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[PollyH]

Hi all

I have just had to take another course of utrogestan last weekend and had a bleed for two and a half days. So estrogen only doesn't work for me so I'll have to come off Hrt. I change my patch on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings but I decided this morning to go down from my 50mcg patch to 25mcg with the view to changing again on Tuesday evening (so keeping the same days) I've had a terrible day my nerves are shattered - don't know whether I have done the right thing or should I have waited two weeks after my bleed cus I get the withdrawal from utrogestan after a bleed and feel anxious for about two weeks enough to put me off work. But this is worse- have already fallen out with my hubby. Omg this is so rubbish.

Any thoughts please.

PollyH
Xx

[Taz2]

Hi Polly - I'm not sure I understand your question - sorry. If you have taken Utrogestan then you are not on oestrogen only?

Taz x 

[Dancinggirl]

PollyH - If you could explain things a bit better then we can give you appropriate support on this. 
Do tell exactly how you are taking the oestrogen and Utrogestan? Did you take a full course of Utrogestan for 12 days ? If you are chopping and changing the amount of oestrogen you are using this will create fluctuations that will make you feel all over the place. It is very important to stick with a particular regime for at least 3 months (often 6 months) to be able to tell whether things are working.  If you find that you mood does a dip after you have finished the Utrogestan phase this is quite normal. It is unrealistic to expect to feel good all the time and if you are trying to control low mood and anxiety this is particularly difficult and won't be solved just with HRT - most of us need to adjust our lifestyle and practice some relaxation techniques e.g. Mindful Meditation alongside HRT to control problems with anxiety and low mood.
How old are you and are you still peri menopausal? If you are post meno then you may be able to move to continuous Utrogestan alongside the oestrogen which might help things.  DG x

[peegeetip]

Hi PollyH

you mentioned earlier that you'd tried femoston conti.

Unfortunately a lot of us find it too low on estrogen.
One way to get around this is to take 2 tablets per 24hrs.

Each tablet has enough Prog to counteract the Estrogen for the reduced time period.
You'd have to get a doc willing to let you try that though.

All your doing is taking it on a shorter time period and keeping your estrogen higher.

As for the bleeding continuously on Conti.
This is common for a lot of ladies. It can take upto 6 months to get used to Conti.

Hope that helps.
 

[PollyH]

Hi all

Thanks for the replies - sorry I didn't explain very well. My specialist said to try estrogen only because I am progestogen intolerant, but infortunately after about four weeks on estradot 50mcg patch I feel like I need a bleed so then I have to take utrogestan and its just too bad for me I end up being so Ill while taking it and for about two or three weeks after and end up off work. He is not keen on hysterectomy and I have tried everything else. So now I am trying AGAIN to come off Hrt. That's where my question comes in about when I should halve my patch. Should I wait till the utrogestan symptoms have gone?

Thanks
Pollyhxx

[Dancinggirl]

PollyH
I think one should stop all oestrogen if you are not planning to use any progesterone again - you need to stop using the patch now or your womb lining will build up and then you will need some progesterone to shed the lining. Slowly reducing the oestrogen won't necessarily make the withdrawal any easier. DG x
 

[Taz2]

I agree with Dancinggirl Polly. You  need to stop the oestrogen. I weaned myself off HRT both slowly and the next time I just stopped and it was the same each time.

Can I ask what symptoms do you get from the progesterone?

Taz x

[CLKD]

Lots of ladies find progesterone difficult to tolerate  .  How are you otherwise?

[Hurdity]

Hi PollyH

I'm a bit confused to be honest. If you are post-menopausal (are you?) then you shouldn't "feel like you need a bleed" after 4 weeks, because your hormones will be stable on oestrogen only, until you take the progesterone course.

If you are peri-menopausal - then the feeling like you need a bleed is due to your own hormones fluctuating and it would be better to be on cyclical HRT perhaps - although you will still get the usual pms feelings of needing a bleed! What exactly are the feelings? Pms is usually caused either by progesterone withdrawal (the physiological effects of this) just before a period, or a drop in oestrogen leading to low mood.

You said you took a course of progesterone - was this the full 12 days?

I sympathise with you plight if you are progesterone intolerant. Have you thought of a Mirena? Most of the progestogen is absorbed locally in the uterus where it acts to thin the lining and there is minimal systemic absorption.

As Taz and Dancinggirl have said - weaning off slowly does not affect the outcome of whether symptoms will return or not - if they are going to they will - but if you wean off slowly they will just come back a bit more slowly. In my case I stopped completely, suddenly for 3 months a few years ago, and a couple of years ago I also cut down from 50 mcg to 37.5 and both times symptoms came back!

Hurdity x

[PollyH]

Hi All

Thank you for replying.

Hi Hurdity - I am supposed to be post menopause - and yes I was trying to take cyclical hrt as I struggle with progestogen (utrogestan). i only managed to take three utrogestan last time but did have a bleed from last Thursday to Saturday. I still have the 25mcg patch on but yesterday I felt really bad again - period back pain. Foggy head terribly anxiety and moody -crying fits -  can't sleep and waking early and just feeling like I cant cope with anything. I think like you all say I just need to take the patch off but I'm so scared in case it gets worse.

Don't know what to do if it does get worse - maybe I shpuld try the femoston conti next to shut down the cycle completely - I'm so confused.

Thank you
PollyH
Xxxxx

[Hurdity]

Hi PollyH

Femoston conti won't shut down the cycle - only stop the artifical one created by HRT because it gives continuous doses of both hormones. However it is only appropriate if you are definitely post-menopausal.

If you are feeling as though you are having a cycle while on oestrogen only then maybe you are not post-menopausal? As I explained, if you are post-menopausal then you don't have a cycle at all. If you take sequential HRT then you will feel stable on oestrogen only, then you will feel different when you take the progesterone and when you come off it.

If you are feeling like that with the 25 mcg patch on then it is likely due to low oestrogen - unless as I said you are still peri-menopausal and your own homrones are making you feel like this. Either way 25 mcg is too low I would have thought at your stage - it was never enough for me!

However if you are so progesterone intolerant then perhaps you will have to compromise on a lower oestrogen dose to minimse the amount of progesterone you take? if you are prog intolerant then it's unlikely that Femoston will help - have you tried other HRT types?

As I said in my last post below, have you thought of a Mirena?