My periods were infrequent from 2016, and my last one was towards the end of 2019 - I was 47. I began suffering hot sweats and brain fog, which worsened over the next couple of years. By this May I’d had enough, and asked my GP for HRT.
He started me on continuous Utrogestan each night and 2 pumps of Oestrogel every day - to be increased if required. 3 months later the hot sweats had become less frequent and less severe but were still there, so I increased to 3, then 4 pumps and by the end of September they had all gone.
However, I was still experiencing the brain fog as bad as ever, along with low energy and libido. After blood tests my GP confirmed Testosterone was slightly low and prescribed 1 pump of Tostran every 2 days.
By December I noticed my libido, alertness and energy levels were back up and I felt great! However I think some of the Testosterone converted to oestrogen, causing a bleed at the end of December. I was advised that this was probably due to an imbalance – not enough progesterone, and to take 2 Utrogestan to counterbalance the 4 pumps of Oestrogel.
The bleeding stopped within a week, and I have settled back to 1 Utrogestan and 3 pumps of Oestrogel. However, I have been experiencing extremely painful breasts which ironically put me off the exercise and sex that the Tostran is helping with!
My own GP wasn’t available so I saw another GP who told me to take painkillers and has booked me in next month for a mammogram for the breast pain and vaginal scan for the breakthrough bleeding.
However, I’m wondering if the breast pain is due to an increase in breast density caused by high oestrogen – I put on a stone when my periods stopped and then another 10lb after I started HRT. I daren’t drop back down to 2 pumps of Oestrogel in case my night sweats return – the broken sleep really affected my job.