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[Mogster71]

Hello girls. Happy New Year to you all, I hope yours has started off well and you are feeling ok

I'm after a bit of input really, if you could please? A bit of backstory, I'm 48, in (I think, late) peri, and had 3 attempts with different HRTs last year. I don't get on well with norethisterone, so currently on Femiston 1/10, continuous. My main reasons for starting HRT were migraines, headaches and nausea. No hot flushes, weight gain or anything. I also wanted to protect against osteoporosis as a dexa scan this year revealed I am mildly osteopaenic.  Never had so many headaches than in the last 18 months!!  The headaches now seem to appear at the time of pill packet change, which I expect is due to either the progesterone dropping off or oestrogen coming back in higher again??

The femiston has helped with VA
Brain fog maybe slightly better but I still struggle a bit remembering names...
Skin is worse - never had a problem in teens etc but now I get facial spots
Pains in my wrists


I've just changed doctors surgery (long story but they weren't that helpful) and I have an appointment next Friday. Being on my 3rd month with Femiston, which is the longest I've ever stood an HRT regime, I need to decide whether I continue with this or try something else.

Has anyone moved from Femiston to gel/patch? Is there anyone who also suffers/ed from headaches as a symptom had better results with a gel/patch? I do need progesterone as I have my womb. Recently had an internal ultrasound which showed normal lining thickness.

Can't think of anything else to add, I've gone blank now!! Lol.

x

[Ladybt28]

Hey Mogster71 - I had 6 kinds of hrt before getting one that works for me.  I had bad headaches in peri and left sided migraine for ages. Femiston didn't suit me at all but that's just me.  I found I couldn't take any of the tablets and a couple of the patches were no good either, so I am on gel and have been for last 18 months - no more headaches but there is no guarantee that it will suit you because it suits me!  I cant use norethisterone either!  I am also much older than you 58 now but I started on this journey at 46 and in peri - post now obviously.  The hormone fluctuations in peri can make it difficult to work out what's going on because your own cycle still kicks in with the hrt you are one.

All I can advise is that none of us has any idea what might work and what might not when we start but as we go along we learn more about how our bodies react to stuff.  You just have to keep trying different kinds, tick off what doesn't work and why and then eventually you will get to where you need to be but it's a really tortuous process to go through and needs a fair bit of patient.  You have already struck off 3 types and possible the 4th....transdermal patches or gel don't go through the liver or the stomach so they might be better for you....If you haven't had them before worth a go! xx You can only try.

[Mogster71]

Ahhh Ladybt I hoped you would see this. I was pretty sure you I remembered you had tried Femiston.

I know this is trial and error. I also know I have jumped ship fairly early with other types as the reactions were a lot faster. I've tried to stick it out for at least the three months to see how I have been. Headaches are a nightmare aren't they? Mine are left-sided too strangely enough. Did you have them before you started peri or were they are new thing to you too?

My previous GP was not a great fan of the transdermal route but I never got to try anything else as the patches were very rarely available. I suppose if I try the gel and that is awful at least i can go back to the Femiston. I am happy to try going it alone as well so there are options! I don't care as long as these headaches stop. Honestly has lost me so much of last year feeling rubbish.

I think I'm late peri because as far as I'm aware I haven't had a natural period since last March/April, so a good 9 months. I have had bleeds whilst on HRT though but I don't know what my own body is up to these days 

Thanks so much for coming back to me x

[Ladybt28]

Yes I did have left sided headaches before peri/meno but I need to throw a big BUT into that statement.  Because of my peri/meno journey I learned that I had always had hormonal problems right from puberty which although they affected my life very badly no one in the medical profession clocked that all my problems were related to dodgy hormones.  Although I cant prove it and really 40 years ago no one ever gave credence to "hormonal issues", what I have learned over the last 10 years and how my current hrt regime has fixed nearly 90% of those issues means I would swear on my life that the headaches were hormone related and that I suffered from hormonal depression from puberty to now.  Interestingly to corroborate that evidence my headaches were horrendous when I was on the pill but no one made that connection either in the 80's and 90's either!  I switched to an ordinary coil after my second child and when offered a Mirina couldn't tolerate that either but for other reasons.  I cant do continuous progesterone it seems but I didn't know that then!
Headaches for me definitely hormonal so the fact I had them pre-meno is neither here nor there.  There is a current thread somewhere on here talking about hormonal problems right from teenage years which go under the radar even in this day and age.  Women's healthcare is pretty woeful...doctors just think we are all nuts and haven't a clue what we are talking about!  I have no faith whatsoever in the medical profession anymore. x

[Sgtvhilts]

Hi monster.
I am an awful tinkerer. I too started on ellestte duo with good old norethesterone 🤢foul stuff for me. Got onto Femeston 1mg much better, amazing results after only a few days yay......until it seemed to stop working, so upped to 2 mgs yay..... for a while, then that seemed to stop working, onto patches and utrogestan OMG - disaster, I thought norethesterone was bad.......
Back to Femeston 2mg, but ‘accidentally' fell on patches that were in my cupboard. Finally bingo all symptoms more or less gone and not ‘wearing off'. I get the odd headaches, particularly when on the Oestrogen only bit, but I put up with that (paracetamol/ibuprofen) as I get more benefit from the HRT.
Massive oestrogen dose , about 4 mgs, but wow does it work.

[Mogster71]

Oh my word Ladybt, what a journey. I'm really sorry, its devastating that the medical profession did not realise what was going on for you when you were younger. You're right, I even think that some people don't understand or give any credence to hormone issues - my MIL for instance seems to roll her eyes at me because she "never had any problems in that direction". Well whoop de ruddy do for you! When I look back I did have spells of headaches in the past, but they weren't every month or I hoped I would have recognised a pattern. Could I have been moody/PMS? Maybe. Never made notes, or didn't ever put bad moods down to anything in particular. This makes us all so much more self-aware, I believe.

I agree with you and there's a big part of me that wonders whether I'd be better off jacking all the hormones in and seeing what happens. I don't know how much fight I've got in me to keep trying lots of HRT regimes and going nose to nose with doctors!!

[Mogster71]

Sgtvhilts

Lol I sometimes feel like a monster haha

Poor you on the norethisterone.. it made me jittery, anxious and my hair dropped a lot more than usual. Interesting what you say about the Femiston not working after a while. When they first tried me on the 2/10 it felt too strong but that was 6 months ago. The 1/10 kept the headaches at bay for the first month but definitely not the 2nd. The only reason I've not stopped taking it is to see what the doc says about changing to something else, as I think you swap from one to the other at new pack stage. Can I ask over what period of time the Femiston 1/10 didn't seem enough and you went to 2/10 please? I still have some from the first time round How do you feel better physically/emotionally for the increase in oestrogen? My headaches are in the oestrogen only phase too.

I'm glad you've found something that works for you at last x

[Hurdity]

The headaches now seem to appear at the time of pill packet change, which I expect is due to either the progesterone dropping off or oestrogen coming back in higher again??

The headaches at patch change time are quite normal - pms - due to the progesterone withdrawal. It doesn't mean you need prog to feel good, it's just when you stop as the body readjusts, there are often symptoms just like before a period (when the same thing happens ie prog falls). Once the prog has gone you should feel better - after the heaviest part of the bleed has finished.  The oestrogen stays the same throughout the HRT cycle. During the natural cycle, most women feel better when oestrogen starts to rise again just after or during the latter half of the bleed. If you are getting headaches throughout the cycle then transdermal HRT might be better for you?

Hurdity x

[Mogster71]

Hello Hurdity

Thank you so much for that, I'm afraid I'm a bit in the dark re what should/could be happening at each stage, so that's really useful. I've started using the Migraine buddy app to record events too so hopefully I can start to see a definite trend. My written notes are a bit hit and miss but I can see the headaches come at packet change time as well as elsewhere, so I'm sure you're right about the transdermal. I'm going to ask them about it on Friday x

[Sgtvhilts]

Ops very sorry monster , It was a genuine mistake🙇‍♀️Can I blame the hrt....
In terms of feeling better , I got a clearer head after about 3 days!! On 1mg and when I upped to 2mgs, but the night sweats, urgency, itching, insomnia and anxiety started creeping back in after about4 weeks with both of them.
With my current ‘regime' within a few days again it felt better, but I did not get the decline I was expecting. Been on it now for 4 months- ish. I did half a patch to see if I could handle 50mcg (still taking the 2 mg orally), but sweats started within a week......so back up.
I hate ‘showing off', but I can honestly say, I have not felt this well for many years. My mental health has improved to the point where i have reduced my SSRI considerably (on and off them for 30 yrs). I am sleeping better and life is rosy. Yes I get bits and pieces of symptoms occasionally, maybe a headache or my mood dips, but I just put up with it, knowing it will go.
I feel at my best when taking the prog part of Femeston. Thanks Hurdity for the post above. You describe my cycle perfectly and what you say make utter sense and certainly correct thanks