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[forward-looking]

Hello Girls,

I'm looking for some advice, please!

My previous HRT Cyclo-progynova was taken off the market, probably about 2 years ago now and since I've been struggling to find an alternative and I don't want to drive my doc insane. It seems there is no pill HRT with norgestrel/levenogestrel now, which seems to be the only progesterone that suited me best. It wasn't perfect but worked for me.

I've tried Trisequence, Femoston, Kliogest, Provera and Fematab and lastly Fematab/Estrofem and utrogestan. I'm on 2mg of oestrogen and 200mg Utrogestan continuously.

Initially on the oestrogen/utrogestan combination I was taking the oestrogen in the morning and utrogestan in the evening. Everyday I had awful toilet problems. It was really uncomfortable, my hair turned to straw, so bad I got it cut short, mood started to go down, I started to get quite anxious and everything was a worry and building up, nothing was getting any better. I stopped utrogestan, spoke to my doc and discussed vaginal use. She agreed and said give the utrogestan a break of 10 days, restart and observe the side effects. I also stopped oestrogen because I felt like I needed a break from everything. I must say after 3 days I finally started to feel normal. So 10 days later I used utrogestan vaginally, I got cystitis the next day. The following day I decided vaginally is not going to work (I have suffered with cystitis on and off since I was in my 20's).

I then thought I would take 100mg in the morning with half a 2mg oestrogen tab and the same in the evening. I didn't get any toilet issues, thank the lord but I got a sinus infection the day after I started. I thought I caught something off my nieces but it was like a tap for over a week and I really felt my body was taken over by infection, my shoulders were so tight and one day I felt like an elastic band about to snap that I stopped the utrogestan. Lo and behold my sinus issue stopped overnight! It was quite dramatic and shoulders started to ease but not complete, it kinda felt like a fluey feeling in the body.

Yesterday I took oestrogen as normal and I really felt like I was going to snap again like an elastic band. Today I took nothing and felt good all day until this evening the sinus issue started so I took 1mg of oestrogen thinking maybe oestrogen leaves the body quicker than progesterone but I'm not sure. Sinus has cleared up now...

I'm considering the Mirena coil now given it's levonorgestrel but I'm just so worried it may not work for me. Maybe I should give up everything for a good while but my endo did say the best thing I can take for my osteoporosis is oestrogen so I need some sort of progesterone too.

I'm hoping someone has had a similar experience and share. Even though I know I need oestrogen I do feel more balanced with a progestin too but some just are too much for me.

It's just so hard sometimes. Thanks Girls

[CLKD]

Morning.  It mayB that your body doesn't require 'extra' oestrogen. 

How old R U?  I think a referral to a dedicated menopause Clinic is the way to go, to get proper advice. In the meantime, mayB keep a mood/food/symptom diary to chart progress?

Also, there is a search button, if U put in the product names separately U will see similar threads: make notes.

let us know how you get on.  U have a good handle on how your body reacts .

[forward-looking]

Evening CLKD,

Thank you for the advice. 
I'm 47, I had a premature menopause at 35 (was in peri since I was 25 after giving birth) and was diagnosed with osteoporosis at 35.

This morning I woke about 5am, my shoulders were so tight and I was thinking my whole left side was affected by Utrogestan (I haven't ever felt this from lack of oestrogen). This morning, I took just half a 2mg estrofem and by 4/5pm this evening my shoulders were tightening again, got dizzy spells and my nose started to run so it seems I do need the 2mg Oestrogen and Utrogestan has still not left my body. My GP specialises in this area and has been brilliant and very understanding, my endo too but I just feel like I'm being difficult or maybe I'm just sick of feeling crap for far too long now.

I do consult this forum quite regularly and search for different things and get some insight or reassurance that certain things are down to HRT.

I was a few years in the USA and tried patches there but I didn't absorb the oestrogen but I did the progestone (it wasn't nice) and the gel I could never get right. The pill form of oestrogen works for me and I'm happy to continue that. It's just the progestin. My only option now I think is the Mirena coil and I have read most comments here from other women but we are all so different, I'm afraid it won't work for me and I'll have to get it back out. I'm thinking now I just need to get it and see how it goes.  I do know certain progestins increase my histamine, in different ways and cause varying affects such as rosacea, melisma, sinus infections, hay fever, eczema (in my ear canals). I could keep going...

[CLKD]

U keep going  .   There is a list of peri-menopause symptoms here somewhere.  HRT of course helps protect heart and bones.

Some find the Mirena helpful, others get it whipped out again.

Let us know how you get on?

[Kirsti]

Hi Forward-looking

So sorry to hear you are having such a difficult time.
I'm on utrogestan orally and don't think it is agreeing with me, more in the bladder area though, but I'm up and down mood wise all the time, so have a docs appointment and an appointment at a Menopause clinic coming up to discuss what to do next. One of my thoughts is to try Livial, this is touted to help osteoporosis so may be an idea?
But I think the best thing you can do is speak to a menopause expert who can give you some professional advice.
I hope you get some help and relief from your symptoms soon. Good luck x

[forward-looking]

Thanks CLKD - I definitely will update you all.

Hi Kirsti, I read a few years ago about Livial but didn't realise it was touted to help osteoporosis. I'll ask my endo about it. I just read it also helps libido. That would be a miracle for me.   

FYI, I had bladder issues on utrogestan orally too, not cystitis, just an urgency to go and lack of those pelvic muscles didn't help. My mood too went down. I gradually became a nervous wreck and the world was coming to an end. It didn't happen overnight it was very gradual and at a certain point I said this is not settling down or getting better. I'm normally/naturally a very positive person and I was becoming the opposite.

I took my oestrogen dose last night and felt wonderful today. Confident, calm, happy, content etc. I've taken it again this evening, which wouldn't normally work for me because it would make me alert. I think it's a combination of the remaining utrogestan leaving my system (confirms to me that 200mg a day was way too much for my body). Maybe it's the right balance now but I'd probably only need 5mg a day of utrogestan 

[forward-looking]

Well hello girls!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I’ve been struggling with everything not just HRT but hopefully I’m back on track.

Got the Mirena fitted 17th Nov. Took a good while to recover from the procedure but otherwise I felt super except in the evening. Long story short 2mg Estrofem tablet was wearing off about 5/6pm daily.

Then 6 weeks after I was still in pain in my womb. Stabbing pains which people noticed because of my face and holding my stomach. I thought maybe the coil moved. I had it checked, nothing moved and I was sent for a pelvic scan.

Pelvic scan showed 11mm thickness and adenomyosis, fibroid, urine in my womb! Don’t know how they can tell that.

Anyway i have a biopsy next week. I was told to stop oestrogen. I lasted about 5 days but couldn’t stick the migraines, hot sweats, not sleeping, airways and throat drying up, no interest in life and anxiety through the roof. So I requested the gel, which I knew worked for me coz I used it in the states for a while but the insurance wouldn’t cover 2 pumps a day ( don’t ask me why, I could never figure how the system works there). So I take one pump at 8am and another at 8pm. It really works for me.

So here I am thinking I might have to have a hysterectomy, worst case it’s cancer. I’m hopeful it’s only a hysterectomy but I can’t live without progestestin and I know norgestrel/levonorgestrel is the only one that works for me but if my womb is gone how else can I get that? As far as I know (and the reason I got the Mirena) they don’t do that progestin in tablet form anymore or even a patch. I don’t absorb oestrogen in a patch but I do the progestin.

At this stage I’m hoping I can hang on to my womb and keep things as they are.

About this time last year I had a pelvic scan and got the report off my doc the other day. I was 2mm but had adenomyosis then but never had pain.