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[Noodle]

Hiya - first of all, I'd just like to say thanks to you all for the many informative posts on this board, you've all helped me so much over the last few years.

I am very nearly 54 and have been post-menopausal for at least 2 years.  Hard to say exactly as before that I was on Cerazette POP (desogestrel) from 2008, which stopped my periods - deep joy.  Prior to that they were getting closer together and heavier.  My only meno symptom at that time was VA for which I tried Vagifem which was bad for me followed by Estring, which was fab but apparently you can only use it for 2 years continuously.

As soon as I stopped the Cerazette, the hot flushes and night sweats kicked in big time.  I soldiered on for 2 years thinking they may stop soon, but no luck, and besides I wasn't allowed the Estring any more for the VA.

So I asked the doctor for HRT.  I had to do a week's blood pressure readings to prove that my BP medication was working well enough - it was.  I explained my mum had died from a stroke and that I thought I would feel safer on a patch.

After the week's wait, I picked up my prescription - which was for tablets - Elleste Duet Conti.   In the past, on another POP I suffered terrible depression, but I can't remember what it was called.  I've been on this for 6 weeks now.  The flushes and night sweats vanished after about a week, a variety of side effects dissipated after about 4 weeks, the VA is responding well and at this point, no signs of depression.  However at 6 weeks I am still left with very sore breasts and my digestive system is still very upset.

So, questions........
Do you think my remaining side effects will go?
Why do you think she chose Elleste Duet Conti first as I think it is quite high strength?

Sorry for length of post and thank you for reading 

[Dorothy]

Hello &    I can't offer any advice on your HRT as no experience of that type, but there are lots of very knowledgeable ladies here and I'm sure someone will be along to help soon!  Glad you've found MM helpful over the past years - hope it continues to help in the future.

[Dancinggirl]

Hi and welcome to MM Dorothy
It's still early days.  As you are post meno and you probably started from a very low base line for hormone levels, it will take time for your body to fully adjust and welcome the hormones so the sore breasts should settle - my gynae describes this as the body waking up as it welcomes the oestrogen.
The doctors were actually wrong about the Estring - it is now accepted that many women need to use local eostrogen for life if VA is a problem!!!! There are 2 strengths of Elleste so if you are worried you could reduce to the lower dose - I'd wait and see how things are over the next couple of months first. Have a look at the different HRT preparations at the top of the page under TREATMENTS to get clued up.  DG x

[Daintydish]

Hi Noodle,
I've just turned 53 and I was on Elleste Duet 1mg for a year & a half, came off it in September following gp advice, risk of heart disease (I'm diabetic), breast cancer etc. I was great to begin with, not had a period since September, fantastic!! But then at Christmas I felt like my world was crumbling, I couldn't stop crying and felt so desolate. I didn't link it to the menopause at all until the mid/end of January when I got the exact same feelings all over again only this time I had the most horrendous night sweats (I've had night "head" sweats for 12 + years), couldn't sleep, had no interest in anything, terrible anxiety, palpitations and panic attacks. I really couldn't see a way through it. I went back to my gp and have now gone back on Elleste Duet 1mg, we both felt this was a better option than anti depressents. The night sweats stopped within a few days, the anxiety is still there but not quite as bad on a day to day basis, however, we should have gone to a family meal tonight, son's gf's 21st... I woke up at 2.30am in a panic at the thought of being around so many people, I couldn't go. Now I feel awful for letting her down but I know I would have felt worse if I'd gone and had a panic attack. It's about 4 weeks since my last emotional breakdown and although the feelings are back they are not nearly as bad, I do feel like I'm coping better this month. I've been back on hrt for 3 weeks now and am expecting monthly bleeds again, but I think that's a small price to pay if I regain my sanity and my life. My gp did say there is a type of hrt we can take where we don't have a bleed but I'm a year too young for it... roll on next February when I'm 54!
 

[Dancinggirl]

Oh Daintydish  - the meno does throw some nasty symptoms at us.  What a shame you were advised to come off HRT so young in the first place!!!!
If you want to be more on a more even keel and you have found the elleste has suited you then I think you may do well with a Mirena  - this delivers progesterone more locally so less gets into the whole body so usually means fewer side effects!!!! You would then use oestrogen separately as either pill, gel or patch.  With the Mirena in place you would probably find you had no bleeding at all after the first few weeks - the Mirena protects you womb lining from building up and you can then use as little or as much oestrogen as you need to control all your meno symptoms.  You can have the Mirena in peri and post meno.  Do look under TREATMENTS at the top of this page to find the info.
I would recommend using Oestrogel for the oestrogen as you can adjust the dosage to your needs more easily - many women do love using the patches though - it's trial and error. DG x

[Hurdity]

Hi Noodle

  from me too!

As Dancinggirl says - you can use local oestrogen (of which Estring is one type) indefinitely according to the gynaes and on here:
Low dose vaginal estrogen preparations can be used long term without causing any known systemic effect, and without needing any progestogenic protection of the lining of the womb.
http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/dryness.php

If you have digestive problems using oral HRT then transdermal method is preferred. Therefore you could try Evorel conti whuich has the same progestogen in it as Elleste Duet that you are on. Not sure about the equivalence but the patch is a medium dose HRT. If you don't want to be on such a high dose then this one (the patch) might just do the trick - but it depends on how much of the tablet you were absorbing anyway. If you have digestive problems less of the oestrogen gets into your system.

Hurdity x

[Hurdity]

Hi Daintydish

 

Why don't you start a new post in the new members section so more of us can welcome and answer you better, otherwise we are sort of leap-frogging replies to two of you at once, and your post might get missed!

Hurdity x

[Noodle]

Hi again Ladies - thank you for the replies.

I was thinking about stopping these pills or at least only taking them every other day, but I will carry on for the full 3 months.

A week later than original post and remaining side effects have not improved.  I lurch from constipation to the other (always had difficulties spelling that word!) and I don't think it is possible for my boobs to get any more painful. 

Do you think the sore boobs are due to the extra estrogen or progesterone?  When I had periods my boobs always felt like this for the week before, which would suggest the progesterone in that situation was the culprit, wouldn't it?

I'm definitely going to request a patch version though on my return GP visit.

Daintydish - hope you are feeling better,

Noodle.  x

[Dancinggirl]

My gynae describes the tender breasts and many other early side effects, when starting any HRT, as the body welcoming and adjusting to the hormones and many of these effects should settle over 3-6 months.  If however they are really nuisance then do try a different type of HRT. DG x

[Suzi Q]

Hiya - first of all, I'd just like to say thanks to you all for the many informative posts on this board, you've all helped me so much over the last few years.

I am very nearly 54 and have been post-menopausal for at least 2 years.  Hard to say exactly as before that I was on Cerazette POP (desogestrel) from 2008, which stopped my periods - deep joy.  Prior to that they were getting closer together and heavier.  My only meno symptom at that time was VA for which I tried Vagifem which was bad for me followed by Estring, which was fab but apparently you can only use it for 2 years continuously.

As soon as I stopped the Cerazette, the hot flushes and night sweats kicked in big time.  I soldiered on for 2 years thinking they may stop soon, but no luck, and besides I wasn't allowed the Estring any more for the VA.

So I asked the doctor for HRT.  I had to do a week's blood pressure readings to prove that my BP medication was working well enough - it was.  I explained my mum had died from a stroke and that I thought I would feel safer on a patch.

After the week's wait, I picked up my prescription - which was for tablets - Elleste Duet Conti.   In the past, on another POP I suffered terrible depression, but I can't remember what it was called.  I've been on this for 6 weeks now.  The flushes and night sweats vanished after about a week, a variety of side effects dissipated after about 4 weeks, the VA is responding well and at this point, no signs of depression.  However at 6 weeks I am still left with very sore breasts and my digestive system is still very upset.

So, questions........
Do you think my remaining side effects will go?
Why do you think she chose Elleste Duet Conti first as I think it is quite high strength?

Sorry for length of post and thank you for reading 

Hi
sorry I cant help I didnt take HRT my MUm had had 3 strokes and 4 heart attacks by 54
My GP said giving me Cyanide would be safer hehehehe
Look theres loads on here that can help chin up xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Noodle]

Thought I'd give a quick update.  Did nearly 3 months on the evorel conti.  Boobs still very painful, digestive system still upset and mood swings and depression in the past few weeks have also joined the list (suspect Norethisterone for this one).

Saw a fab new GP yesterday who gave me the new HRT recipe I asked for, praised me for coming on MM to educate myself about the different combos and thanked me for doing all the hard work for her.  How good is that!

Anyway..... I've swapped to Femoston Conti.  I wanted to avoid Norethisterone completely, so that was one patch not avaiable to me.  The other one has a different prog but that is also testosterone derived so was wary of that too wrt to mood swings and depression. I've always been uneasy about the first doctor starting me on a quite high dose recipe - hence my choice of Femoston which has half the estrogen and a non-tesosterone derived prog.

In the past I've had experience of a prog (desogestrel) having a beneficial impact on my digestive system, so maybe this one will too.  Cross your fingers for me girls!

[Hurdity]

Thanks for the update Noodle and great that your GP is so sympathetic - that's such good news as we do hear quite a lot of negative stories.

Good luck with your new combo and let us know how you get on

Hurdity x

[Noodle]

Evening Ladies, thought I'd update you on month one of Femoston.

Overall - doing great!

Iniitially, after three days on it I had THE most horrendous digestive bloating for a few days. I had to take two days off from work it was that bad - rolling around in agony - but it passed.  Then the breast pain diminished very considerably.  At the moment I either have no pain or only mild, completely bearable, discomfort.

My digestive system has settled a lot - no more constipation, but still too many days too much the other way - so we'll have to see how that goes.

No signs of depression, in fact, feel very bouyant and light, so I'm hopeful that won't be an issue on this progesterone.

I didn't mention it before but since starting HRT at the beginning of Jan, I had returned to weight watchers to lose the extra stone or so I had accumulated.  Over the 3 months on Elleste Continue I had struggled to lose a measly 5 pounds, despite being  a very good girl.  I nearly gave up but instead, gritted my teeth and carried on.  After 3 weeks on Femoston, a further 5 pounds disappeared, putting me a lot closer to where I thought I should be for all my efforts!

The only negatives to report so far is that  I've had the occasional flush (very occasional) and occasional night sweat (very occasional and singular)- so perfectly managable.  Also, the improvement in my VA went backwards.  However, whilst clearing out a cupboard, I found a forgotten, unopened, Estring. Popped that little beauty in and we've had happy days (after a short delay) ever since.  Even had fantastic sex, for the first time in more than about 9 months.  Everything was there - desire, response and orgasm - with no lube required.  Think it's more like 2 years since that happened.  The Man is still looking smug nearly a week later.

So apologies to a long post but at the moment (fingers crossed it continues) I'm one happy lady.

Noodle.

[Kathleen]

Hello Noodle.

I've just noticed this thread and wanted to thank you for your updates.

I'm still struggling with many of the symptoms you've described and I'm thinking of changing my Evorel Conti 50 mcg patch and trying a different HRT.

Can I ask what strength Femosten you are using?

Hopefully your other issues will settle after this first month and thanks once again for being so informative.

Take care.

K.

[Noodle]

Hi Kathleen, very glad to share as that is what this board is all about and how I learned so much before becoming a member.

I'm on Femoston Continue which only comes in one strength, 1mg esradiod  with 5 of the progestogen which in this case is desogestrel.  The sequi version however comes in 2 strengths 1/10 and 2/10 - dunno why they don't do a double strength conti.

I too hope the rest of my symptoms settle soon, thanks for your interest.

How long have you been on Evorel conti?  The ladies in the know on here say you should always give a particular blend 3 months (if you can).

Noodle