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Utrogestan used vaginally

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Gig:
I am still confused- sorry :)

From what you say I've been doing it wrongly for 4 years and hae in fact beenhaving 10 week not 12 week cycles.

If you take your progestins every 8 weeks then you are not having a bleed at 8 weeks- you are having a bleed at 10 weeks- allowing for  the 12 days taking your progestin plus the downtime waiting for the bleed to start.

I thought my dr had told me to have a bleed every 12 weeks- which is why I took progestins 14 days before that.


I thought the bleed was the whole point- to shed the lining.  And i thought I was supposed to be shedding mine every 8th week. Just like on a 12 week cycle I was shedding it at end of week 12. NOT opposing the oestrogen at 8 or 12 weeks- but ensuring I had a bleed then.

Sorry if this makes me sound dim- but I was as far as I know following my dr's instructions. I am pretty sure he's said "Now you are having a bleed every 12 weeks?"


Put it another way- if I was taking progestins on 1 Jan, then the next lot would be 1 march, ( or 1 April if it was 3 monthly.)
I have been told by dr that it doesn't have to be precise but I am SURE he said have a bleed every 12 weeks which you can't do unless you start the progstins before the 12th week.

Aaaaaargh! have I really been having 10 week cycles for 4 years- not 12 week ones?

This cycle then is too early- it's only 7 weeks since the last time I took Noreths. 

Are you saying Hurdity that I could take 30mgs Noreths. say compared to someone taking 10 days@ 1 mg for one month, 20mgs for a 2 monthly cycle and 30mgs for 3 monthly cycle?  That would be 6 days x 5 mgs or more days @ 2.5 mgs.

What I don't know- and please say if you can!- is whether there is a direct correlation between days on unopposed oestrogen and amount of progestins needed.  we are assuming that's the case but it may be more complicated. 

Cassie:
Well over thanks SJ, went over prematurely :(

Hurdity:
Oh dear..... seem to have got in a muddle here - sorry if I am not explaining very well.

In a natural cycle the cycle length is the length between day 1 of the bleeds - but in an artificial cycle created by HRT the cycle length is counted as the total length of O and O+P irrespective of when the bleeding starts, so you are giving your body the same dose of each hormone each cycle. This is because some women start to bleed before they withdraw from the prog but you don't start counting any differently ie with HRT you don't change Day 1 of the cycle depending on when you bleed. Day one of a peri or cyclical HRT is the first day of the oestro only tabs or patch. That's all there is to it. If you start you prog on the 1st of the month then your two monthly cycle (ie just over 8 weeks) starts the 1st of the following two months. eg 1st Jan, 1st March, 1st May etc. In a 3 month cycle it would be 1st Jan, 1st April. It's very straighforward. You have made it a little more complicated by varying the number of days you take the prog for - as I said before 7 days in 3 months is not very long at all.

When I said forget about the bleed - I meant don't count from the bleed because it could vary in start time and length - although I think probably less so for vag prog as it doesn't go through the system. You will still be having a bleed every 12 weeks or 8 weeks. We are arguing about nothing - just a different way of looking at it or counting. The only reason I need to count is to remember when to start the prog (for me approx 9th of every alt month) - I don't worry about anything else. If you are going from a 3 month to a 2 month cycle, then count 2 months (or 8 weeks from the first day you started the prog last time) and start the next course.

I don't have time at the mo' to look into prog doses but all I will say is it is approx dose dependent but as always HRT is not precise. The amount prescribed for 1 month will be probably to cover a range of individual scenarios, and will have a big margin of error to ensure most women shed all lining for a range of oestrogen doses. If you look at the HRT preparations though often the prog dose is doubled for double the oestrogen - but for utro the oestro dose is not given - but again I imagine it must err on the side of caution which is why many women ( under the care of a specialist) are able to get away with lower utro doses than given.

I do hope that's clearer but do pm me if not cos I don't know what else I can say! I really think we are just counting differently!

Hurdity x

Gig:
Yep- I do get it!

The reason i was confused is because I was counting cycles as if they were normal pre-meno cycles ( ie 14 days oestrogen then 14 days progest and a bleed on day 28)- so i was juggling the progestins to give a bleed at the end of every 12 weeks ( or 8 now.)

I have maybe over-egged the idea that I was only taking 7 days of progestins every 12 weeks.  Most of the time I was managing 9 or 10- some occasions I stopped at 7-8 if my bladder was really irritated.

And now from our chat I can see that i was in fact having 10 week cycles- by your calculations- not 12 week ones. so I was having at least 35mgs Noreths. every 10 weeks.

I know my dr did tell me that some women started the progestin on the 1st day of each month but he then went on to say it wasn't critical- which is why I;ve ended up confused!

Once I have had this bleed I will go back to taking every 8 weeks. I will also ask my dr if i can reduce the amount- such as 2mgs over 10 days not 5mgs over 10 days.

Does this sound about right?

Clovie:
This has been very intersting reading for me, ladies,

and Stellajane I do hope you get a dosage that suits you! :)

I asked my GP last week for Utrogestan after having the most AWFUL PMS-type reaction on the synthetic progesterone I was taking - and she had never heard of it!!!!  :'(

I too, would like to try Utrogestan vaginally (to hopefully avoid systemic absorption of progesterone as it would appear i am clearly prog intolerant) so am having to wait for a referral to see a gynae.
If the appt is not forthcoming quite soon I will ask to see someone privately.

Very interesting reading, as I said above, so thank you.  :)

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