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[Kathleen]

Hello Ladies.

As promised I'm reporting back on my visit to a  menopause consultant this morning.

Well it's good and bad news really. The consultantion was at a private hospital and cost 185 pounds for forty five minutes. The doctor I saw was very kind and understanding and it was reassuring to hear that my symptoms are due to the menopause but of course I had figured that much anyway!  The suggested treatment was :- Oestrogel 2 squirts daily, Utrogestan 100mg,  one tablet at night and Vagifem, 10mg pessary, use twice a week. In other words nothing that I couldn't get from my GP!  I have been given a private prescription but is it worth getting it filled out?

What do you think ladies? Obviously my present use of Tibolone isn't cutting it, I am flushy and tired and my mood has plummeted today. I'm not sure what I was hoping for really. I suppose I need to think about a  long cycle regime as advocated by Hurdity and Mary G and arranging scans etc but how do I go about accessing all that?  plus I'm not sure I have enough energy for the fight atm.  Like many of you on this site I just want to feel well for a change.

Any and all advice welcome as ever and sorry that I couldn't deliver the magic bullet that we want.

Wishing you all well.

K.

[Dotty]

Give it a go and see if it helps. I've just started on that regime after tablets did nothing for me. The gel stopped my night sweats very quickly which the tablets hadn't touched.

Unfortunately there is no magic pill .

[Dotty]

Hi Kathleen

How are you feeling today?

[Kathleen]

Hello Dotty.

Thank you for your concern.

I woke up at 3 am with a night sweat and couldn't get back to sleep so feeling a bit queasy today.

 I am finding it so hard to decide what to do. I know that I tried the Oestrogel/Utrogestan combination a few years ago but then moved onto something else so I will have to look in my diaries to find out more. Clearly my year on Tibolone hasn't eradicated the flushes, sweats and anxiety so it's probably time to try something new.

Perhaps this is a common problem for those of us who unfortunately don't find the right HRT early in our journey, we end up going around in circles before arriving back where we started lol.

Thanks again for your comments and wishing you well.

K.

[Dotty]

Did you tell the specialist that you had tried the gel before?

[Annie0710]

Did they mention testosterone?
That's really helped my wellbeing x

[warwick01]

Hi Kathleen

When I was on Tibolone last year, still had hot sweats and my consultant said no harm in adding 1 pump of gel as it will not cause build up....... just a though, nothing to lose

Wx

[Mary G]

Kathleen, you said you tried the Oestrogel/Utrogestan regime before but it didn't work, in what way?  Was it lack of symptom control or problems with the progesterone?  The key to success with this regime is getting the dose of both products right.  If you find your symptoms are not being controlled you need to increase the Oestrogel dose or if you find you react badly to the Utrogestan and/or find it is undermining the good work the gel is doing then you need to reduce the dose to 7 days each month and have regular scans. 

This is the most dose flexible regime available and can be tailored to suit your personal needs.

If you don't want to take the plunge yet, you could try warwick01's idea of a squirt of gel with the tibolone and if that doesn't work, try Oestrogel/Utrogestan. 

[Emerald2017]

Maybe you need to give more time to that regime to work.
When I tried Livial (Tibolone) for the first time it was a disaster for me. I had more new symptoms, as pains to my necks, problems with my vision etc.
My new gyn suggested cyclo progynova and I'm ok with it. It started to work almost immediately but I saw the full benefits after 4 months I think.
Maybe it's a good idea you to try a cyclical type of hrt and not a continuous one? Just a though...

[Lanzalover]

Hi Kathleen

How are you today ?

I have tried the Ostrogel/Utrogestan regime but was unable to get on with the Utrogestan either continuously or cyclical or orally or vaginaly.

I now use Ostrogel (not Ostrodose) and Provera cyclical and this for me works really well.

Since last November I have also used Testogel and this seems to have been the missing link as Annie0710 had said this has really helped with wellbeing was this mentioned during your consultation.

Wishing you well

Lanzalover x

[Kathleen]

Hello again ladies.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

Dotty -  I forgot to mention to the specialist that I was familiar with the gel so that was a mistake on m part.

Annie - No testosterone wasn't mentioned at all.

Warwick - I will try your idea of adding a squirt of gel to my Tibolone as that may tide me over until I can see my GP.

Lanzalover, Emerald2017 and Mary G -  At 61 have I left it too late to use a cyclical regime do you think? Does this mean I will go back to having bleeds and presumably I will need to arrange for scans privately.

Thanks to you all ladies and sorry that I've added more questions. I've had another rough night and I need to find the strength to keep searching for a solution.

Wishing you all well.

K.

[Annie0710]

Can you not contact the specialist and ask about testosterone? Xx

[Dotty]

Kathleen - the Tibilone obviously isn't working for you. Go with what the specialist has said .... you paid for his advice. Was he a well known specialist ? Is he a menopause specialist? If so, you need to trust him and give it a try.

I agree that testosterone might help too.

[Kathleen]

Hello Annie and Dotty.

Many thanks for your comments. You are both right in that I need to trust the specialist and use the service that I've paid for.  I suppose I'd have more confidence if she had suggested something new that I hadn't tried before but I should fill out the prescription and give it a go.

Thank you for replying and putting up with a nervous old lady like me! To think that when I was 49 my GP happened to ask if I had any menopausal  problems and I didn't have a clue what he meant. Those were the days!

Take care.

K.

[Dotty]

Hi Kathleen how are you doing? Have you started on the Oestrogel? Xx