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[Rhiner]

Its interesting to see that there are other ladies trying the alternate day dosing regime and great that we can share how its working. I am taking it orally at the moment.

I get a bit of a headache (not enough for painkillers) about once a week at the moment, which I am sure would be much worse if I took the Utro on a daily basis, (as suffered terribly with headache on conti femoston, with the synthetic prog).  Im hoping this eventually settles.

The beauty of using patches is that you can cut bits off to find the in-between dose that suits, this is what I did before settling on the 75ug.

Matildamouse - Im sure someone more knowledgable on the effects of too much oestrogen will be commenting soon, although painful boobs may be too much oestrogen, although with the prog I can feel a bit of heaviness there, that wasn't a problem when i was just taking the oestrogen.
Rhiner

[matildamouse]

Thanks again ladies.

Sonia interesting that 6mcg can make such a difference. I am definitely going to cut off a bit of the 50mcg to see how I go.

[soniad]

Yeah  - it really did Matilda! No more sore boobs.

Good luck:)

[SusieJ]

Hello All

Thanks so much for all your warmth and support as always. This is such a lovely space!

Hurdity: yes, I'm taking 1mg oestrogen orally. For various reasons I didn't want to take it via a patch even though this was recommended by the doctor. I may change my mind eventually... And I know lots of women try to squish their utrogestan intake into a smaller time period as at least it reduces the amount of time that people feel rotten! I tried this for a while too but I couldn't cope with the daily dose as I got so exhausted and zonked I simply couldn't function. At one point I couldn't even get to the end of a sentence without forgetting what I had started to say. It just seemed I was right at the outlying end of the spectrum in terms of how long it takes to metabolise the drug, and taking it every day was leading to a build up in my system. After 18 months of alternate day dosing though it looks like my body is getting used to it, and I'm now gradually trying to add in an extra dose every now and then.

So, for now this is all good - fingers crossed... The only problem on the horizon is that GPs in Scotland (where I live) are starting to be told they can't prescribe utrogestan as it is more expensive than 'normal' HRT. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem? I'm ready for a fight though!

Good luck everyone. And thank you again for your kindness - it has really helped me when everything felt so hopeless.

xx Susie

[juliemargaret]

Hi susie...found your messages and had hope! Im new to hrt...11.days in.....2 pumps.of estrogel.daily.and 100mg of utrogestan vaginally and on alternate days and on the instrcution of meno doc
 I was confused at first as im.peri meno...im.48 nearly...hadnt had a proper period for 6 weeks prior to starting hrt...so wondered why she hadnt said to take cyclical.....so messahed her and asked again in case she got mixed up and thouhht i was post and she said no....alls ok keep taking..and dont worry.its early days! So i thought id stick with that...
 Day 6.utro i had a 3 day bleed....cramp..headache...doc told me this may happen so i let it pass. The last 3 days though woke with a headaxhe which is now a migraine......and been feeling oh so tired and foggy. Not sure whay to do as feel disheartened and querying if i should have even started ...and thay i should have continued trying the natural route! I want my mojo back! Energy! Vitality! Then i saw yoire old post and it gave me a little hope! Do i need to just be patient and let ny body settle....will the migraine and tiredness lift?! Did you suffer anything similar to begin with and before you began to feel amazing?

I do hope you get this message....as yoire post has been the one ive been hoping to find...as so many have asked why im.on alternate days when still peri and its had me worrying ! The doc is a well reknown and respected meno doc so i know she knows why and what!

Would love to hear back from.you!!

JM

[juliemargaret]

Hi birdy..i know...i.thought id chance it!!

Oh well...the wondering and hoping continues haha x

[Furyan]

Hello All

I haven't been on here for a while as I've been doing so well on an alternate day dosing of Utrogestan. I promised to check back in after I saw the specialist for my annual review, which was yesterday, so here I am.

So. For the last 18 months I've been taking utrogestan every other day. This was because I was getting so exhausted on daily dosing that we thought I was just taking a long time to metabolise the drug and spacing it out would help. And it has! I feel absolutely fantastic - not tired, no bloating, no problems with mood. However because this is an unlicensed dose I need to go back for annual scans. So I had my first scan in 18 months yesterday.

The great news is that the scan shows that the alternate day dosing is doing its job at the moment. The endometrium lining is very thin, and I'm not having any bleeds (I initially had a few days bleed around every 10 weeks but that's stopped).  So I know this works for me - but I am taking a very low dose of oestrogen (1mg) so I probably can get away with a lower dose of progesterone than many, and everyone is different in any case.

However, even though all is great and I feel great, the specialist would still ideally like me to up my dose to get to a full dose by this time next year. This is because in general utrogestan is a little weaker (i.e. less protective of the womb lining) than the synthetic progestins, and so taking less than the licenced dose is particularly risky. Of course there is the issue that because utrogestan is relatively new there aren't yet different licenced doses for people taking different amounts of oestrogen (like there are in the synthetic progestins). So the licenced dose assumes a 2mg oestrogen dose rather than the 1mg I'm taking. But all the same, the advice is ideally to do what is on the label. I've found over the last 18 months that I've got increasingly used to the utrogestan: to start with, a dose every other day was making me feel tired but now I don't even think about it. So I'm going to start building up the dose very very slowly and hope that by this time next year I'll be on something that is nearer to standard. However, if the side effects return I'll go back to the alternate day dosing and just keep it all under very close review.

Again - this is me and how my body works: it may be different for everyone else and it may change for me in the future. But for now, this has been a great solution and I feel like I've got my life and my self back!

xx Susie

Hi SusieJ - I don’t know if you’re still around after all this time but I just read this thread with interest. I’m currently trying to work out which element of my HRT regime is responsible for the bloating and fluid retention. I’m on a low dose patch by cutting Evorel 25 in half and taking utrogestan every three days vaginally. Trying to find different and acceptable ways of taking the latter to see of it will ease the side effects. Couple years on - how is/did the alternate oral utrogestan go? How is symptom control including uterine health?

Don’t know if I should have started a thread for this, as still trying to find my way around MM… x