Vintagefiend, afraid I can't compare notes re SHBG as, to my knowledge, mine's never been measured, but certainly sounds as though that unfortunately complicates your situation. What a maze this menopause malarky can be for some of us. You'll know what you're doing I'm sure with your exercise & diet regime, but please be vigilant for signs of low blood sugar so that doesn't become a factor in the poor sleep/early waking scenario. Another thing I discovered quite early on the very long, pot-hole strewn menopause road
was that counter-intuitively the more I exercised, the worse my sleep
. I think the physical stress of over-exercising, as with any sort of emotional/psychological stress, now has adverse effects, perhaps just too much for the adrenals, which worsens sleep, though I never did it late in the day. I do still exercise most days but can't do it to exhaustion. You may be quite different of course & I'm guessing younger than me too!
You mentioned probs with Oestrogel, so I'm wondering whether you've tried patches to see whether you get more stability that way.
Anyway, I hope you manage to get a GP appt to see about a Propranolol trial. As Nas says you're definitely not alone with it, so do let us know how you are/come along & vent etc if it might help at all. I do think there's some comfort in feeling less alone with all this & the lovely women here are brilliant at hand-holding & encouragement.
Oh Nas, what a bummer re the bleeds if you felt otherwise well on the HRT
. I did wonder about an ablation, but no personal experience of that so didn't suggest it. I know some women have posted about it on here so if you haven't done a search maybe that might be worth looking into, especially if your docs think it could be the solution?
Was it conti Utro or are you still in peri? I can't use it as side effects are way too strong for me, so I can't offer advice on the bleeding, other than as you suggest maybe try one of the stronger progestogens (or pursue the ablation route). I find both Norethisterone (tabs) & MPA seem powerful & give me a good bleed, like clockwork, without any breakthrough, but I'm pretty prog intolerant so can't sing their praises on the side effects & there's also the issue you'll be aware of, re Utro being generally considered the better option re breast health. I did have persistent unscheduled bleeding & spotting on Evorel Conti a few years ago, but got poor absorption from that & my lining was found to be atrophied on hysteroscopy. Have ChelWest not been able to explain it? So sorry Nas - it can feel like an endurance feat & that's so demoralising. I agree though, that there must be a way around it & I'm sure there's improvement for us all out there with the right help, experimentation & a lot of lateral thinking.
Wx
P.S. I see as I'm about to post this you've got some Propranolol prescribed VF! Blimey, you don't hang about
! Well done you - everything crossed for you. I'll be watching this space & you'll both be in my thoughts in the small hours.