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[Anglichanka]

hello again. So, 6 weeks in on estradot & utrogestan. I know that's not enough and I should give it a good three months. Also, my appointment at the menopause clinic is coming up in two weeks. But even so, I've a couple of questions. My 37 microgram patch seems to run out after two days, though I'm supposed to change it twice weekly. By "run out" I mean that I get two days of feeling me again: able to do things, positive, happy. Then on the third day, like today, my mood suddenly sinks to alarming levels. I don't want to go out, interact, talk, anything. I feel profoundly sad and weepy. It's not anxiety or life-related, I can tell the difference between that and this: this is definitely biological. I can never get hold of my GP because my sleep patterns are so crazy: it's so hard to get to sleep and I'm totally dopey in the morning, so I never get round to calling her before 11am, which I'm supposed to do. So I'm thinking of adjusting the dose myself and changing the patch every third day. Any thoughts? Also, I did my first 15 days of Utrogestan, 200mg a day, and have had no bleed. Is that normal?

[Lizab]

I could have written this post. In fact, I did write this post a few weeks ago. Let me see if it I can link it.
http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,30801.msg488839.html#msg488839

It did level out and felt more even, but I still had to increase my dose to .50 after 3 months.

[Dancinggirl]

Anglichanka - you either need to have a higher dose patch or, better still, switch to using Oestrogel which you apply each day and this ensures a consistent dose. DG x

[Lizab]

Changing the patch early won't help. It's designed to give an even dose throughout.  But if you search online, and it may even be in the package insert, you can see graphs of the hormone levels from the patch over three and a half days, and I believe there's a little spike about 12 hours into a new patch. So changing more frequently might actually amplify the ups and downs as you'll be getting that spike more often but you won't be getting more estrogen overall from it. Based on my own personal experience with it, I think you should request a small increase. It did level out for me with the smaller dose, but not in a good way. I still had swings, but the two day pattern went away. It became totally unpredictable and I generally felt not so great most of the time, with the occasional really low dip. I'm two and a half weeks into the higher dose and starting to feel real improvement now.

[Anglichanka]

thanks both. I won't change the patch more frequently but I'm now trying a patch and a half, which comes to about 50, until I can talk to my GP. So far, no change in weepy panicky depressed mood, but fingers crossed.