Print

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

[laszla]

Hi all, age 55, on Estrogel and Utrogestan since 2018 (still had pretty regular periods). I very soon reduced prescribed Utrogestan dose to 100mg 7 days per week as I felt killer anxious on the days when I took it, ie I automatically assumed progesterone intolerance  was the cause (recent scan showed endometrium thickness fine, I take Utrogestan internally which is said to signicantly increase absorption).

Now I'm not so sure. Although for a couple of years, I systematically felt better in the weeks without progesterone, over the last 4-5 months that has changed, in fact almost reversed, with my progesterone week often being ok and the couple of weeks after bleeding that are supposed to be the 'good weeks' now blighted by stellar, unbearable anxiety.
I have CPTSD and wonder if this makes a 'scientific' appraisal of effects of progesterone very difficult, ie one might confuse one for the other.

So now I question the progesterone intolerance theory (in relation to me), a doubt that's compounded by the fact that GP and menopause clinic (Panay's at Chelsea & Westminster) have told me I need to transition to continuous progesterone, something that terrifies me, but perhaps needlessly.
My aim is to eventually reach one utro cap every other day taken internally which is said to be sufficient to stave off bleed (I never have any irregular bleeding on current 7 day per month regime).

Can anyone suggest whether it's best for the anxious and possibly-but-maybe-not progestrone intolerant to transition to continuous in one go, ie directly start taking it every other day, or if a gradual approach is better, eg start taking it 10 days a month and so on (or is this confusing for the body)?
I know a recent post lamented the lack of 'customisation' for progesterone and I wholeheartedly agree.
Many thanks

[CLKD]

Hormones can throw up some weird and awful symptoms  .  I too would be terrified of making myself worse, I've been like that with food, medication, anxiety.  Hopefully someone will be along with advice. 

[Hurdity]

Hi lasla

Yuu don't need to transition to continuous use unless the docs have advised this on medical grounds. I'm late 60's and have almost always taken HRT cyclical because I don't like progesterone. If you are post-menopausal and your hormones are stable then you may well stop getting these anomalous results ie when you feel good or not. Taken cyclically there may still be an adjustment when you start taking it, or as it builds up and definitely after you withdrawal, but the weeks on oestrogen alone - I find are worth it!

Alternate day vaginal progesterone - this has been shown to be effective in preventing endometrial build up in a few small studies but only when used with low to medium oestrogen dose as I recall. It may not be sufficient if you are taking a high dose of oestrogen and this will need monitoring through scans rather than wait for an abnormal bleed to signal something is wrong?

As for when to transition. Changing from cyclical to continuous - it's best to do this immediately after your bleed when the lining is at its thinnest ie if you are taking utro for 7 days per month then take the 7 days as usual. Have a 3 day gap to allow for the bleed and then immediately restart with alternate day use. You may well have a bit of pms etc during those 3 days but it will soon pass. I presume this will be under medical supervsion?

Sorry to hear you have had terrible trauma in your life that has led to PTSD

I hope you manage to sort out your regime so that you feel better on HRT.

Hurdity x

[laszla]

Thank you so much. I am being pressured to transition to conti - one of the reasons I persisted with a good deal of difficulty in getting the referal to the Panay clinic was because I thought they would have a more 'off menu' approach but so far that hasn't really been the case and they have repeated my GP's insistence that I should really have transitioned by now. We have agreed that initially I will slowly increase the prog and see how it goes.
I had a recent scan and endometrium was ok on my very low prog regime.

I take 2 pumps of estrogel daily which I understand is a moderate amount so I am hopeful that I could work up to the alternate day progesterone regime which as you say Hurdity is thought to be sufficient to keep endometrium thin enough.
Thanks again x