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[Sunnydays]

Hi, I'm a very unscientific person but in my pursuit of ideal hormone situation I looked up hormones during pregnancy and according to the Internet, very high estrogen in the first trimester which can make you feel sick but it also said progesterone is  very high during pregnancy. Usually it's the middle to the endish part  of pregnancy where you can feel good. I recall feeling, and looking, really good once the initial pregnancy sickness had worn off. So transferring this to hrt, why is it that progerstone is often the culprit of not feeling good when I had lots of it in my system during pregnancy and yet felt very well? See, daft question!

[CLKD]

How long is a piece of string  - no query is silly here 

[Briony]

Which progesterone did you take? I felt very different (better) on Utro than I did on other progesterone I had taken previously. Must be because it's more natural.  Think the sickness in pregnancy can be due to sudden fluctuations, rather than just high estrogen? Weirdly, I get it worst when my estrogen dips ! X

[Hurdity]

Hi Sunnydays

Not a daft question at all!

In pregnancy both oestrogen and progesterone are extremely high so in simplistic terms most of us feel good due to the oestrogen (glowing skin, shiny hair etc - blooming in fact!) but also very tired because of the progesterone. It is a unique situation to pregnancy - and there are other hormones sloshing about too which affect how we feel.

With HRT mostly the oestrogen dose we are given is the minimum to relieve symptoms and nowhere near either the high levels just before ovulation nor that of pregnancy. Added to that as Briony says the progestogens in HRT are often synthetic - which come with their own side effects. Many women on the second half of the HRT cycle also feel like they did during the second half of their normal menstrual cycle - ie not so good - to varying degrees. Also even the natural progesterone (Utrogestan) when taken orally, needs to be taken in a higher quantity initially than needed because it metabolises and breaks down - so this adds to the side effects.

I suspect that if we were able to have much higher levels of oestrogen, and all used natural progesterone instead of synthetics - many of us would feel much better - even if somewhat tired.

These are just my own thoughts and hope they are helpful! 

Hurdity x

[GypsyRoseLee]

I agree with you Hurdity.

It would be an interesting experiment to see how it would feel to be on separate oestrogen 200mg patch with just 7 days of Utro.

I suspect it would make me feel almost permanently slightly stoned, as this is how I used to feel during ovulation before peri menopause started, and even once or twice during peri. It was an amazing feeling but you feel so blissfully happy and relaxed that nothing ever gets done.

On the BCP when I'm getting the good days I feel unusually contented and fulfilled, and even get an inordinate amount of pleasure from doing very mundane tasks like folding laundry  I'm aware that this is an un-natural mental state, albeit rather lovely, and can only think that somehow my body is producing a surge of its own oestrogen coupled with the high dose of oestrogen from the BCP creates this enormous sense of happy well being.

But everything I ever been told by GPs, and read myself, tells me that the BCP very effectively stops my own ovaries doing anything at all, so they can't be creating a surge of my own hormones???

[Sunnydays]

Very good explanations thank you! Our hormones eh! On reflection I think I felt either felt very very good whilst pregnant or very very yukky! And I know of acquaintances who felt yuk all the time. Thank  you again for such full replies

Briony I have the one beginning with N that's in everol but changing to a different regime soon and will take Provera (I just can't remember blinking names of things!) on a long cycle   

[GypsyRoseLee]

When I finally saw a consultant they largely disregarded blood tests and diagnosed me on the back of 3 questions:

1. Had I suffered with PMS? (yes, God, yes)
2. How did I feel whilst pregnant? (really chilled and calm)
3. How did I feel after giving birth? (dreadful PND with crippling anxiety)

Apparently, my answers made me a prime candidate for peri menopausal mood swings and depression. So, there must be a connection between how you react to hormones during pregnancy and how you react during peri?