Print

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

[MalloryD]

Hello to all,
My name is Mallory and I live in France. I've been coming to this forum
for almost a year but this is the first time I'm writing a post. Thank
you to all the participants of the forum. It's a pleasure to read you
and to feel less alone with my difficulties and questions  , and I've
learned a lot about menopause treatments.

Would any of you know how to advise me on HRT? I am currently 49 years
old. I started noticing that my cycles were irregular at around 47, then
at 48 they stopped for at least 7 months and I started having very
annoying hot flushes, several dozen times a day and waking up at night.
My gynaecologist prescribed me a HRT (50 ug of oestrogen in a patch and prog 14 days per month), in
sequential version, which completely solved the problem and which I
tolerate well (after a somewhat difficult adaptation to progesterone!).
But I have never had systematic bleeding the days after stopping the
progesterone. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't, and I often had
bleeding that looked like menstruation at times other than the
interruption. Because of this bleeding, my gynaecologist ordered an
ultrasound of my uterus, which turned out to be normal.

Because of this bleeding, the gynaecologist has put me on continuous HRT
for the last 5 months, but I feel much worse. And I still have bleeding
that looks like menstruation, now and then a month apart, sometimes more
spaced out.

I'm finally getting to my question (thanks for reading this far!): I'm
due to see my gynaecologist soon, would it be reasonable for me to ask
her to switch me back to sequential (as I was feeling much better with
sequential and I'm still bleeding occasionaly anyway...)? Or is there a reason to
stay on continuous treatment?

Thank you for your advice!

[VanillaLover]

Hello! I am in the same situation as you pretty much. Except I don’t mind the progesterone so happy to stay on continuous even though I am still getting actual periods breaking through (which I also did on cyclical).

I think it would be totally reasonable if you to ask to return to cyclical HRT if you prefer it. I believe that some women stay on cyclical even after menopause as they prefer to take progesterone less often, even though it gives a bleed still.

Hope that helps!

[sheila99]

IMO you'd be better on sequi. If your own cycle is breaking through it's too soon for conti.

[GraceM]

As you are still perimenopausal it makes sense for you to stay on cyclical progesterone.  Continuous progesterone won't necessarily stop periods so not sure why your gynae switched you. I started on continuous but switched to cyclical and it has made no difference to my bleeding pattern at all.  In perimenopause periods are likely to be erratic and won't necessarily tie in with the HRT cycle.  If you felt better overall on the cyclical regime then ask about changing back.  Seeing as your scan was normal I can't see why your gynae wouldn't agree.

[MalloryD]

Thank you so much for your replies  !
I will do as you suggested and ask my obgyn if I can switch back to a sequi HRT. It is very nice to have your advices, especially as my obgyn is kind but little knowledgeable on HRT.

Another follow-up question: if I can go back to sequi, do I need to try to synchronize the two weeks of progesterone with my very irregular cycles? Or do I take the two weeks of prog without considering the times when I have a period?

[sheila99]

If you can't tell when you ovulate you have no option so just stick to the calendar. I found it much better to synchronise the hrt cycle to my own.

[MalloryD]

Thank you for your answer