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[flaxhigh]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to work out if I need to balance my HRT as I'm getting bouts of extreme drowsiness preceded by a day of severe headaches and bad muscle pain.

I thought I was just getting weird bugs but then it keeps happening several times a month and it occurred to me that perhaps my natural oestrogen/progesterone levels are still fluctuating (I'm firmly in menopause now, not peri) which is pushing up my progesterone or oestrogen levels at different times in the month making me feel lousy.

But which is it: oestrogen or progesterone?

I'm on Evoral 50 one patch (minus a sliver) plus 100mg utrogestan vaginally a day.

I'd be sooooooo grateful if anyone can advise? This drowsiness puts me in bed and I can't do a thing....really extreme. (blood tests at doc normal).

THANKyou!!

[CLKD]

As oestrogen levels drop off muscles may become lax = aches and pains.  So over the counter pain relief should suffice.

The body may become dry too: inside and out - read the threads on atrophy and bladder problems.  Make notes 

U could put the product name into the search box to see what pops up.  What did the GP test for?  Thyroid function problems can cause extreme tiredness as can low VitD levels.  As can hormones 

[MicheleMaBelle]

Hi Flaxhigh. I get what you describe and I'm definitely now post meno so God knows what goes on. Quite frankly I've given up trying to work it out after 4 years as there is no pattern to it. I just try and go with the flow now ( no pun intended ) x

[CLKD]

Mum had crashing fatigue.  She would suddenly sit down and drop to sleep!

[flaxhigh]

So difficult to know what it is. I'm fine now after two days of utter hell!

[Gracie65]

Hi Flaxhigh,

This happens to me too and can last a few days and then passes. I remember for a few years even before HRT I would get what I would call a hormonal headache, not quite migraine but nausea with it and just feeling weak and listless. It is just so unpredictable and as Michelle says you just have to go with the flow until it passes. I just tell my husband I am feeling lousy at the moment and we are chilling out until it passes! I don't do anything I don't have to do lol!

Grace x

[Hurdity]

flaxhigh - if you are taking utrogestan every day then this could easily be an explanation for your drowsiness. Progesterone has a pronounced sedative (and can be depressive) effect, as well as causing headaches. Many of us on here stay with cyclical HRT for precisely this reason - the negative effects of progesterone all the time can completely outweigh the beneficial effects of the oestrogen, in terms of how we are feeling. How far past menopause are you ie how long since last natural period ( or rather how long without periods before you started HRT?). Your hormonal fluctuations should be much much less than they were when you were fertile and ovulating and be more or less declining depending how far since menopause.

Have you though of going back to a cycle and seeing how you feel on oestrogen alone for those 16 days? You may get a progesterone withdrawal headache just after stopping the prog each month ( like pms) but you should feel great once that's cleared. If you still have ongoing symptoms after this then maybe either increase the oestrogen or go back to the doc for testing for other conditions - depending on the symptoms. Is your diet good overall - plenty of fresh ingredients and not deficient in nutrients or vitamins?

Hurdity x

[Tc]

Flax A few months ago I was asking exactly the same question when I was on conti utrogestan.  Hurdity may remember. (Thanks for all your help hurdity.)

Now that might have been  because my eastrogen was low so there wasnt enough to counter the side effects . As hurdity says. 

I'm struggeling to get my eastrogen up so
I went onto a 12 day cycle and it has helped me to identify how many days it takes befor the  fatigue, drowsiness kicks in. For me it is day 9/10 but you may find you can get to 12, lots of ladies seem to.

One thing I can now say for certain is that it  triggers my headaches and migraine.

When I took it conti I had it the first 2 weeks but it went away after that. On a cycle it's happening each month throughout the progesterone part.   

I should probably point out that migraine has not come out of the blue for me.  They got worse in my 30s and neurologist thought they were hormone sensitive. So I think it's important to say I dont believe  utrogestan has caused me to develop migraine, more that it has triggered a condition I was already prone to.

 I've been reading up about migraine and HRT and it's thought that  fluctuation is a  trigger iand a conti regime is considered preferable.

So I  now know I need to look at an alternative conti regime.   But my point is I only found all this out by trying the cycle. It has been a good exercise for me and helped in beginning to untangle what can feel like a very confusing web.

Hope this may help you a bit.

Good luck.


 

I cant say whether

[flaxhigh]

Many thanks for your replies.

Gracie - sounds very similar....I just have to sleep all day and cope.

Hurdity - many thanks but I can't think it is the utrogestan as it doesn't make me drowsy (except a little once I've taken it at night vaginally). And if there was a build-up then I'd have this achey/drowsy thing every month which I don't. I've not had a period for 2 or 3 years so am definitely post meno or rather IN menopause. I did get these drowsy days peri-meno though...I didn't feel good on oestrogen only (took me about 6 months to get onto one patch oestrogen only) and actually feel better on both prog and oestrogen - we are all so different!

Tc - so difficult to work out but I'm on continuous utrogestan and can't reduce....I fear getting into all sorts of complications with coming on and off.

[Hurdity]

I'm confused - you said you were getting bouts of extreme drowsiness in your first post, hence my response  .  I would still try taking it cyclically and see if this helps resolve your ongoing symptoms. Anyway do hope you sort it so that you feel better overall!

Hurdityx

[flaxhigh]

No Hurdity - I meant I don't get drowsiness all the time from the progesterone. I get a couple of days every so often (about once a month) of extreme drowsiness and acheyness, which I can't work out is the prog or the oestrogen.

My theory is that my natural levels still fluctuate so one of the other is perhaps raising my intake and causing the symptoms...Or perhaps it has nothing to do with the HRT.

So difficult to know. I suspect however that it is the interaction with the utrogestan OR oestrogen with my natural levels fluctuating.

[imgeha]

I get this on days when estrogen is low - either falling before a period, or just after. I feel woozy with an ocular migraine, very hot and very sleepy. It takes a couple of days for estrogen levels to come up sufficiently to get rid of the wooziness and need to sleep. Think I might increase my estrogen a bit on those days so I don't have such a crash.

[juliemargaret]

Hi Imgeha - so does our estrogen naturally drop before we are due on?  And regardless of being on hrt estrogel too could we still feel tired and rubbish etc?