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[Redcat]

Hi, I am a new member (well I joined last year but just came back as hadn't posted!)

I have just turned 50 and was starting to feel really bad with peri symptoms.  I was having irregular periods (too often!) and feeling shattered, anxious, having trouble sleeping some of the time, just finding life really an uphill struggle and feeling past it & miserable.

I've just started Elleste Duet (second day) and so far I feel ok except slept really badly last night, just felt very restless and twitchy.  Had a few palpitations when I woke.  I used to get them after drinking.  But felt ok in the day and haven't noticed any negative mood swings.  (I was feeling a bit down earlier in the week).   I could swear my skin is looking healthier and that I have more of a buzz in energy.

Just wanted to say hello and was also wondering if anyone else has been on these and found they helped.  The doctor said that these are the most natural form of Oestrogen and the combination is best for me as I am still having periods.   I'm really hoping they will work out as I felt so bad before. 

[MicheleMaBelle]

Hi Redcat- welcome. You'll need to give them some time to work- might be an idea to keep a diary of how you're feeling on them but you might be lucky and they work for you ( didn't for me due to type of progesterone in them ). If you're still having symptoms after a couple of months, go back to your GP and ask her to look at alternatives ( see HRT section on site ) I didn't and have spent 16 months dealing with GPS who aren't clued up so you may have to be firm about this if you don't feel they're working or you've side effects that you're not happy about. Good luck. I'll keep my fingers and legs crossed for you x

[Redcat]

Thanks Michele  My GP is really nice and helpful so I think she will be happy to try alternatives.  But I am really hoping this will work out. I hope you are getting there too with your GP.  It's so difficult if you have one that doesn't understand your needs.

[Hurdity]

Hi Redcat

 

I didn't take tablets but from the start used patches and still do 10 years down the line! Hope the HRT continues to work for you

Hurdity x

[samweller161]

Hi there Redcat

I take Elleste Duet (tablets) and they have been ok for me - I started off on 1mg but about 2 years later I began to get some night sweats back so upped to 2mg.  I sometimes still get a night sweat during the few days that I have a bleed but not much else and hardly anything during the day.  I have just started my 3rd month of the 2mg and I believe you need to give them 3 months to have a precise idea as to whether they are working well.  The good news is that there are other options if these don't suit you.  I originally had Premique but these made my boobs feel like lead!  Sooooooo painful 

Am also 50 so nice to meet a fellow traveller

SP x

[CLKD]

 

[Redcat]

Thanks all  after a few days of ups and downs today I felt quite good for a change.  For some reason I felt exhausted on Saturday and not so great yesterday.  I felt like I was post menopause, with aches and pains and hot flushes.  But today I feel normal, if not better than before.  I've decided to take the tablets in the evening and I've also reduced my ranitidine (for GERD) to one tablet at night as I'm not sure if it's not those meds that were making me feel so strange.   

So my skin is back to glowing today and my mood feels almost normal, compared with the irritability and agitation I've felt of late.  I felt almost ok going to the supermarket - recently sometimes it feels overwhelming to have all those people with shopping trollies going in every direction and so annoying when someone is standing next to me choosing something because I can't think straight about what I want (I know this sounds crazy to be so irritated by small things!).   I used to love grocery shopping and now it's like an assault course.  But tonight it was not too bad. 

I can even smell again, which I've noticed some others lose.  I really miss not smelling things.   The sense of smell comes and goes with me, but when it's there I feel young again! 

Hope you have all had a good first day of Spring! 

[MicheleMaBelle]

Good to hear redcat. Know what you mean about the supermarket. I just want to thump people though!
I never get everything that I go for- even if I have a list ( on the assumption that I don't forget to take it with me ) and it does all get too overwhelming. Maybe I should shop online but I'm not keen on that for food shopping. Do get most of my clothes online now though- can't bear the crowds in the shops and the noise. And my inability to get clothes off and on without a terrific faff. And the mirrors.and I've forgotten my purse and all I wanted was a restorative cup of coffee and scone in M&S coffee and I start crying at the cash desk because I can't have it. And I live 30 miles away. So I go home. Minus the supermarket shop. Cos I've forgotten my purse.
Groundhog Day x

[Redcat]

Michele wow! so much of what you said seems so familiar.   Sometimes recently I feel as though I am about to walk into people in the supermarket.  They all seem to be walking right into me!  I had to tell myself the other day that it's not them, it's me because it never used to bother me that people were milling around.  I do feel sometimes like pushing them out of the way.   I wonder if somewhere in the World there is a news story about a mad menopausal woman knocking over a loitering fellow shopper for being too close.   I seem to get halfway through then remember I've got to get something from the other side and then it all just seems too much. 

I have tried doing it online but it can be almost as frustrating dealing with not being able to find exactly what you want.   I guess everything that used to be so easy is just annoying or hassle.

I cannot bear the mirrors in changing rooms.  They are so unflattering and it's really just wonderful looking at small changes in your appearance and depressing about ageing.   I just don't bother to look until I have any new clothes on and nine times out of ten I will buy online.  For some strange reason, online shopping usually fits perfectly!

So sad that story about forgetting your purse.  I often stick my bank card down the back of my phone cover so that I don't have to worry about a purse.  I usually do this when I am walking the dog and the phone is always with me, except when I leave it on the car seat and then start panicking.  I once did this and reported it stolen to the police!

[MicheleMaBelle]

yup.been there.They should have specific opening hours for all menopausal women so we can growl away happily amongst ourselves, admiring the comfort slacks, matronly bras and sensible shoes
we could get interrogated at the tills to see if we've forgotten anything and an assistant could run and get it for us and take us to the car that we can't find. Free neck and shoulder massages,cold cloths and a wee refreshment too.Now, that is a place I would shop!
I saw a tiny middle class woman pin her 6 foot teenage son by the neck up against a wall in a shop a while back.She had totally lost the plot.I should have been appalled but I thought, yip.Totally understand! x

[slow]

Best of luck Redcat 😊

I second the tip to keep a diary / symptom log as we forget (!) what happens & then don't see patterns.

I tried Ellest Duet first, and stuck out 3 months, but on reflection my reaction to the progesterone (facial skin deterioration & black depression) was so striking & severe I wish I'd brought it up with my gp & switched sooner. I'm now on Femeston and it is suiting me better, and the difference was noticeable from the first week of the progesterone phase, so although I agree with the advice of sticking to one form for at least 3 mths if you're not seeing any difference, as it may just take time, I also feel there is merit in questioning adverse responses if you get them. Learning to trust that we can 'hear' our body's messages is part of this menopause journey, I think 😏

Hopefully you'll have hit on the right hrt for you first time, and all will improve over the next couple of months. But if not, don't worry - there are more options and plenty of support here from some very experienced members for choosing which to try, why & when.

[Redcat]

yup.been there.They should have specific opening hours for all menopausal women so we can growl away happily amongst ourselves, admiring the comfort slacks, matronly bras and sensible shoes
we could get interrogated at the tills to see if we've forgotten anything and an assistant could run and get it for us and take us to the car that we can't find. Free neck and shoulder massages,cold cloths and a wee refreshment too.Now, that is a place I would shop!
I saw a tiny middle class woman pin her 6 foot teenage son by the neck up against a wall in a shop a while back.She had totally lost the plot.I should have been appalled but I thought, yip.Totally understand! x

Michele I think you are onto something with meno-marketing!  Definitely an idea to just let us have our own stress free shopping sessions.  I would also suggest a punchbag at the entrance so we can take out our frustration if they haven't restocked the shopping baskets or if our coin gets jammed in the shopping trolley. 

A personal shopper going around fanning us and shooing other shoppers out of our way would also be helpful!

[Redcat]

Best of luck Redcat 😊

I second the tip to keep a diary / symptom log as we forget (!) what happens & then don't see patterns.

I tried Ellest Duet first, and stuck out 3 months, but on reflection my reaction to the progesterone (facial skin deterioration & black depression) was so striking & severe I wish I'd brought it up with my gp & switched sooner. I'm now on Femeston and it is suiting me better, and the difference was noticeable from the first week of the progesterone phase, so although I agree with the advice of sticking to one form for at least 3 mths if you're not seeing any difference, as it may just take time, I also feel there is merit in questioning adverse responses if you get them. Learning to trust that we can 'hear' our body's messages is part of this menopause journey, I think 😏

Hopefully you'll have hit on the right hrt for you first time, and all will improve over the next couple of months. But if not, don't worry - there are more options and plenty of support here from some very experienced members for choosing which to try, why & when.

Hi Slow and thanks for the advice.  I have only been taking the oestrogen part of the duet so far and I am feeling so much better at the moment.  I am worried about when I hit the progesterone.  At the moment I feel about ten years younger.  After an initial downward slope, my mood swings are now gone and I am sleeping really well and waking refreshed.   I have really noticed a big improvement in my gums (had a glowing dental checkup yesterday).  But my skin in general is looking more like it used to.  I have four more of the white pills so I am hoping the green ones won't upset the applecart.   I have just had a period which is about the time it would have come as the doctor told me to start the pills anyway even though it wasn't the first day of my period but just after it ended.  So I am hoping that my cycle will not be too upset.   But at the moment I feel really "light" so it's amazing how much a lack of homones can mess your life up.

I am glad you found something that suits you, but what a pain to have to deal with depression - I used to have terrible PMT myself - was that because of progesterone?  My gp is very happy to try alternatives if this isn't right for me, but just this week I am feeling so alive and rejuvenated

[MicheleMaBelle]

Hi redcat- the punchbag is a great idea! X