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[Luculka]

Dear Ladies, I am new here, 47, and really desperate... Be patient with my writing please, as I am not a native speaker. I knew, that starting HRT can be tricky and that in the beginning, one needs to "soldier through". But what I am experiencing is really making me much more miserable than I was, when i was dealing "only" with my perimenopause symptoms. Those were nausea, heart racing, motion sickness and sleep issues starting last year and getting worse - so clearly: hormones.

My gyneacologist  made some blood tests and started me on one hub Oestrogel and 100 mg Utrogestan a month ago. Having nausea through perimenopause already, I decided to begin with vaginal route of Utrogestan and not risk any extra nausea from the oral route. First 5 days were ok, I felt my sleep improving immediately and I was very happy. I saw the silver lining and was really hopeful, that the bad days of my peri symptoms are over.

But than the gastrointestinal issues started after exactly 6 days. Horribly irritated bowel with constant need to run to the toilet, bowel cramps keeping me up at night, diarrhea, extremely loud gurgling noises from my bowel constantly throughout the day (really out of this worl noises I never experienced in my life!), bubbling in stomach and new kind of nausea. I stopped the Oestrogel to see if Utrogestan is the evil-doer. And yes, the side effects continued after being few days on Utrogestan only.

 I knew from you ladies, that I need to play a bit with the dose, experiment so I started to experiment - I took the 100 mg Utrogestan every other day, than every third day (thoinking that the dose is just too much). But the gut problems persisted. I squirt a bit of the gel-like contents out and only inserted a half full capsule: it didn't help. These horrible stomach/bowel disruption always lasts for 24-48 hours after taking Utrogestan.

I am so desperate, because I really wanted to take the best, safest version of HRT and now it looks like I can't tolerate the only safe Progesteron available. But I can not go on like this, I already lost weight (being thin already) and I can not function. I am losing my joy, my poor husband has to take care of many chores/school runs because I am on the toilet all the time or being too weak... It actually feels like being posioned and I think it gets worse with every capsule. As I said lowering the dosis didn't help at all. I would be so so grateful for some supportive words, ideas or hearing similar stories. I read every Utrogestan Forum Message on here already, but what I find in most of the stories are the emotional/mood problems caused by Utrogestan, not the horrible physical suffering from it. And waht realyl shocks me: the vaginal route was supposed to be the more pleasant one, but for me, it turned out to be pure horror. Thank you so much in advance, really looking forward to each response. Lucy

[Diamonds and pearls 53]

Hi Lucy, so sorry to read that you are struggling  on this regime. Not everyone gets on with Uterogestan, despite it being advertised as  the 'gold standard' of  progesterones. l found it didn't agree with me at all, it gave me bad stomach pains and made me feel quite unwell. There are other progesterones you can try  which are safe so l suggest you go back to your GP and discuss your gastrointestinal symptoms. Also l note you are only on one pump of Oestrogel and you might find you need more than that as that's quite a low dose. Sometimes it's trial and error to start with but don't give up. 

[Newbie101]

Hi Lucy, I have also had digestion issues with Utrogestan. It doesn't seem to be very common and I couldn't find much on here about it either. The loose stools, cramping and sometimes nausea started a few weeks after starting continuous HRT - Evorel 25mg patch with 100mg Utrogestan orally every day. I had erratic bleeding as well and felt exhausted. MY GP said it was possible the hormones were triggering IBS like symptoms and to persevere if possible to see if things would settle. I also had blood tests and stool tests to make sure there wasn't an infection causing the symptoms.

I'm now 6 months in and over the past few weeks things do seem to have improved quite a bit - no bleeding for over a month,  normal bowel movements and the cramping has stopped. It isn't pleasant having to 'stick it out' but it is possible it takes a while for the body to adjust. If you already have IBS or are prone to digestion issues, it may well be the hormone imbalance/settling is making things worse. So my advice would be to get some checks to make sure that there isn't something else going on and if not, stick with the same regime for a while and see if things improve, or you might need to change HRT.... 

I understand your misery. I was so desperately wiped out at one point I was ready to give up on HRT altogether, or at least change to patches only to see if that would help.  I hope you find the right solution for you soon.

[DebbieJayne]

 Hi Lucy have you tried taking probiotics, they may help settle you bowel issues. Hope you get some relief soon. x