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[Badga]

Hi guys
I am on my second 26 days on 3 days off cycle and have terrible aching all over my body - muscles, tendons and joints, worse in my legs. I have read conflicting info on the web regarding the cause being progesterone levels being too or too high. 

Any clues anyone?

[meno lesley]

I am on 100mg of utrogestan 25 days out of 28 and have had awful muscle and joint pain. Have realised that the 3 days I don't take it I am better. Have tried to reduce estrogen in order to come off hrt but this has caused all the other symptoms to come back. Am all of a muddle really as to what to do. My worst pain has been in my feet x

[oldsheep]

Did you have this the first month you took it? I had stomach upset and felt yuk on 200mg but not 100mg, which I take every night. I'm hoping I don't have to take 200 again.
I have long term fibromyalgia and do have some worse muscle pains in my legs than I used to, plus some odd sensory symptoms and up until now I hadn't attributed it to the progesterone, but it could be.
hard to know what to do if you need to be on HRT (I definitely do) as it seems the 'gentlest' of the progesterones.

[meno lesley]

I did have it straight away but couldn't work out if it was the estrogel or not. Have tried several hrt and the gel has been the best for emotional and sweats. I do find it gives me indigestion but perhaps that would've happened anyway.

Do find it hard to cope with the pain, but not sure what the answer is. Like you I need hrt and haven't got a very helpful doctor to ask for advice from.

Lesley x

[Hurdity]

Hi Badga

Do you mean you are feeling like this as soon as you start the progesterone and are experienceing this all the time?

Have you had any time when you've been on oestrogen only and have you felt differently then - ie not aching?

Maybe you are progesterone intolerant in which case you would be better off on a cycle?

Hurdity x

[Badga]

I am on long-term stomach meds (domperidone and a proton pump inhibitor) so that helps with the gut problems. But oh, painful legs and feet - which sometimes 'burn'.  Plus I get awful fluid retention with it (boobs and legs)  On the last 3-days off, I weed for England and felt much better not being on the awful prog.

I am at clinic end Sept and am going to ask about a Mirena (not sure if that is spelled correctly) coil which delivers prog straight into the uterus without all the awful systemic symptoms.

Glad I am not alone in this though. 

Don't want to come off the HRT though as the 20 plus flushes a day (which kept me awake all night), were unbearable.

[Badga]

Hi Huridity

Yup - I suspect that I am indeed progesterone intolerent - leg and boob swelling, fybromyalgia (have had this in my younger years when I was treated with amitriptyline).

[Badga]

Morning all

I am now on day three of no prog. I stopped at day 22 as I couldn't tolerate going to day 26.

Interesting that my gut is a lot better, I have 'deflated', and the fibromyalgia has gone?

Badga 

[Cassie]

Badga maybe try going onto it for few days but then you will get a bleed and have you tried using it PV it helps for the bloating etc.

[Taz2]

I have the same with progesterone Badga. I am off HRT at the moment (not for long though as the hot sweats are driving me back to it). I have lost 6lbs in three weeks and my fingers are no longer bloated. Aches and pains have gone too. I also suffer heartburn and stomach pain while on the progesterone phase. It's interesting that you get these systems from Utrogestan as I thought it may have been kinder for you. I haven't tried it because of the high soya content and soya doesn't agree with me at all.

I would just like to mention that a work colleague had her mirena removed because it gave her all of the above symptoms so I'm not sure that it is correct that you wouldn't also get them?

Taz

[Rowan]

Taz your post is very interesting, especially about the aches and pains going, I wonder if it is the progesterone of estrodiol or both that cause the aches and pains, I have noticed that when I put my estrogen patch on I have more aches, and I did some digging and did not like what I found.

There is lots on estrogen helping osteoarthritis, and there is lots on estrogen making it worse

http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=1560

http://jrheum.com/subscribers/04/70/6.html

Hope I have interpreted the findings correctly, I might not have done.

It seems also that the higher the density of your bones, the more likely you are to suffer from arthritis something to do with growth factors.

[Badga]

A well known side effect of prog is fibromyalgia. There is no link with bone density and arthritis. Arthritis has different symptoms and cause than fibromyalgia and should be treated by a specialist.  It may be that HRT aggregates arthritis, but I am not familiar with the literature surrounding this.

As for using Utrogestan PV, I believe that the administration is via a pessary, rather than the oral gel caps I am prescribed.

Has anyone on here used the oral formulation trans-vaginally?

Good to hear experiences of Mirena coil.

Glad to be rid of my 'sausage feet' 

[Taz2]

I must admit that I haven't really researched it but I was quite worried by the painful fingers especially as my dad had osteo and then rheumatoid arthritis which meant he spent the last couple of years of his life in a wheelchair. I have had blood tests of course but I didn't really link in the painful joints with the HRT until fairly recently.

I have always assumed that it was the progesterone which made me feel like this because, on a sequi HRT, the pains are always worse during the second half but maybe it is both the estrogen and the progesterone having some effect. I feel horrible on a conti HRT.

Thanks for the link SL - it is extremely interesting.

I have had fibromyalgia for many years so, with me, there doesn't seem to be a progesterone link for that particular problem.

Taz x 

[Taz2]

The fibromyalgia link with progesterone is caused by a deficiency of progesterone apparently or estrogen dominance so does this mean that the aches and pains may be because the balance is wrong between the two?

Taz x

[Rowan]

Badga there is evidence to the contrary   http://www.orthop.washington.edu/?q=patient-care/osteoarthritis.html

I wish there wasn't.