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[pooky70]

Hi everyone, I'm so glad I found this site a few months ago, it has helped me so much to understand what is happening to me and to realise that other people go through a similar bumpy road  . I am 49 and been suffering from peri-menopausal symptoms for a few years, mainly anxiety and depression. When my period stopped a few months ago, those symptoms went through the roof and so I started looking into HRT. After documenting myself and on my GP's advice I decided to go for patches and Mineral Coil. I started the patches 7 weeks ago. I seem to get on fine with the coil but the patches are Evorel 25 and I think I have read on the forum that this oestrogen dose is not enough to counterbalance the progesterone from the coil. I'm going to see my GP next week as I need to renew my prescription before the holiday and I'm preparing my “pitch”! I would like to suggest switching to 50, maybe once the initial 12 week course is over, to help with this rollercoaster of low mood/anxiety I'm going through at the moment. Does it sound reasonable? Thanks in advance you lovely people 

[Dancinggirl]

Hi and welcome to MMpooky70

It's not so much that you need more oestrogen to counter the Mirena - if you were post menopause then I would say you need more oestrogen - but 25mcg is a very low dose. If your periods had stopped a few months before starting HRT then moving to 50mcg, which is the average dose anyway, would be a sensible option now. Pleased things are going well for you with this combination - the Mirena can be great as part of an HRT regime as it allows you to adjust the dose of oestrogen you use to control your symptoms. Using HRT now will help you bones and heart for the long term.  HRT can't fix everything and while you are still peri menopause you will still get some fluctuations. 
Do look at your lifestyle to see if there are any small changes you can implement with your diet and exercise as this is particularly important.  Low mood and anxiety can be triggered with low blood sugar; also doing appropriate regular exercise can really lift the mood and improve everything.  DG x

[CLKD]

   browse round make notes.

[pooky70]

Thank you both for your advice, I am making notes indeed, that helped me so much with my initial conversation with my GP! It has been a few tough days with low mood/anxiety and I'm hoping that upping the dose of oestrogen will help having more good days. But fluctuations make sense at this stage  .

[Countrygirl]

Hi pooky70 I have the mirena and was put on the evorel 25 in January, was increased to the 50 last month, but found I was even more anxious so dropped back down and am experimenting with cutting a patch down so less of an increase. I'm 47 and peri and think my own hormones firing off could be my problem as it does seem to be cyclical x

Have you noticed a pattern to yours at all. I get a couple of spots, my sleep gets even worse, then the anxiety I've already got ramps up, it's almost 2 manageable weeks then 2 awful weeks x

[pooky70]

Thank you Countrygirl, that's interesting, I've thought about the cyclical aspect of mood swings. I started keeping a diary only when I started on HRT but it should help me get a better picture over time, still early days after only 8 weeks on it. Before then, all I know is that I suffered very bad anxiety straight after my last period finished and it seemed to come back in a cycle even though I had no period whatsoever for a few months.

I hope I react better if I increase, I've been hanging onto that lately.

[Dancinggirl]

Pooky70 - I forgot to mention that there is often a quite a hit of progesterone for a few weeks after the Mirena is fitted and I suspect this could be effecting you a bit. I found that everything settled after about 3 months.
It always takes time for the body to adjust and settle on any HRT.
Whilst it can be good to keep a diary of what you eat and the exercise you do, to see if this has an effect on how you feel but I would also caution you not to overthink things at this early stage - get on with life, keep busy and active. I suspect in 2-3 months you will feel much better with the 50mcg dose. DG x