Hi Helenmelon
Sorry to hear about losing your partner.
Re HRT - try not to be anxious nor read about problems that others have had. I have hardly had to do any tweaking and have been on HRT since I was about 54, now 71. Mostly on the same regime which has been oestrogen patches and vaginal utrogestan (though initially cyclogest off-licence, before Utrogestan was available). However I have almost always taken it on a cycle and wouldn't relish the thought of DAILY vaginal oestrogen. I do find it irritates my bladder when I am on that phase of the cycle - eg getting up for night time pee, as well as some irritation of labia (I do use vaginal oestrogen too - vagirux and estriol 0.01%).
I would be interested to hear of women on here who are taking it daily, vaginally.
Previously for a very short time I used Evorel conti but gave me headaches. Utrogestan is bio-identical, yes but is taken in larger doses than the synthetic progestogens so is not without side effects - so do be prepared for these - though do not worry! Progesterone is a sedative so you may feel tired, but you may well find 200 mg is tolerable. Many women take 100 mg daily orally without issues.
As for giving up HRT - you haven't said your age nor menopausal stage but I'm guessing from your name you may be 49 or 50? That being the case - you would be too young in my view not to think about HRT, as you are still not at the avergae age of natural menopause in the West (51/52) and even so we may live to our 90's so that's a long time to be in an oestrogen deficient state!
Some GPs maybe prescribe testosterone but as it's off-licence ( there are no licenced UK testosterone preparations for women so we have to have T products made for men which are stronger) they may not. The NICE Guidelines made provision for T prescription in cases of low libido when on adequate HRT - (but oral HRT also affects - can reduce libido/response) but it is really up to the GP/practice.
I had to see a private specialist initially in 2015 - but this was before the NICE Guidelines, but thereafter my very enlightened gynae specialist GP agreed to continue prescribing it and it has been on my repeats since then. You shouldn't need a blood test although a baseline test is helpful. T tests are inaccurate at very low levels as the tests are designed for the T ranges experienced by men so not sensitive enough for women - though they are the best we have!
Hope this helps
Hurdity x
