Hello all this is my first ever post, and I’m hoping someone can help.
Some time over December, in my infinite wisdom (not) I decided to abruptly stop my HRT regime (1 pump of Estrogel and 100mg tablet Utrogestan) as I was worried that HRT may be raising my blood pressure.
Well, I stopped taking it overnight for about 4 weeks and I gradually descended into a chronic state of anxiety and depression, I never knew it was possible to feel this bad.
After about 4 weeks off it, I resumed my HRT again (1 pump estrogel and 100mg Utrogestan), and recently booked into a private menopause clinic to try and get some advice and reassurance. I was advised to increase my estrogel to 2 pumps as 1 pump was apparently very ineffectual and had little benefit. I have been on 2 pumps for 3 days now (I know, it’s early days).
However I am now feeling nauseous and finding it difficult to eat. This may be a side effect of the increased dose? If so I hope it settles down.
I was told to increase the dose to 3 or even 4 pumps in a month’s time, if 2 pumps wasn’t making any difference.
I should add that when I first went on HRT for my hot flushes at around age 48, I was on Evorel Conti 50 patches, which I believe is equivalent to 2 pumps of estrogel, and that suited me fine for years, however after a bout of post menopausal bleeding 18 months ago (which turned out to be a polyp) I was taken off the patches and put on 1 pump of estrogel and 100mg Utrogestan.
I am age 56, and have never suffered from anxiety or depression before, so this is like a bolt out of the blue for me.
The menopause specialist has told me that she thought it unlikely that stopping HRT abruptly had caused this crash in my mood, as I had only been on 1 pump of estrogel which is extremely low. However I also stopped the Utrogestan abruptly so surely that would have had a contributory effect?
I have now been back on my HRT for around 3 weeks (resuming on 1 pump to begin with and then 2 pumps as from 3 days ago), so why don’t I feel any better?
Does my body need to build back up on estrogen and progesterone and does this take a while?
Any advice would be very much appreciated as I’m in a horrible place right now
thank you ladies