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[Mindfulmoomins]

Hi,

I have read on here that this option is often used by women who are progesterone intolerant.

I am worried the private specialist won't agree to it. I have emailed her for some assurance. She has written in her report that I am progesterone intolerant so I really hope she is open to it.

I just can't take any risks with my mood and hormones at the moment so want to try the kindest way.

In Dec I felt okish on ultragestan 200 mg orally for the first 5 days. I stopped it after 10 days and the desperate crying I had 2 days after that was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.

I am currently having a progesterone free month with her support in order to build up the oestrogen (one month now of 3 pumps of Estrogel - seem to be absorbing it ok as level was 616).

If anyone else has agreement from a meno clinic to do this I'd love to know.

X

[Mary G]

I am severely progesterone intolerant and have never taken more than 100mg Utrogestan vaginally for 7 days.  This comes up on here all the time, some private clinics will prescribe the Professor Studd regime of 7 days and others don't.  If you are progesterone intolerant you should be able to do the 7 day regime and have regular scans.  There is no point in taking more progesterone than you need if you have issues with it and it is far better to gauge how much you need and tailor the dose to suit you.  Too many women end up ditching HRT because of progesterone intolerance which is a huge pity because they lose all the benefits of oestrogen replacement.   

[Bring me Sunshine]

Hi again mindfulmoomins (great name)

[Bring me Sunshine]

sorry it went before i had finished(like a txt) sorry if you have mentioned this before somewhere but have you ever had the Merina coil for progesterone?  I am on my 3rd now and I have not had any problems, thank goodness with that.

[racjen]

I've been told by my private specialist that 200mg every 3 months is the absolute minimum she feels is safe, but I need to check with her whether she meant orally or vaginally. I'm sure she did say but marbles not present at the moment.

[Mindfulmoomins]

Bringmesunshine,

I am too scared to try the Mirena I think. I know it could be removed but I would need to be feeling a bit better to take the chance on it. Perhaps it's something I could think about though. X

Thanks Racjen xx

[Mother bean]

Mindfulmoonmins, you have just sent me a private message but sadly for some reason it says that I cannot send messages so sorry for replying this way.

Like many who have visited Prof J Studd I personally use 3 pumps of Oestrogel and a dab of testosterone and 10 days of Utrogestan orally but I seem ok taking it.

I went to him because I was continually feeling anxious on the 50mcg Estrodot patches and sometimes I found adding a dab of spare oestrogel to my patch when I was feeling this way seemed to improve my way of thinking in a good way, my mood seemed to lift and my anxiety calmed.
 My first appointment was last April and since using the oestrogel etc my mood and anxiety seems to have improved a long with my motivation and have started to feel good until Sept last year when I felt perhaps my own cycle was out of sync and then the anxiety seemed to return (this could well have been down to my own hormones doing their own in the background) but I was wondering perhaps your specialist may suggest you going upto 4 pumps of oestrogel as they say that it's estrogen that helps to improve our moods.
As you have read many ladies on here are like you with using progesterone and wondered if you could ask about using Provera as a progesterone instead?

If you read Prof Studd's website it does mention about despression and anxiety and how he feels that hormones need balancing and mentions using between 3/4 pumps of oestrogel along with a dab of testostone and 7 days of Utrogestan, but I don't seem to have problems taking it so he suggested that I could increase taking my progesterone to 10 days as I seemed to start feeling jittery and anxious when going into the 2nd part of my cycle and only found relief and calming when starting my course of progesterone but sometimes I just added an extra dab of oestrogel to my 3 pumps and also felt the calming from this aswell. 
Quite often GP's think antidepressants are the answer when entering this stage of our lives but perhaps taking a hormone replacement is all that is needed to help balance our fluctuations.
I have read that ladies who have suffered with despression before menopause may benefit using both but I never did and only started experiencing health anxiety in 2013 when I missed my first period so for me I needed to find other ways to get some relief and this was when I read up about HRT and wanted to use the kindest one and for me personally I didn't want to go down the route of taking antidepressants.

As many say it is trial and error but at the same time it is learning to try and accept what is going on and not to panic when some other new symptoms arising.

Using the oestrogel I can feel the benefits within a couple of hours of applying my 3 pumps.

Massive hugs and hope you find the relief that you need very soon! Xxx Joy

[Sarai]

That's really interesting. I'm on Evorel Conti 50 and was doing ok except I got spotting after the 6 months.
Dr Currie suggested I change methods to combat this. However I had the hysteroscopy but it wasn't done right and it sent my system crazy and I'm in real mess now with anxiety, depression, sore boob, cramps.
Tuesday I'm changing to a 25 patch ( I'm meant to have low dose oestrogen)and separate prog which I'm dreading frankly, but I'm going to use it vaginally.
How I wish I didn't have a womb now, it would be much simpler.

[Bring me Sunshine]

Hello again.

I heard from my NHS menopause clinic yesterday, a Jan Brockie, ever so nice. I was crying before work the other morning couldnt go in feel so unreliable etc etc.  I have now gone to 4 pumps of oestrogel, or she said 3 pumps and 1mg elleste solo.  As the oral tablets did give me migraines I am steering clear of them for now.  The ladies who have spent the money having to go private to prof Studd its really good of you to share his information as I can see why he is a lover of the oestrogel.  I have the mirena coil for progestorone and to be totally honest I havent had any problems with it all (my 3rd one over 11 years).  I did have spells of depression in the past, melanchonia depression they like to call if generally when I lost someone very close.  I am currently on 300mg venlaflaxine.  Now no anti depressant would work for me until the oestrogen was at a high level whatever that is for me, I dont know it is trial and error.  The menopause clininc did tell me that if your oestrogen is not at the right level then an anti depressant wont work.

My menopause clinic is in Oxford and Jan did say that they will take referrals from other counties if the dr was willing.  They usually take a few weeks to get you an appointment.  The good thing is that you can email them or ring and they always get back to you as an after care service adfter the appointment, you are not discharged and then thats it.  Open 2 days a week.  May be of interest.

Its hard to find positives from this horrendous journey that started this time last year for me but if I was it would be girls on this forum willinging to open up and be honest about themselves and importantly share their information so you can be armed with it to see your own dr.  Talking about it more at work, home, my 2 boys know all about the menopause so should make understanding husbands one day, who knows or will steer clear of women!

 The biggest thing is is that we cant help how we feel, we havent chosen this or want to moan etc.. its happened some are more fortunate others arent.  Some people sadly get other illnesses that others dont.

The main thing to remember is there is something out there to help but it takes time, I wish there was one size fits all but life is not as easy as that.  You will find it and you will maybe a different person but with more understanding.  We have so much juggling in our lives than our ancestors did and when they had this they probably didnt work or would talk to family in their communities etc and some didnt even live to menopause age.  A lot is expected of us often we have moved away from where we came from so lose that family community etc..   If we need to take time out from our lives for a bit to heal then we must and not beat ourselves up about it xx

[Mary G]

There are some interesting posts on this thread.   It comes up on MM regularly and it seems that hormonal anxiety and depression are best treated with high doses of oestrogen and the optimum blood level needs to be somewhere in the 800s to get relief.  From my experience, the quickest and easiest way to achieve high levels of oestrogen is by using dose flexible Oestrogel.  I think it is a fantastic product and it really changed my life and I will always be grateful to Professor Studd for introducing me to it.  I hope I have helped other women by sharing my experiences on here.

[Bring me Sunshine]

Mary may I ask how many pumps of oestrogel you were using and were you doing them all in one go.  Also were you on any testosterone.  I have to go for a blood test for that and thyroid.  Many thanks

[Mindfulmoomins]

Thank you to all of you.

I am so worried I will never feel better.

I am trying to be patient but it's so hard when you feel low or hopeless for portions of the day.

I cry so easily.

Love to you all and thank you so so much for sharing your experience in depth. It gives me hope there might be a solution for me. Of course I'm terrified it won't...... xxx

[Mary G]

Bring me Sunshine, I was on 3 pumps of Oestrogel originally and then reduced to 2 because of heavy periods.  I always split the gel dose by about 12 hours (it doesn't have to be exact) and find it helps to keep the oestrogen level - I have to avoid dips because of migraines.  I always split the actual location too i.e. inner thighs in the morning and upper, outer arms in the evening. 

I started using testosterone about 5 years ago but I honestly don't know how effective it is.  That said, it is probably doing some good so I will continue with it.

[Hurdity]

Hi Mindfulmoomins

Taking progesterone for 10 days per month is pretty much the minimum for monthly regimes and although the licensed dose is 200 mg oral dose for 12 days, limited research has shown that when used vaginally, approx half the amunt is needed as it goes straight to the uterus where it is needed. Somewhere on the utrogestan/oestrogel support group thread I posted some abstracts from papers about this but it wold take a while to find them. If you have been referred to a specialist surely she will be familiar with the research and provided you are doing it under medical supervision, and if you are progesterone intolerant then surely this should be OK? If you have self-referred and are paying then it's her job particuarly to  let you trial different regimes, provided they are medically safe to do so even if not licensed, and that you are monitored re womb lining.

I use 200 mg x 12 days vaginally every 6-8 weeks - I use the full dose because of the long cycle but would trial a reduced dose with docs permission as you hope to do (although no shorter than 10 days) if I was on a monthly cycle.

Hang in there - there will be a solution that works for you....at least one that makes you feel better more of the time than not

Hurdity x

[Bring me Sunshine]

Thanks Mary that is good advice.xx