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[honeyblossom]

Hi there. I have been battling with extreme progesterone intolerance of the most horrible kind. Finally after trawling medical journals and nagging I persuaded my GP to give me a box of crinone 8 %. It's worked like a charm and I'm over the moon as I'd been told the only alternative was a hysterectomy.
Problem is my GP will not prescribe more as it's nice NICE guidelines and it's expensive. ( she only did it because I went to Med school with her). I'm willing to pay the 60 quid every other month as it's the only way out. But I need to find a dr who will prescribe it for me and be open to my informed risk going into relatively uncharted territory ( at least in UK) plus monitor my lining etc.
Has anyone any idea of
anyone? Thankyou

[honeyblossom]

Hi yes in UK. I used it every other day for twelve days. My GP just keeps referring to barts meno clinic who are not booking new appointments. I've actually been waiting to see a specialist for FOUR years. She doesn't quite know what to do with me. Her answer ' prescribe it yourself ' err no thanks I'm a neurologist
I was geared up to feel a bit rubbish on crinone but nothing happened. I'm quite surprised.
I'm at the stage where I'm just going to email every clinic to see if they are open to it and see what happens..

[hoping4best]

I'm little help as I'm in the US but I'm currently a Crinone 8% user. I was doing continuous and taking it 2x/week, but I just switched to cyclical because I was bleeding every other week on continuous. Now, I'm taking it 12 days in a row every 2 months. Just starting my first set of 12 days now.

I do get side effects on it but find them to be less than oral micronized progesterone. I am about to see how 12 days of gel goes.

My reproductive endocrinologist was great about letting me try this. No other doctor I saw knew of it, as it's primarily used in fertility treatments in the US. I find it odd and frustrating that vaginal bioidentical progesterone isn't a more known option.

Good luck on it!

[Elizabethrose]

Hi honeyblossom,

I don't know where you are in the UK but Crinone was being prescribed on the NHS and privately in the London area, c10 years ago. I am a patient of Nick Panay and he used it both in his private and NHS clinics. I think it was felt to be the kindest prog for hormonally sensitive women and designed for vaginal use. I know quite a number of women who used it here.

Could you get a referral from your GP friend to his clinic or could she have a telephone consultation with them? Nick wasn't the only one prescribing it. Failing that, if you're prepared to pay for it, could a private GP prescribe it for you? I also see Anne MacGregor who has a Harley Street practice but also works out of Barts. She is a migraine and hormone specialist and was treating me hand in hand with Nick Panay when Crinone was tried.

At no time was it suggested that it increased any sort of medical risk.

Good luck to you x

[Katia]

I'd love more info on it too please.  It looks like I'm going to have to make a change from utrogestan as I'm blowing up like a balloon.

[hoping4best]

I used Crinone 2x per week for months when I was on continuous. I didn't find the gel troublesome at all.

I am now on day 5 of 12 days of Crinone for cyclical HRT. So far, I have some extra moisture in there, but frankly, that feels helpful for my VA at the moment. But I can report back later in the 12-day course if it becomes particularly unpleasant. (It'd have to be pretty yucky for me to not be willing to take it for 12 days, 4 times/year, though.)

[Hurdity]

Hi honeyblossom - did you try utrogestan vaginally? Also when I first started HRT I was prescribed Cyclogest pessaries for the prog part of HRT (by my GP) - which are also used for fertility - this was before utrogestan was available. However you might encounter the same issue as these are not licensed for HRT so like Crinone would only be prescribed off-licence.

Hurdity x

[Katia]

What countries is it licenced in?

[hoping4best]

Shortie, I'm pretty tolerant of progesterone in general. I was tired and cranky on day 3, but on day 6 I feel okay. I definitely feel fewer symptoms than when I take oral mircronized progesterone (I tried generic Prometrium/Utrogestan vaginally and it bothered my VA a lot).

I'm in the US and I have better insurance than many people here (which isn't saying much, ugh). They didn't question my doctor's script for Crinone for HRT. I know things are very different in the U.K.

[Katia]

Hoping4best does the Crinone help to VA in any way?  I feel the utro is dehydrating and can make it worse

[hoping4best]

Hi Katia,
I found the 2x/week continuous regimen Crinone didn't help my VA much, but the 12 days cyclical did help it a lot. I'm also on Estring now which has helped a ton, so adding lubrication of the Crinone gel helps.

(I am getting horrid hair shedding right now, but I get that on oral progesterone, too. And at this point I'm still recovering from messing with my hormone regimen for the whole first part of this year, so it could still be shedding from that... for me, hair effects are delayed and it can be hard to identify the exact triggers if there are a bunch together. I'll need more time on this regimen to know if the Crinone is causing it.)

[Katia]

Thank you.  I will look into estring.  My hair is coming out badly on the utrogestan.  Reducing the dose doesn't seem to help either