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[sultanselephant]

hi all

New here - thank you in advance for your help.

I'm 46 and had been having increasingly awful (2 week long, heavy) periods plus crazy PMS, and headaches. No other perimenopause symptoms but the emotional swings were becoming destructive, so I thought it might be worth trying to address it [before i leave my job and/or my husband in a RAGE!] I saw Mike Savvas at the London PMS/Meno clinic who put me on 3 pumps estriadol plus 200mg utrogestan for 1 week per month in an attempt to make things less up & down. Estriadol is brilliant and i feel loads better on those days, but the utrogestan I find really tough to cope with. Am sleepy, fuzzy headed and by day 5 really, really depressed. Initial dose suggested was 200mg x 14 days but by week 2 i'd started thinking dark thoughts so Dr reduced it to 200mg x 7 days vaginally but even taken that way I really struggle with it. Have also tried a mirena but that expelled itself (twice! apparently the womb is hostile!!). Dr did suggest I could try 100mg/day if desperate but he is worried about irregular bleeding so doesn't recommend it. Anyway even 100mg does make me feel pretty bad.

Can anyone help with better options please? I'm seriously thinking maybe I should just stop the lot and go back to being grumpy/anaemic and just suck it up. Which wasn't ideal, especially for the people around me...

 I've read about Qlaira - do you think that's a better option? or could try the mirena again or jaydess...?

Finding this really hard and would really appreciate any advice. thank you xx

[Hurdity]

Hi sultanselephant

 

Sorry to hear about yout HRT woes. As I was reading through your posts I was thinking hmm what about Qlaira and then you mentioned it yourself! There is a long-running thread about it which I haven't read but might contain some helpful info, but I know that it is recommended by some gynaes for younger peri-menopausal women such as yourself, because it does eliminate the hormonal fluctuations and possibly the progestogen does not have quite the same sedating effect as utrogestan?

So that would suppress ovulation, but asnother altnerative is to take the progestogen tablet Provera whicvh some women tolerate better than utrogestan. OK it's not bio-identical (but neither is the progestogen in Qlaira) but at this point in your life you need something to enable you to feel better.

Also not sure from your post but were your cycles irregular or was it just that the bleeding was heavy and prolonged? If your periods were still more or less regular then I would have thought Qlaira might be a better option?

No need to go privately for any of the options I've suggested ( nor even the regime that you have been on) - all licensed and available on NHS.

Hope this helds and let us know how you get on.

Good luck!

Hurdity x

[Orba]

hi all

New here - thank you in advance for your help.

I'm 46 and had been having increasingly awful (2 week long, heavy) periods plus crazy PMS, and headaches. No other perimenopause symptoms but the emotional swings were becoming destructive, so I thought it might be worth trying to address it [before i leave my job and/or my husband in a RAGE!] I saw Mike Savvas at the London PMS/Meno clinic who put me on 3 pumps estriadol plus 200mg utrogestan for 1 week per month in an attempt to make things less up & down. Estriadol is brilliant and i feel loads better on those days, but the utrogestan I find really tough to cope with. Am sleepy, fuzzy headed and by day 5 really, really depressed. Initial dose suggested was 200mg x 14 days but by week 2 i'd started thinking dark thoughts so Dr reduced it to 200mg x 7 days vaginally but even taken that way I really struggle with it. Have also tried a mirena but that expelled itself (twice! apparently the womb is hostile!!). Dr did suggest I could try 100mg/day if desperate but he is worried about irregular bleeding so doesn't recommend it. Anyway even 100mg does make me feel pretty bad.

Can anyone help with better options please? I'm seriously thinking maybe I should just stop the lot and go back to being grumpy/anaemic and just suck it up. Which wasn't ideal, especially for the people around me...

 I've read about Qlaira - do you think that's a better option? or could try the mirena again or jaydess...?

Finding this really hard and would really appreciate any advice. thank you xx

Hi,
I totally feel your pain ! i couldnt tolerate Utrogestan either when I used it a year ago ( was fine on the estriadol gel )
My GP sent me for  transvaginal scan due to the heavy bleeding and my polyps history. The general Gynae opinion was it was the utrogestan causing my symptoms so I came off all HRT ! this was at the start of the pandemic.
I struggled on for another year wanting to leave husband on a weekly basis etc !
then a month ago when I felt suicidal my GP started me on Evorel conti patches. I felt great for all of 3 weeks then for the last week have suffered agonising cramps and heavy bleeding. Im sure I just dont tolerate progesterone.
the only other alternative suggested by the hospital was to have Mirena coil fitted but there is a 6 month wait for this on the NHS in my area.
I ripped my patch off yesterday and now feel utterly defeated and am now considering cutting the patch in half. My pharmacist has advised against this .
I like you are thinking shall I just go back to being a moody c*w sometimes !!
the answer is out there- somewhere x

[sultanselephant]

Thank you so much. I've been feeling really alone with this and feel better already just knowing you're there too.

Orba, sorry to hear you had suicidal thoughts. That utrogestan has some powerful effects. Really hope things get better for you.

Hurdity, my periods were still pretty regular (but getting closer together - 2 weeks on 2 weeks off - eurgh!) so maybe will give Qlaira a try. Will try and get a GP appointment to discuss.

Wondering if i should lower the estriadol dose in the meantime and the prog too while i figure out what to do..

thank you all x