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[Carolynek]

Hi all I’m a new member & have been taking HRT (evorel patches & progesterone tablets) since June. All my issues went pretty much instantly. Yay! BUT…the last month or so it’s all come back! Horrendous night sweats every night, headaches, sensitive scalp & hairloss, low mood. I finally got to speak to a doctor & she has said she can’t test my hormones because I’m on HRT?!? Help! I’m lost for words & beyond frustrated 😳

[CLKD]

Hormone tests are reliably unreliable 

Did she not suggest a hike in HRT?  When was your last period? How old are you?  It may be that your hormones are over-riding the regime.

Some find it useful to keep a mood/food/symptom diary to chart progress. 

Browse round. MayB put the product names into the search box: make notes ;-)

 

[Carolynek]

She’s not suggesting anything at the moment. Allowing me to continue to suffer!  I’m 52 & still getting periods. I will have a search as you suggested. Thank you 🙏🏻

[sheila99]

The nhs usually prescribe based on symptoms not blood tests. Returning symptoms would indicate a higher dose of oestrogen is required. Which strength patch are you on?

[CLKD]

Is there a GP at your practice who is interested in women's health?  MayB ask for a referral to a menopause clinic, not a gynaecologist! - there are waiting lists so the sooner you get onto the list the better.  Your GP may not have much idea 

[Taz2]

Have you had any blood tests to make sure that your symptoms are actually meno related? Night sweats can be caused by a low grade infection especially chest or urinary tract. Also, you should ask for your thyroid level to be tested too. It's easy to blame all of our symptoms on the menopause but it's worth getting everything checked.

What dose Evorel are you on?

Taz x 

[laszla]

If you are on HRT I would absolutely get blood tests, even if it means getting them privately if you can. With an external source of hormones, blood levels are more likely to be more stable and therefore worth measuring - and in addition your symptoms are telling you something has changed for the worse.
I have lost three years of my life being on an HRT regime that I have only just found out (because I finally had blood tests) has been practically useless - I have a miniscule amount of estrogen so have clearly not been absorbing the estrogel at all.
Had I known this sooner I could have taken action earlier so I would urge you to check them.

[Carolynek]

Thanks you all for your response in currently on 50mg patches. The doctor is checking my thyroid.
I don’t know how any of you are getting on at your GP’s but mine is near impossible to even get an appointment never mind a referral 🙄

[Hurdity]

Hi Carolynek

Its very difficult to determine what's going on if you are still ovulating regularly because your natural cycle will overide the HRT especially early on ibn the menopause journey. What were your periods doing before you started HRT - were they regular or long gaps in between?

Also is there a particular point in the cycle that you are getting headaches etc? As CLKD says - it would be a good idea to keep a diary of your symtooms for two or three months and see if they correlate with part of the hRT cycle. Could the sensitive scalp ad headahces be migraines? I get these from time to time and often when on the progesterone part of hRT or from progesterone withdrawal ie after stopping the  progesterone part.

Some women also get hot flushes when on the progesterone part of their hRT cycle. What dose are you taking, for how many days and are you taking them orally?

Good that you are getting other things checked out as per Taz's recommendation.

Perimenopause though is notoriously difficult - to work out what you need for the best! Hope things improve soon

Hurdity x

[Mary G]

Carolynek, I think hormone blood tests definitely have value, how else can you tell how well you are absorbing your HRT?

Even allowing for daily fluctuations, it at least gives you some idea of where you are dose wise.   Blood tests have more value once post menopause because you know that your own levels are very low and stable but they are still useful pre menopause and if they come back very low, you know that you will need to increase the dose.