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[Mogster71]

Hi girls
Hope you are safe and well I was hoping some of you lovelies could possibly give me some feedback regarding moving from a cyclical HRT to a continuous one please?

I've been on cyclical HRT in various forms for about 2.5 years. My main reason for seeking help was the onset of debilitating headaches, almost on a daily basis, which made life miserable. I was lucky in that I didn't experience flushes, just the heads, some brain fog and what I now recognise as related issues with digestion a few years previously.

Currently on Evorel sequi but I had a 3 week long bleed in October, and ever since then the headaches have started to ramp up again, typically first week of new pack but now popping up randomly as well. Had ultrasound in Dec and all checked out ok.

I spoke to a female GP at my practice this afternoon (the one I reported the bleed to) who said that as I had been on HRT for over a year I could try a continuous regime. I was previously scared of this as I always used to feel awful in that part of the pack but now it seems to be where I feel best!

I just wondered if any of you could let me know what to expect; I'm guessing I may bleed a bit erratically to start with? I don't have a clue what my own periods are doing or if they have already disappeared. I did wonder whether the big bleed I had earlier was my periods final farewell! Does the lower amount of hormones mean I'll be able to tell what's going on with my own body better? If I start to get hot flushes etc would I need to add oestrogen or go back to sequi?

If there are any headache sufferers that found relief from changing to continuous I'd be really happy to hear! In fact anyone suffering who feels better on it.

Thanks so much
Mogster x






 

[Hurdity]

Hi Mogster - good to hear from you but sorry you have been feeling rotten.

I can't help with the headaches - sorry - I get them from the progesterone phase as well as the progesterone wthdrawal and like you randomly at other times so I am presuming for me there is another cause eg neck or something.

If you are on Evorel conti then you won't experience the withdrawal headaches - which is probably the cause of them in your first week of the new pack - because your progestogen levels will be stable. However if you are not post-menpausal then your bleeds and other headaches may be due to your cycle overriding the HRT. If you feel fine on the conti part of the pack you may well be OK with continuous.

Yes the irony of sequi HRT on 28 day cycle is that women do not get much of a chance to experience oestrogen on its own because the withdrawal effects and the bleed take up some of the first week - so maybe only a week of feeling good! This is why I prefer a long cycle - but really only possible with low to medium doses of oestrogen and for post-meno women.

As your bleed did not show any problems after having a scan then why not give it a try for a few months? Yes you may get irregular bleeding but your headaches may improve. Make sure you keep a diary - I expect you are doing so already!

Hope you manage to sort it!

Hurdity x

[Mogster71]

Thank you so much Hurdity - you always seem to know just what to say and I hope you know how much you're appreciated 

You're quite right, I probably feel good for about 2 weeks out of the month, although I do still feel I'm benefiting overall. The first week of the oestrogen patch, even though I have usually already had my bleed by then (I get it in the 2nd week of the progesterone, which again takes that niceness away from THAT week!), I still have the headaches and a "buzzy/fizzy" kind of pressure in my head. Then I get headaches at "ovulation" time, and look forward to the progesterone rather than my previous dread of it.

I did wonder whether my own cycle was surging in overdrive as it heaved it's last  and whether that was causing the not so enjoyable oestrogen bit.

The GP did suggest long cycle, which I suppose I will have as an option if the continuous does not agree with me. I know we have discussed the headache situation before and that you are a fellow sufferer (awful isn't it).

I'll let you know how it goes, thanks again xx

[kinola67]

Hi there, I've been on sequi for the same amount of time as you and also was on the mini pill before that. I went for my blood pressure check and mentioned to the nurse that my periods seem to have come back after a good while (maybe around 6 months) of not having them anymore. It is usually the end of the third or start of the fourth patch that this happens. So she's lined up a GP to see whether I should be going on to conti, so I would be interested to know how you get on, as I am wondering also if I can do progesterone for a month BUT oddly enough do seem to feel better during the second half of my patches so maybe it will be OK. I don't as a rule ever suffer from headaches, my reason for HRT was joint pain, sleeping and tiredness. I do however have a few more headaches than usual although I've not pinpointed when they are, I am just putting it down to stress from grieving and all the feelings that come with it. I am seeing my doctor on Tuesday so will let you know what she says, can you tell me what the long cycle refers to? it that anothe option? good luck with your decision making! Nicola.

[Mogster71]

Hi Nicola

Thank you for your message, this is good timing as I was actually thinking about writing a post;  I'm sitting here feeling a bit off with yet another headache!

I've just started on week 3 of Evorel conti and I feel like I used to in week 1 of my oestrogen only!
So far I've not noticed a big improvement in my headaches, in fact I had a horrific 3 day-er the first weekend (as I used to with the sequi), then several more last week. Sore boobs at the end of week 2 and bingo a full-on period, forget "spotting". I have no idea what's going on    What I DO know is that it's really early days so I'm prepared to give it some time to settle down. I had hoped it would be a really easy transition because I'd felt so much better in the progesterone part of my regime. 

Long cycle is when you take sequential HRT but only use progesterone once in 2/3 months. I don't have any experience in this really, only what I've read on here and some ladies use it when they are progesterone intolerant (if you pop Long Cycle into the search box you can have a read through).

I'm not really sure how long things take to settle on continuous; one of the reasons I wanted to try it was the fact that I had started to bleed irregularly on the sequential. I have had it checked and all ok. If it's going to do the same on continuous I'll need to have a rethink!

Interesting what you say about the sleeping and tiredness, I usually have more energy in the progesterone bit too, I think many woman find it quite sedating and depressing though.

Hope you get on ok with the GP, definitely worth a chat and see what they recommend

[kinola67]

Thanks for replying, so good to hear everything is well despite the erratic bleeding on sequi. Yes I seem to be back to full on bleeding which I'm not too worried because the actual timing ties in with the patches but it's weird it's all come back again after being bleed free for what was quite a long time, no sooner had I told my lovely neighbour -who is really not well with loads of hormones things going on - that I was finally having no more periods, it started back big time!

That's annoying though that the transition isn't as easy as you thought as you were used to the progesterone bit. The headaches especially for you and the sore boobs bit is weird if it's not estrogen related....I guess our bodies react differently to the hormones as we get older, I loved the mini pill as it took all my ovarian cysts away and I was pain free for years, I was probably a bit subdued though looking back and I have liked the energy the HRT has given me within the cycle which has been nice and easy to predict.

However maybe I've changed back to suiting the progesterone part better and that's what conti is all about!! God it's all so confusing!!

I will look at the long cycle info - that sounds interesting.

Good luck with things calming down a bit, it's good to know we are all working these things out together, I'll see what the GP says and if she has any info we need to know I'll post back!
Nicola.