Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Gilla999]

Hello lovely ladies

As some of you know I've been on a bit of a journey this summer trying to increase my Progesterone. This is primarily because I started suffering from severe Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria which at least seemed to be exacerbated by peaks of Estrogen if not caused by. I've also always wondered if my balance is off, because otherwise I can't work out why HRT would have caused me to rapidly gain 1.5 stone when I started it. I've only ever used 100mg Utro vaginally for 12 days so I wondered if perhaps I wasn't getting enough to offset my Estrogen (I tend to need my E to be quite high at around 700-800 pmol to feel well).

Over the last two cycles I've been taking Cyclogest and seemed to be doing OK on 100mg twice a day, but this month when I tried increasing to about 166mg twice a day, I've had terrible problems. All my old / original symptoms came back of unbearable 3am insomnia and night sweats. I've had about 6 hours sleep across the last 4 nights and it's been a while since I've been in this place! My blood test showed that my Progesterone level is 68 which is the highest it's ever been and I guess just too high for me (it used to be around 50 on the Utro). My E was 740 which should be fine. I wondered if anyone else has experienced Progesterone causing them insomnia and/or night sweats? I've had it in the past a few times when trying to up my Utro dose, so I'm pretty sure it's the cause, despite Prog supposedly being sedating! Just curious if anyone else experiences sleep problems during their Utro phase or similar.

Thanks! 

[Evie606]

Hi Gilla,

I’m experiencing similar just now with Cyclogest. I’m on 200mg a day and feel hot most of the time (not flushes), bad constipation and broken sleep. My mood was also good until the last couple of weeks. I think I can go down to 100mg a day so will discuss at my next appointment.
Can I ask why you wanted to up the dose from 200mg a day? Are you on a high dose of E?
I’m only on 2 sprays of Lenzetto.
E x

[Gilla999]

Hi Evie, thanks for the reply 

Since my post I've been doing some research and found a few scientific studies which talk about Progesterone downregulating estrogen receptors, including receptors in the brain. These Estrogen receptors in the brain it seems are the ones which influence things like sleep, anxiety and temperature. So it stands to reason that supplementing with too much Progesterone could cause low Estrogen symptoms. (Btw Progesterone of course has lots of beneficial affects too, including on breast cancer and uterine lining, so by no means implying it is bad... just as with all things hormonal, it's a delicate balance!)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2692678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192010/

I tried increasing from 200mg a day for two reasons - firstly because this summer I've been suffering with severe Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria and it seems to be triggered by peaks in my Estrogen. Progesterone is a mast cell stabiliser, so I had hoped it might calm things down. Secondly because I need my Estrogen level to be quite high - circa 800/900 - to feel well, and although there is no medical need from a uterine lining POV to increase my Progesterone, I wanted to try to balance more (especially as I'm still having regular periods). But clearly I've gone too far and upset the balance. I think the combination of extra P plus lowering my Lenzetto slightly 6 weeks ago has just tipped the balance for me.

One suggestion might be trying to split your dose - I read a lot of studies that show that with both Utrogestan and Cyclogest the dose fades after about 12 hours, so I was splitting my Cyclo dose (by cutting it in half!). I had no problems with sedation etc as it's a pessary (it is a bit messy but that was a minor inconvenience).

Keep me posted with how you get on xx

[Tora]

Hi Gilla,
This link has info regarding chronic hives, hashimoto’s and sex hormones, thought it might be useful:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302681/

Hope you’re feeling better. x

[Wrensong]

Hi Gilla

I wondered if anyone else has experienced Progesterone causing them insomnia and/or night sweats?

Yes, it makes me way too hot & my insomnia worse.  I can't take Utrogestan for that & other reasons.  Progesterone raises body temperature.  The only progestogen said not to is Dydrogesterone (in the Femoston range).  I can't remember whether you are on thyroid replacement, but if so there is also a small study showing that progesterone increases Free T4.  Can post a link if you want to see it.
Wx

[Gilla999]

Lovely to hear from you Wrensong, hope you're keeping well 

Interesting on T4 - no I haven't started thyroxine, although my results were borderline and I have quite a lot of hypo symptoms (even more now than when we last spoke) with the Urticaria this summer I really haven't felt like I wanted to add any more medications at the moment unless I really have to! Between antidepressants, HRT and treatment for Urticaria I'm on so much at the moment and wanting to streamline!

Tora I had heard of Hashimotos being the cause of some CSU. When my specialist did a blood test in the summer my antibodies were within range (despite them being high / well out of range last year) so he didn't think it could be the cause. My TSH was 4 and T4 just in range at 12, so I haven't been instructed to do anything about it, though I often still question how much my thyroid could be impacting things as I have so many symptoms (and both parents have hypo). I'm actually due my regular set of thyroid blood tests so will get on to that.

Thanks for sharing the link Tora, much appreciated x

[Wrensong]

Gilla, you're in a difficult situation with borderline thyroid levels & symptoms, especially if you are still on the rollercoaster of peri & I completely understand what you say about meds.  Glad you are keeping on top of TFTs though, with hypothyroidism in the family.  I hope you manage to find some balance soon.  I found peri a marathon of endurance so my heart goes out to you.
Wx

[shoppingqueen]

Hello ladies

I’m having issues with progesterone. I couldn’t tolerate Utro and now on Provera and very dizzy on this also with nausea.

Wrensong, I was on Femoston which worked very well for me so assuming the dydro worked well. My pharmacist is reluctant to let me go on it again as I’m on Levo (and T3). Not sure if you have any thoughts on this? I know the oral can increase the SHGB (?) and affect absorption but wouldn’t thus mean just a higher dose of Levo?

Gilla- I started Levo on results similar to yours and it made a huge difference! I’d felt very hypo. You’re doctor sounds like they’re doing the watch and wait.

X

[Wrensong]

Hi shoppingqueen.  The progesterone issue can be an absolute pain, I agree & HRT seems to be more complicated for those of us on both T4 & T3. 

If you felt well on Femoston & don't on HRTs containing other progestogens, can I ask why you stopped the Femoston?  Was it just because your pharmacist warned against the possibility it would interact with your thyroid meds, or were you on Femoston pre-hypothyroidism diagnosis i.e. before starting thyroid replacement? 

I agree, SHBG is another complicated issue for hypothyroid women & tbh I've not had mine measured to date, reasoning that thyroid replacement at the right dose is not negotiable i.e. we need what we need & that has to be balanced with whatever we find is the right HRT combo & dose for us.  By that I mean that I don't want to be worrying about what my SHBG is doing at this stage as I can't take an incorrect dose of thyroid replacement or an HRT combo that feels wrong, simply in order to get SHBG within a theoretical optimal range.  I may get it tested for elucidation at some point but right now it's a way down my list of priorities.  Having to get these tests privately also gets costly, so I try to keep it to what seems essential.  I can post links on SHBG if you want to see them, but there are so many associated factors that can be beyond our control that I think trying to take all that into consideration just further confuses matters for us.

As a migraineur on thyroid replacement I'd avoided oral oestrogen until there were few other remaining options, afraid it would have adverse effects on one or other of these conditions.  As I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for prog types, I then had a short trial of Femoston Conti ultra low dose but by week 3 began to get moderate daily headaches with some migraine features, bloating & gut transit slowed to a virtual standstill.  I didn't want to risk a return to frequent full blown migraine & continuing with gut transit that slow was not an option, so I stopped the Femoston after a month.  Gastric stasis can be a feature of migraine but slow gut transit is also classic for low thyroid as you'll know.  Had I not had the return of migraine type headaches I would probably have tweaked my thyroid dose to compensate for the oral oestrogen likely binding up too much of it.  So that's perhaps something you could think about doing if you can't find an acceptable progestogen to go with transdermal oestrogen & want to go back to Femoston.  Maybe discuss a retrial with your doctor/pharmacist if you want to continue HRT & there's no other alternative?  If it messes with your thyroid & you can't tweak your dose to compensate at least you'll have tried.  If you find a Femoston- thyroid combo to suit you, you can then add in testosterone if need be. 

I forgot to ask whether you're on conti or sequi, but if you're on cyclical HRT it seems to me even more of a challenge to find stability on thyroid replacement.
Wx