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[Hellbell]

Oer Ladies, I wonder if anyone else has experienced similar side effects with Femoston?  This is my experience over the last 3 months....

The first month was quite unremarkable but toward the end of the first part of packet (estrogen only bit) I had noticed some soreness and drying out of my lips (facial!).  I thought it could have been a lipstick I was using as I don't wear one very often.  The common side effect of a nasty headache duly came along with the second pills.  It lasted about 5 days but was manageable.  A few aches and pains started creeping in.

I started on the second pack and welcomed a "normal" bleed which I was expecting and felt I needed.  At day 12 my lips again started to get sore and dry and by day 14 I had a full on trout pout with pulsating and purple lips around twice their normal size.  Oh soooo painful.  I saw a pharmacist who suggested I needed a steroid cream but she couldn't prescribe.  This was a Saturday so she suggested I call 111.  In the meantime I took some antihistamine tablets, still thinking it was a lipstick or something I'd eaten and by the time I got to see a doctor on Sunday, everything was settling down.  He said to take Piriton 4 hourly (yikes) and not to drive!  Second part of the pack and the headache, some neck and ear pain followed.  At this point I am mindful that it can take 3 months plus for things to settle down so I'm persevering.

Third pack and I also had an appointment with my GP to see how things were progressing.  This was around day 6 or 7 and I reported that my brain fog was much improved and scalp/hair loss was around 80% better.  (I really hadn't linked the Femoston with swelling at that point).  I also had the feeling of a lump in my throat at times, but was happyish.  Because of the headaches, aches etc., my GP suggested I could try something else if I wanted and also gave me a script for Tridestra.  Anyhow, come day 11 and my lips start to explode again - too coincidental so looked up side effects and swelling of face, neck etc. is a rare but noted side effect.  Arrrrgh.  I stopped the estrogen tablets (3 left) and went straight onto the combi bit.  8 days into those and the headache has subsided, feel very lethargic but a little like my old self.  Unfortunately, the scalp ****les are coming back and hair is shedding again.  I was so hopeful that Femoston was going to be "The One" for me.

I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has experienced this and is so, what did you find, if anything, that worked for you?  Having read about Tridestra on here, I'm a bit reluctant to try it as it's a 3 monthly regime with a less hair friendly progesterone.  It just feels like too long a cycle for me.  I'd be so grateful for your comments or suggestions.  Many thanks and sorry for rambling.

[Mogster71]

Hi Hellbell

Wow, I expect that felt pretty scary! Poor you. Sorry you didn't get on with it, Femiston is one of the gentler HRTs in terms of the progesterone side - I seem to react to every other kind! I had Femiston 1/10 for 3 months and I never had anything like that swelling, although I have now identified a bit of a pattern with the headaches coming at the end of one packet and beginning of another, which seems to correlate with what you're saying too. I wonder if there was anything in the tablet colouring or something??

I believe that Tridestra has medroxyprogesterone in and is a long-cycle HRT which means you would only be subjected to the progesterone phase for 14 days every 3 months. Probably useful if you don't tolerate any progesterone very well. I did try this myself but for me it was too strong oestrogen wise, as I settled ok on the 1/10 and not the 2/10 Femiston. x

[Ladybt28]

So I have had both of those types of hrt Hellbell. I couldn't take femoston because of headaches. They would not go away and it  made me really nauseas all the time.
The lip thing and the rest definitely sounds like an allergic reaction to me and to be honest I would ditch the femoston because that level of reaction isn't part of the settling down process or a regular side effect.  I got that kind of reaction on a blood pressure tablet I was given and had to stop it right away.

Ref the Tridestra...the 3 months thing was quite a good idea for me and I managed one full pack and everything was ok until I got to the progesterone phase but I have trouble with progesterone generally and tridestra has medroxyprogesterone in it and it caused an increase in my tendancy for depression.  I was reluctant to go for a 2nd packet and I really didn't get a chance to even try the 2nd packet because I ended up in hospital with sepsis and had to stop hrt altogether!   However saying that I am now successfully on gel and Utrogestan but I still had fogginess and a lethargy on that in the beginning until I was prescribed my testosterone.  When I got that the fogginess and lethargy went.  It may be that some of your symptoms can't be fixed with oestrogen and progestone alone.

All I have said might sound confusing but I can only go on my experience.  I had to try 6 types of hrt until I found one that worked. 

[Hellbell]

Hi Mogster - Thank you for your reply and yes, very scary and started to feel my throat swell too so stopped taking them straightaway.  Bizarrely it appears to be the oestrogen part that I reacted to.  I'm on the 2/10 so too strong maybe?  I can just about manage the headaches with the second tablets but would obviously be much happier if I can find something that doesn't bring those on.

Hi Ladybt  Thank you for your reply and outlining your experiences.  It doesn't sound confusing at all but I so feel for you and all that you went through.  However, it's very encouraging to know you have found something that is working for you and you've given me hope so I thank you for that.  I think my GP is quite open to suggestions so I might try the gel and utrogestan next.  If you don't mind my asking, did you have any issues with the Utrogestan?

[Ladybt28]

Hi Hellbell - I am 58 and been on the gel and utro for 19 months now.  I use the utrogestan on cycle because I learnt from my previous experiences I couldn't take progesterone continuously so I didn't even bother to try.  I have a bleed but for me that is the lesser of the evils (as Hurdity put in another post!)  I also use it vaginally to keep any side effects to a minimum like nausea and headaches.  I haven't ever tried to swallow it, as again, from previous experiences with both those side effects with other stuff you do have to swallow as there is no alternative, it didn't seem a good idea to try if I could avoid it. 

So using it vaginally...for the first 2 cycles I had terrible cramps but took paracetamol whilst I had them.  From cycle 3/4, no cramps.  I tend to be depressive so for the first 5 months I had days where I was excessively tearful and could feel myself "going down".  I was supposed to take 200mg for 12 days...for the first 3 months I stopped at day 8 but still got a good bleed.  I then just built it up - next one to 9 days and next to 10 etc, but I was just learning what my body could and couldn't tolerate.  I had a couple of side effects which I have only worked out the longer I took it....some cycles towards the end of the 12 days I got burning shins at night and a bit of an itchy head??  Just slapped on some E45 itch cream and took an antihistamine!  For the last 6 months all my symptoms are totally under control and any produced by the Utro have now gone and settled, including the itchy shins - though why I can't answer that?? 

You have to remember Hellbell my symptoms list in meno was long (its easier to say what I didn't have which is VA!) and I had been ill for a very, very long time before I got to this regime.  Changing hrt prescriptions wasn't an option because of the other things I had tried and giving up altogether wasn't an option for me either,  I pressed on and adjusted accordingly and now everything is better than it has been in 20 years!  I have written in another post I extend my cycle - I count 28 days and then use 12 days Utrogestan?...therefore in 18 months I have only had 12 cycles of 12 days....if you really weigh that up its not a very long time to balance stuff but if you say to someone it took 18 months to get it right sounds a ridiculously long period of time!
To stick with it for so long is not everyone's cup of tea and I am not advocating you should  but I suppose that it does prove that it is possible to get it right and that there can be hope.  Obviously I had my previous experiences to kinda go on which led me to the way I use the gel and utro.  Personally I think it is a very flexible system more so than others but some women can't get on with utrogestan and prefer provera or a mirina.  Mirina is continuous so that was out of me and 6 months of Provera made me certifiable but Utrogestan vaginally, no nausea, or stomach issues and I found it milder than the other kinds of progesterone. xx
bet you're sorry you asked now huh??

[Hellbell]

Whoa Ladybt, that is perseverence but it's obviously been worth it.  Much admiration for you and thank you again for taking the time to reply and outline your journey.  It's really helpful and gives me a good pointer to another avenue to explore.  Like you, I'm really not interested in a Mirena coil as feel that at least if I react to a tablet, I can stop taking it.  I think I must super sensitive to certain elements of HRT and it's just a question of finding something that works for me.   I'm liking the feel I'm getting for the flexibility of gel and Utrogestan and will try and get an appointment to see my GP again.  Interestingly, the only negative thing she has said to me about replacement therapy is that there is no point in taking testosterone as no proof it has any benefit for women.   .  Further discussion there I think.  Keep your fingers crossed.

My back story is that I  had been on a contraceptive pill since the age of 16, no children and no break in that time.  I found one which suited and stuck with it until September last year and then the only reason to stop was my age - currently 53 with a birthday looming next month.  I can't remember having any serious meno symptoms on it apart from getting a bit more forgetful and the odd night sweat.  Ho hum.

Thanks again for your response and info - very much appreciated.

[Ladybt28]

FYI - testosterone was the missing part of the puzzle for me.  Oestrogen and progesterone didn't fix brain fog and lethargy on their own and my libido was gone.  In fact even thinking about other people having sex made me feel sick!  I couldn't bear to have my husband touch me and there was no sensation at all!  Now...its back and all ok plus the lethargy is better and I can get clear sharp thoughts.  I wouldn't be without the testosterone.  I was given it 6 months after starting the other two so plenty of time to see if they worked on their own x

[Hellbell]

Thanks Ladybt - the more info I can take to GP the better.  Out of interest, was your GP helpful or were you referred to a specialist given tthat your situation was so complex? x

[Ladybt28]

Doctors have been no help at all whatsoever Hellbell in terms of information about anything.  And that was the case before peri and meno.  They just wanted to fob me off because they couldn't find anything with "tests", so therefore it must be in my head!  My own GP (when I could get to  see her) suggested the gel but wanted me to have a mirina but she already knew we had tried that when I needed a contraceptive and it didn't go well.  I had to ask for the utrogestan, she gave me Provera and I nearly ended up in the looney bin.  However, she did know it was micronized progesterone in the prescribing book and not listed under it's trade name of Utrogestan so that was something!   However, when it came to prescribing, I have always been given what I asked for including the testosterone from the practice on the NHS without any quibbles.  I was referred to the meno clinic here and had one face to face consults and 2 telephone consults in the following 6 months but then I was discharged. Mind you by that time I was pretty clear what was happening and how I could use the doses flexibly without having to go and get different prescriptions to take different doses. No follow up at a year and no womb scan for the Utro.  GP wrote asking why and the letter came back "not needed....hasn't raised any issues....no intermittent bleeding....come back to us if there if a "problem" arises"!!
So that's it really... although how they would tell if there was a womb thickening I don't know but I do bleed well and there is not spotting in between and everything seems fine! 

Basically after huge amounts of reading and looking for answers over the last 15 years of being so desperate I have had to find my own way    through trial and error as they say and being quite demanding...but it has paid off in the end.  Don't get me wrong I'm not fixed to the average level of someone's idea of "well" but then it has never been "right" so all I can say I am the best I have been in more than 20 years  so I hold onto that when I remember what it has been like....Its a long dodgy hormonal backstory HellBell xx   I hope you get on ok and get what you think you need. 
A lot of the trouble starts with the GP's ego because most of the ladies with problems do a lot of reading to solve them and then end up knowing more than the doctors and it makes the GP look a bit daft when we know more than they do! cc