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[Peanut31]

Hi

I’ve posted on here before and had some fantastic advice thank you.

This is all very new to me and I’m trying to get my head around it all.

I’ve had thyroid issues in the past and with my own research, books, on forum I finally managed to resolve this with medication and years of tweaking, so I know this HRT journey will be a long one.

I’ve been reading menopause matters magazine and started on hormone repair manual by Lara Briden.

Just to recap, I’ve been put on HRT by a clinic as peri menopause. My symptoms have been going on a few years, but thought it was as I had Covid, two family bereavements and my only child going to university.

Anyway the clinic was my back up plan if my GP didn’t agree for HRT.

 My GP (nurse) did agree for HRT, but the appointment was very rushed (via phone) and I didn’t feel confident with the information given.

Anyway,  to cut a long story short I was prescribed Testosterone, oestrogel gel and Utrogestan (Progesterone) by a clinic in May, and was told to start gel & Testosterone first , and, delay the Progesterone until August (I double checked the letter to confirm this)

 I haven’t taken the Testosterone as thought there’s a lot for my body to be dealing with, it was prescribed as my libido is zero and memory loss. Names, spellings etc.

Anyway, having posted on here with this information, I was told (correctly) this was not right and I should of started the tablets with the gel to protect the womb.

With this in mind I contacted the clinic with my concerns and brought my appointment forward.

In the meantime, waiting to hear back from the clinic,  I emailed Dr Currie with my concerns as noted she gave emailed help from the Menopause matters magazine. She advised to take them as soon as possible.

The clinic told me to wait until my August period, but, I said  it was overdue, they then said give it another seven days and if it didn’t arrive then start.

However, after speaking with Dr Currie,  I thought it was best to start the Progesterone. 

The first night taking those was very interesting, I took them before I got into bed and sat watching TV, I felt like a zombie, very tired,  so I’ve learnt to take them as soon as I’m in bed not before.

 The 1st morning on them I felt very strange and absolutely shattered, but as the days have gone on, it’s been ok.

However, my tummy is VERY swollen and it’s awful.

When I spoke to the clinic before starting the Progesterone about symptoms being a swollen tummy etc, they said patients have not mentioned this??

Today, I felt very strange and not earthed if that makes sense, I have now started bleeding this afternoon, and wonder if that’s why I didn’t feel earthed as I call it,  but the bleeding is more like the tail end of my period as in brownish blood.

Before I keep rabbiting on, my questions are:

 will this bloating subside after my body gets use to the medication?.

My breast are getting bigger and I’m getting bigger. I haven’t weighed myself as I know it won’t help how I feel, but things are tight on me.

I’m on 4 pumps of gel, should I stick to this, (I was told to increase to 6 pumps by clinic, but I’ve gone back to 4, as just feel like they want to keep pushing the dosage without waiting. It’s also costing me a lot every time I need advice. When I do get the advice it’s increase, increase, and I don’t really know what to do.

How will I know if this dosage is working etc, I know it’s early days but just want some guidance on this please. I’m still forgetful and spelling words is particularly worse at the moment, so is listing numbers as in what comes after 90,91, 92 etc.  simple to people not to me, joints have started to ache as well.

All I keep reading is weight gain on HRT. This is particularly a hard subject for me as I was very badly bullied in my teenager years for being overweight by family members and school pupils.

Through healthy eating and exercise I lost the weight, gained it when I had my son, but lost it again. I feel my weight now is a losing battle, which I’m finding difficult to accept along with all the other symptoms I’m having. It doesn’t help that when you see celebrities on HRT they are as fit as a fiddle and no bloating.

Today I thought I would buy a new summer dress, wouldn’t  get pass my watermelon boobs!!!

Sorry for the lengthy post, advice would be greatly appreciated as I feel very down.

Best wishes
Peanut31   

[joziel]

Hi Peanut31

Hormones can cause you to put weight on, but only when they're unbalanced for you. When they are optimal for you, if anything they should help you to lose weight...

A few questions -

What utrogestan regime are you on? 100mg continuous or 200mg sequential?

Were you put straight onto 4 pumps of oestrogel? Without trying 2 pumps?

What is going on with your original symptoms in all of this? Are they improving, staying the same...? You mention the forgetfulness, the libido, but not anything else....?

Basically, too much estrogen (for you) can cause you to put weight on and is also what causes your breasts to feel fuller. And also the utrogestan can cause bloating - I don't know why the clinic would say they haven't heard this because I believe it is even listed as a side effect on the medication - but for most people this subsides as their body gets used to it, so it is probably worth persevering with for a few months. (Progesterone is actually a diuretic so it helps get rid of stored water - I'm not sure why it can often cause bloating to start with.) If it continues then, you could try taking it vaginally instead - which will mean that you absorb less of it into your body and it just gets to where it's needed.

Is it the Newson Clinic you went to? Because I've found them to be very heavy on the estrogen use and a bit casual with it all, to be honest. I've ended up in a total mess with advice from a Newson doctor who told me to keep increasing estrogen even though I had side effects which saw me in A&E... It should be possible to request to see another GP there? You are paying after all, so if you think you're not being managed properly (which is what it sounds like), then request to change GPs. They have something like 80 GPs. They have all had different trainings and they don't all sound similar in their advice.

I would suggest you first try 2 pumps of oestrogel. Because that is the standard starting dose. Try that for 12 weeks and add in the testosterone as well. See how you feel with that and then increase by one pump if your symptoms are not resolved. Try 3 pumps for 12wks. Not resolved? Increase to 4 pumps. You can't know what you need by just leaping into 4 pumps, if things are not right then you've no idea which direction to go in.

You can add the testosterone in because otherwise you might be expecting the estrogen to fix everything and adjusting it to keep trying to fix something which perhaps the testosterone would help you better with. (Like memory, mental clarity, libido etc - these things are known to be helped most by testosterone and have 'testosterone' written all over them as being what you most need!)

The current guidance is that if you are on 4 pumps and you need more estrogen, then you should have a blood test to check you are absorbing it. So the clinic should not be telling you to just increase to 6 pumps without first having had you do a blood test for estrogen levels. That's another thing they are remiss on...

[Peanut31]

Hi

Thank you so much for your reply. Last night was awful I was up with the most horrific period pains, yet no bleeding last night, just small amount this morning.

I’m taking Utogestan for 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off and two a night 100mg each. Tonight will be my 5th night out of 14 on them.

When I got my gel from the NHS there was a delay as couldn’t get hold of the item, two days after getting the gel was my clinic 1st appointment and they told me to increase to 4 pumps as they asked me how I felt on 2 pumps. I told them I had only just started and feel terrible with my symptoms.

Yes it’s the Newson clinic.

I would say at the moment my mood is dark and angry and ratty, I just can’t be bothered, I’m not emotional, but very cross and fed up.

I was reading more of the book I got last night and it mentioned that testosterone can make you gain weight and look at insulin resistance.

I did this with my thyroid years ago and I wasn’t.

I’m just so down with it all.

Would you then suggest going down to 2 pumps to try it, or a blood test now maybe to see where my levels are. I’m use to doing finger **** tests with medichecks so can do this.

I just feel like stopping the HRT, but I know in the back of my mind I need to give it a good try.

Have you found your sweet spot on HRT and how did you find it?, can you recommend anyone?

Best wishes
Peanut31

[Bandango42]

Hi

I'm 4 months into hrt and for the first 2 I looked like I was pregnant and my boobs grew and were excruciatingly painful. It's calmed down a lot,  the bloating has gone and my boobs don't hurt anymore although they are still bigger x

[Peanut31]

Thanks for your reply.

[joziel]

Peanut --

If you only took 2 pumps of gel for 2 days before your appointment, then you didn't really try 2 pumps at all there 

Yes, I'd say reduce to 2 pumps so you can try that. Too much estrogen can for sure cause weight gain. Don't worry about the boobs, they should go down as you get used to being on it.

Regarding a blood test: You should focus on treating symptoms and you should take the minimal amount of estrogen needed to reduce your symptoms. (So even if 4 pumps works, if 2 pumps works just as well, you should be on 2 pumps.) It's not about blood levels initially. Once you have treated symptoms, if you are curious about blood levels you could check then. Or, if you need more than 4 pumps, you should get bloods run to check you are absorbing. All this is BMS advice.

Hopefully the utrogestan will settle down, try to give it at least 6 months unless things get unbearable - you could switch to vaginally then. If you are feeling cross and fed up, that could also be the utrogestan.

Re the Lara Briden book, whilst I'm a huge Lara Briden fan in most ways, I'm not sure I agree with her on the testosterone making you gain weight idea. It's just not something I've heard anywhere else. I think it would only cause you to gain weight around the middle if you went into male ranges and/or you didn't have enough female hormones. It really helps with gaining muscle and stamina and endurance - and muscle burns calories - so I can really only see it helping with weight. I tend to read widely and a lot of different sources and if just one person says something, I don't give that much credence. IMO I have to hear the same thing from different directions and/or see some science or research before I believe something. There is already too much woowoo about all this 

With the Newson Clinic, I've had Dr Claire Phipps recommended to me by someone else who is a patient of hers and I will probably ask to switch to her. She is very cautious about estrogen, using the lowest effective dose etc. I wouldn't recommend my own GP there. You could consider switching to her too...