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[Chi chi]

since being on HRT my periods have been much heavier and longer than they were on the BCP, why is this? Is it normal?
I never used to get any kind of PMT and was as regular as clockwork, even down to the hour. I've always been on some kind of BCP since the age of 16 so I have no real idea of what my cycles are like without? I came off Cerazette 6 weeks before starting HRT and had the first bleed on the exact day I started it.
Are my cycles more likely to be like my natural one on HRT?

[Briony]

Hi Estelle

I am no expert on this, but from what I understand, the BCP actrually 'takes over' your own hormones whereas HRT simply tops up your own hormones. If you are in peri, this means you can sometimes end up with 'spikes' in your levels  this is why I switched to the BCP. On HRT, your own hormones are leading the cycle. I have read that to suppress ovulation  you'd need a 200mcg HRT patch, so basically, the pill is a lot stronger and more controlling.

[Chi chi]

Thanks Briony, so in effect our periods/cycles are more like our 'natural' ones while  on  HRT? Could that explain why some women start to get PMT and heavier periods when they go onto HRT when they never had it on the BCP?
I'm just wondering if 'naturally' ( not on the BCP ) my periods would have been like they are now (heavier and longer) and would I have had PMT?

Or am I getting it all wrong? 

[Briony]

Generally, yes. The BCP stops ovulation which HRT doesn't. As HRT still lets you have a natural cycle, in peri when you are more likely to have fluctuations, you're therefore more likely to get the effects of sudden fluctuations - altered bleeding patterns, worse PMS etc. The joys of being a woman! x

[Hurdity]

Hi Estelle

As Cezarette is not a CCP but a POP, it is taken all the time and in many women stops periods. From what I read this morning it does prevent ovulation as well as thinning the womb lining. As I said on another thread you would not be producing as much oestrogen as you would in a normal cycle if it supresses ovulation (I think) because the follicles would not mature. I'm not quite sure about this though....

You would have been taking progestogen all the time so provided you could tolerate it ( presumably you could if you were on it for years) then you would get no pmt from the progesterone withdrawal, but you might suffer from the oestrogen dip if you still had periods?

So your periods on the POP would be nothing at all like your natural periods. Even on the CCP, periods I understand are reduced and this is because they too have a high dose of progestogen (which therefore keeps the lining thinner than otherwise).

When I used the CCP it actually made my moods worse and I didn't get on with it at all ( in my 20's) - but I can see it can regulate them during peri because as Briony says you don't get the extreme fluctuations.

Not sure if I'm talking any sense at all!

Hurdity x