Hello,
I’ve been on HRT since April last year (Evorel patches and Utrogestan 14 on/14 off). I started on 25mcg Evorel, then 37.5mcg, and have been on my current dose of 50mcg since November.
My irregular cycles have been doing their own thing in the background and mostly overrode the HRT cycle. I’d miss a period, have a few short/normal length cycles for a few months, then have another late/skipped cycle, and so on. I used to be able to tell if I was having a ‘real’ cycle as my body would give clear signs when I was ovulating and I would have a period 12-14 days afterwards. The late/skipped cycles have been happening more frequently as times goes on. In the last five months or so my own cycles have been 43, 44, and currently 67 days. In the first half of 2022 I had a 74 and a 51 day cycle (with some short cycles in between), the 74 day cycle was prior to starting HRT.
Whenever my own cycle was late or skipped I would have a very predictable Utrogestan withdrawal bleed. I take my last Utrogestan on a Thursday night and a bleed would start the following Monday.
I had no withdrawal bleed in Oct/Nov (I had a 43 day cycle so it wasn’t because I’d recently had a period) and a tiny bit of spotting once a day for three days last month (which occurred on the expected days for my withdrawal bleed).
I took my last Utrogestan last Thursday (2nd March) and expected to get a bleed on Monday, especially given I shed so little the previous month). No bleed, until this morning, which surprised me. I don’t know yet if it will be a proper bleed or just a bit of spotting again. Is this bleed a withdrawal bleed that’s simply happened later than usual? I’ve had no signs of ovulation since the end of December (which was followed by a period at the beginning of Jan) so I don’t think this is my own cycle, but I could be wrong! I suspect it’s going to harder and harder to tell what my body is doing the further along perimenopause I go?
I was also wondering if I’m not producing much of my own Oestrogen at the moment, given the longer cycles and minimal/absent shedding after a Utrogestan cycle?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I’m feeling very confused about it all!