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[Luculka]

Dear Ladies, I am new here, 47, and really desperate... Be patient with my writing please, as I am not a native speaker. I knew, that starting HRT can be tricky and that in the beginning, one needs to "soldier through". But what I am experiencing is really making me much more miserable than I was, when i was dealing "only" with my perimenopause symptoms. Those were nausea, heart racing, motion sickness and sleep issues starting last year and getting worse - so clearly: hormones.

My gyneacologist  made some blood tests and started me on one hub Oestrogel and 100 mg Utrogestan a month ago. Having nausea through perimenopause already, I decided to begin with vaginal route of Utrogestan and not risk any extra nausea from the oral route. First 5 days were ok, I felt my sleep improving immediately and I was very happy. I saw the silver lining and was really hopeful, that the bad days of my peri symptoms are over.

But than the gastrointestinal issues started after exactly 6 days. Horribly irritated bowel with constant need to run to the toilet, bowel cramps keeping me up at night, diarrhea, extremely loud gurgling noises from my bowel constantly throughout the day (really out of this worl noises I never experienced in my life!), bubbling in stomach and new kind of nausea. I stopped the Oestrogel to see if Utrogestan is the evil-doer. And yes, the side effects continued after being few days on Utrogestan only.

 I knew from you ladies, that I need to play a bit with the dose, experiment so I started to experiment - I took the 100 mg Utrogestan every other day, than every third day (thoinking that the dose is just too much). But the gut problems persisted. I squirt a bit of the gel-like contents out and only inserted a half full capsule: it didn't help. These horrible stomach/bowel disruption always lasts for 24-48 hours after taking Utrogestan.

I am so desperate, because I really wanted to take the best, safest version of HRT and now it looks like I can't tolerate the only safe Progesteron available. But I can not go on like this, I already lost weight (being thin already) and I can not function. I am losing my joy, my poor husband has to take care of many chores/school runs because I am on the toilet all the time or being too weak... It actually feels like being posioned and I think it gets worse with every capsule. As I said lowering the dosis didn't help at all. I would be so so grateful for some supportive words, ideas or hearing similar stories. I read every Utrogestan Forum Message on here already, but what I find in most of the stories are the emotional/mood problems caused by Utrogestan, not the horrible physical suffering from it. And waht realyl shocks me: the vaginal route was supposed to be the more pleasant one, but for me, it turned out to be pure horror. Thank you so much in advance, really looking forward to each response. Lucy

[Peri2022]

Hi Lucy, it sounds like you've had a really awful time, made even worse by the fact that these bad gastric symptoms were totally unexpected. And also - don't apologise for your English - your English is perfect and we don't judge each other on here anyway - it's all support and good vibes (or at least, it should be!).

Women seem to have such different, individual responses to utrogestan, and then the symptoms are all different depending on how you take it too (vaginally, orally or even rectally for some people). I was fine on vaginal utrogestan for months and now it really irritates me down there. I tried rectal which was good for one night and then gave me an awful, drugged-up sleep the next night. I am scared to even try oral as I'm worried about the potential mood effects.

You probably know this already, but there are other forms of progesterone/progestin you can try. Some people get on better with Cyclogest pessaries. Other people prefer a Mirena coil. The frustrating thing is that there's no definite right answer, and the research supporting each option is often contradictory or hard to find.

I don't have anything very wise to add except I'm sorry for what you're going through, and I wish you all the best of luck trying to work it out. This is a great place to get support while you're on your journey.

[Penguin]

Hi Luculka
I don't have any advice as such but just wanted to say I experience similar on utrogestan taken vaginally. Not the loose bowels so much, but definitely bubbling in stomach (including upper abdomen), bloating, wind, and farting. It isn't pleasant as I also have the mood issues too and more recently a kind of depression sets in after the first few days.  I am taking a lower dose this month, 100mg for 12 days, and then seeing someone privately in January to explore options. I may try a mirena coil. Although synthetic, it is a much lower dose than utrogestan.
I don't know what else to suggest. You have my sympathies with the gastric stuff every month, it is hard and I hate utrogestan.

[slowmo]

I have too had awful side effects taking this tablet vaginally, was on it a while but since having an applicator and getting it inserted "higher up", my bowel was literally "dead and asleep", felt so bloated and windy and backed up....no appetite.

I decided to stop progesterone this weekend and already, it's wednesday and my bowels are waking up and behaving a little more normally.

I think I am just sensitive to this progesterone as I take mini pill progesterone which whilst much lower dose, its oral and I take double dose due to endo.

I think this urogesterone can really affect some of us, perhaps in different ways but please know you are not alone.

[Mary G]

I would definitely ditch the Utrogestan and try a different progesterone. 

You could try a progesterone coil, an oral form of progesterone or you could ask for Cyclogest which is a wax vaginal/rectal pessary that can be cut into tolerable doses.

Utrogestan is not well tolerated and it's the most debated problem on here by far.