I’ve being taking utrogesgan vaginally for a week now, thanks to this wonderful forum. I no longer have the sedated feeling and wake up feeling quite refreshed, it’s worked really quickly. However, my mood is still quite low. I can’t tolerate alcohol any more and having had a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday probably hasn’t helped. So my question is, is it still early days expecting my mood to improve taking it vaginally or should I persevere? I took it orally for about 4/5 months and my mood was very low coupled with anxiety. Also, do I need to tell my NHS Dr I’m taking it vaginally? I know it’s not licensed on the NHS this way, could they stop prescribing if they know?
Hi Caggy
I've only ever taken Utrogestan vaginally and ALWAYS feel sedated the next morning - because it does have a sedative effect, and is absorbed systemically. The difference from oral intake is that because it doesn't go through the digestion and liver before being delivered to the uterus, you don't get large quantities of the metabolic by-products that can be responsible for low mood.
I agree that if your mood is low you might want to increase oestrogen though the sedative effect, as well as making me somewhat fatigued, also leads to lethargy, and foggy head - not low mood as such but generally bleugh...
Re alcohol - I stopped being able to tolerate much alcohol when I reached peri-menopause and something happened. However it is always worse when on the progesterone phase of HRT. I manage it by having much less and having it ealrier in the evening - rarely after 9 pm otherwise I will wake with a migraine. Also lots of water to dilute it afterwards.
The only advantage to telling your doc is if they are enlightened enough to prescribe the vaginal preparation which comes as 200 mg so easier to insert.
Hurdity x