosterone hasn't given me any side effects but I think it depends how it balances out with your gel and the dose you are on and how it levels out. It is the same adding in testosterone as it is starting out on the gel.  It needs to settle a bit, but I found it settled more quickly than the gel and utro.  About 6 weeks or so.  Testosterone also builds up in the system, I dropped mine to 2 pumps to see what would happen and found that the libido and energy levels tailed off so I have just put it back up again over the last month.  Seems like levels on anything don't really stay that static as we go through the meno which is why I like the gels because they are flexible.

[Sammiejane]

Ladybt28

Hi how many pumps of Estrogel do u take and what dose of Utrogestan and is this continuous or cycle and orally or vaginally. ?

What were your estrogen levels before they gave u testosterone x

[Ladybt28]

Hi Sammiejane
I have never ever had my homone levels tested since I started hrt at 45 - I'm 57 now.  I was referred to our menopause clinic in July 2018 and saw a consultant there but they didn't do any testing either.  My GP and the consultant appear to go on whether the levels of hormones you are taking are controlling symptoms and making you feel any better.

I am on 4 pumps of gel, 12 days of utrogestan 200mg vaginally.  I take it on a long cycle and have a bleed because taking progesterone of any kind continuously messes badly with my head and makes me feel really suicidal.  My cycle is 28 days gel and 12 days Utro and then I get a good bleed lasting 3.5 days and then we go again for 28 days gel only before I start the Utro.  I never get any bleeding or spotting in between nor have I missed a bleed.

When I started out with the gel and the utro, I was prescribed 2 pumps but they didn't control the sweats and particularly the anxiety and panic attacks which were constant and vicious, along with very sore joints, acid reflux, low energy and insomnia so my GP just said up it to 4, which fixed it no problem although it took 7 months to go completely.  I talked to the consultant about vaginal use of the utro to minimise side effects and that got the sign off too.  The meno clinic prescribed the Tostran testosterone based on 3 pumps a week, which also worked and I have had no problems on the testosterone...they never tested me for that either nor have they since prescribing.  I was given the testosterone after 7 months on the gel and utro.  I think that because my very bad and lengthy symptoms have come under control with this regime, there is no need to meddle.  I have lengthened the cycle by reading a lot of information on the forum because when I was doing the normal regime of 15 days + 12, there wasn't enough time for my head to recover from the progesterone.  Even on 28 + 12, the 12 days means I get a bit low and teary and tired around day 8 but now I know that it will only last till day 12 and the drop off over the bleed days I can cope.
There is plenty of consultant agreement put forward on the forum for long cycles so I have found no evidence to say it's not safe and in fact some ladies have stretched theirs further but I wouldn't want to go any longer on mine and its working so I can't see why I would mess with what's working.