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[Kat36]

Hello ladies,
New to the forum and looking for some advice really.  I was diagnosed at the end of last year with premature ovarian insufficiency at 38 years old and at this point I am 2.5 years since my last period. As you can imagine, it’s quite a blow when you also don’t have children and we’re trying to conceive. What’s troubling me most at the minute is getting to grips with hrt. I was originally prescribed Evorel Sequi back in January but ended up with some horrendous side effects: heightened sense of smell, nausea, vertigo which set off my mernieres disease, weird tingling….which was a shame because I was really feeling some positives I’d my poor aching body and bladder finally felt better. I removed the patch after 7 weeks of it really not agreeing with me. My GP seemed so clueless and actually said they don’t know what to do with me if the patches don’t agree with me ☹️…I was flabbergasted! I took matters into my own hands and paid to see a private gynae who prescribed a low dose gel (one pump, but as out of stock I’m using evorel 25) and to work up in increments to avoid weird side effects.  She also prescribed 100mg utrogestan to be taken daily (orally).  I’m finding getting the balance right with all this. I’m starting to think the patches just don’t agree with me so as soon as the gel is in stock I’m switching to that.  My bigger issue is the utrogestan. I can feel my swaying coming back again despite being in my mernieres medication. I feel I would benefit from vaginal utrogestan instead. My question is, do I need to ask for a special peasant for this? How often is normal (days) to take utrogestan vaginally? Thank you for reading and sorry it sounds a bit of a rant. Just trying to get to grips with it also so I can feel somewhat ok😊.

[Flossieteacake]

Hello Kat and welcome to the forum. I started menopause at 38 too. I am now 40. In my experience, gynos do not understand menopause. I would ask your GP to refer you to a menopause clinic. They are available on the NHS. It can take time to find the right HRT so please try not to worry about not finding one that suits you just yet.

My GPs are also unable to understand HRT which is why I was sent to a menopause clinic. It is very frustrating. Since menopause, I have a heightened sense of smell. It is horrible and I have had to switch to unscented products.

I am sure somebody will be along soon with advice on how to take the utrogestan. I was told I could insert it daily. I was unable to tolerate the side effects as I felt very depressed. Hopefully taking it vaginally will stop the side effects you are experiencing.

[CLKD]

Hi!  How au fait with menopause is your Gynae.?  Some don't know as much as going to an NHS Menopause Clinic.  Menieres is awful! 

There is the Daisy website too, for ladies with 'premature menopause' .  MayB dip into there too.

Let us know how you get on.  Some find that keeping a mood/food/symptom diary of use.  Browse round.  Make notes.

You can put the product names into the search box to see what pops up.

[sheila99]

 
Have a look at the Treatments tab above, there are many more options you could try. To use utro vaginally it's the same capsule (no 'special peasant' required  ), push it up as far as you can before you go to bed. It's usually the progesterone that causes problems so it can be useful to start on a sequi regime so you have a bleed but you'll know where the problem lies. To use utro on a sequi regime it's 200mg x 12 days, days 15-26 where day 1 is the first day of your bleed. One pump of gel is unlikely to be enough and is half the dose of evorel conti that you were on. Although it's better to increase slowly than too quickly I'd be inclined to use 2 pumps. I get my gel from an independent pharmacy and they have no problems getting it, might be worth making some phone calls. There are other patches if evorel is the problem. Some of your symptoms can also be caused by low oestrogen - just to confuse things even more.

[Kat36]

Thank you to all for the support & comments. I saw a doc in Birmingham who is clinical lead Menopause and Reproductive Endocrine at the Women’s hospital near me so hopefully I’m in good hands. She has wrote to my GP and asked that I be referred to her via nhs. 
It’s trial and error I guess. I think too much to soon makes me feel dreadful, but too little makes me feel spaced out. Thank you for the advice on the independent pharmacy…I had considered this 😊.

[CLKD]

I think that you have researched your clinician really well, hopefully you and she can work together.  Menopause will remain a learning curve for many years as more and more of us speak out.

Let us know how you get on and