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[Seahorse]

I have been using Evorel conti patches for two months. I have not noticed any improvement in my symptoms. I am now thinking in the last week or so some symptoms might actually be getting worse ie. night sweats, palpitations, waking through the night, pins and needles in hands and muscle and joint pains. I was wondering if anyone had similar experience. Should I keep persevering or go back to my GP? My GP prescribed the patches quite happily, but I had done my research beforehand and told him what I wanted. My concern is he won't have the knowledge to advice me where to go from here. Should I be looking to increase to a higher dose patch (not sure that's an option) or try a different product entirely?

[Taz2]

Hi Seahorse. Can you let us know where you were periods/menopause-wise before you began HRT? Any symptoms you might have had too would allow us to give you our advice and own experiences.

It can take up to three months to know whether a particular HRT suits you.

Taz x 

[jd0072]

I have been using Evorel conti patches for two months. I have not noticed any improvement in my symptoms. I am now thinking in the last week or so some symptoms might actually be getting worse ie. night sweats, palpitations, waking through the night, pins and needles in hands and muscle and joint pains. I was wondering if anyone had similar experience. Should I keep persevering or go back to my GP? My GP prescribed the patches quite happily, but I had done my research beforehand and told him what I wanted. My concern is he won't have the knowledge to advice me where to go from here. Should I be looking to increase to a higher dose patch (not sure that's an option) or try a different product entirely?

Im in similar position to you been on them for about the same time started bleeding last week then again this week and night sweats coming back n mood low,   

[Seahorse]

Hi Taz It's about two years since I last had a period, but it's difficult to say exactly as I had an endometrial ablation due to extremely heavy and prolonged bleeding, which made my periods extremely light and sporadic. I had perimenopausal symptoms (anxiety, hot flushes, mood swings, night sweats) for a good few years, but I didn't realise that's what it was at the time. I put off trying HRT as I thought you could only be on it for a few years and therefore were only delaying the symptoms. I now understand the benefits long term as well as for symptom relief from Dr Louise Newson's website. My main symptoms now are night sweats, heart palpitations, waking in the night, sore tingly hands at night, muscle pains, joint pains, no libido, irritable and low energy. I have read in numerous places it can take 3 months to take effect, but after two months there is no improvement. In the last couple of weeks my symptoms at night seem to have got worse. I am waking more often, more night sweats, more palpitations and back ache. I  feel worse than I did before taking HRT.

[Seahorse]

Hi jd0072 That's annoying that you're bleeding. I've not had that so far but I think I have read somewhere it is a side effect that can settle after a few months. My mood is not great either but it's hard to know how much of that is down to the sleep deprivation. Hopefully some others with more knowledge will have some advice.

[jd0072]

Hi jd0072 That's annoying that you're bleeding. I've not had that so far but I think I have read somewhere it is a side effect that can settle after a few months. My mood is not great either but it's hard to know how much of that is down to the sleep deprivation. Hopefully some others with more knowledge will have some advice.

Yes thats true the sleep deprivation is a killer I have loads of energy 1 day and none the next which i hate. I kind of feel that I should t least give it 3 months to see but 2 bleeds in 2 weeks is not fun.

[GetStuffedPeri]

Hi Seahorse

It sounds like you need more estrogen.  My wife did 7 months on Evorel Conti (her first ever HRT) - the night sweats and flushes pretty much went within the first 4 weeks however crept back a bit and other symptoms just didn't go.  We, like you, had done our research and asked the doctor specifically for these patches, and so when they didn't do everything we'd hoped for, we did our research again and she has now been prescribed estrogel and continuous utrogestan.  The difference has been amazing - we remember the patches fondly (they were such a relief from the flushes and night sweats that we swore by them originally!), but the gel is a game changer.  Sure, the daily utrogestan wipes her out but she'll take that over low estrogen induced insomnia, fatigue, itchy skin, irritability, dry eys, tinnitus, etc etc.

I know everyone is advised to wait for 6 months before changing HRT but in our experience, the symptoms were as good at 2-3 months as they later were at 7 months.  Obviously the gel and utrogestan isn't the only regime available, but unless you're prepared to go to a sequi regime, you won't get a combined patch with a higher than 50mg dose of estrogen. 

Good luck - you honestly can feel better than you do right now   

EDIT:  Just to say that my wife is on 3 pumps of gel a day - so 75mg of estrogen, which is a 25mg increase on the dose in the evorel conti patches.  The 100mg utrogestan every day is to protect her womb lining.  If she feels particularly "flushy" on a given day, we can always add a 4th pump (very rarely) - and if 3 pumps is ever too much, we'll just drop to 2.