I am fairly new to all this. My moods have been nosediving fairly regularly over the last couple of years. I need to be left alone for the week before my period (periods are still regular) and I have suicidal thoughts and a black despair descends (similar to what I experienced in post natal depression). I have a distinct lack of confidence both at work (I have left two jobs in quick succession due to anxiety/panic attacks), as a wife, a mother and a woman. It is causing problems in my marriage (of nearly 25 years) and I can't remember the last time I felt excited or positive about much at all really in fact I complain a lot. My health anxiety has returned; my daughter has gone to uni and my son is talking about working abroad. My private gp took some bloods and it came back with low vit d; testosterone and progesterone and thyroid levels were borderline (I know all these levels are only a snapshot and they change all the time) but oestrogen levels are still high in comparison so I am oestrogen dominant. She has prescribed 100mg utrogestan for days 1 to 25 and I'm on day two of taking it. I have seen scans mentioned, do I need these? All in all feeling rather lost really, should the progesterone help?
Hi Rosepetal73
Sorry to hear you are feeling down. Please don't be distracted by your private GP. Oestrogen dominance is a red herring and totally misleading. Your hormone results will depend on when in your cycle they were taken. All women are "oestrogen dominant" during the first part of their menstrual cycle when oestrogen is rising and progesterone minimal so if blood is taken during this time the results are meaningless. Ditto estradiol - which changes dirunally as well as daily and throughout the cycle. Was FSH also measured?
Progesterone replacement is absolutely not indicated unless you have bleeding problems. Many women will find that almost continuous extra progesterone will have a depressive effect and especially if ovulation is also taking place so during the second half of your cycle especially during week 3 you may get far worse pms symptoms (because you are also producing your own progesterone).
The most important thing you need to do is to have adequate vitamin D levels if these are low - most people should have adequate vit D levels throughout the summer and into early autumn depending on skin colour and where you live - so if you get enough sun and plenty of vit D rich foods in your diet. During later autumn and winter - if you didn't get enough sun and your diet is poor in vit D rich foods then you must replace it! This is very important as vit D deficiency can be responsible for a whole host of health problems.
If you are still having regular periods but getting bad pms just before your period then this is likely due to the inncreasingly dramatic hormonal fluctuations just before peri-menopause starts (when periods are missed and cycle length starts to vary). In particular the oestrogen crash just before the period can cause low mood and these feelings. It is known as reproductive depression. Prof Studd has written extensively on it ( check out his website).
The treatment is either to suppress the cycle or increase oestrogen. Depending on your age you can suppress the cycle with very high doses of oestrogen (and then add in progesterone from Utrogestan for part of the month), or with one of the birth control pills - there are two types suitable for women near menopause - QLAIRA and ZOELY - which contain estradiol ( like HRT) and only have a few tablet free days. Another option is to start a low dose HRT like Femoston 1/10 which will prevent your oestrogen from falling too low in the days leading up to your period.
I would say that taking progesterone is the last thing you need and no wonder you are feeling lacking in enthusiasm.
As for the thyroid tests - these are really important. Do you know what was measured and do you have the results? Borderline means nothing in the sense that with TSH for example - there is a"normal" range beyond which it is treatable ( as hypothyroid) but below which nothing is done. However many women experience symptomns while still being within the normal range. Many women also find that thyroid function decreases around the time of menopause or leading up to it and important to treat this first.
Here also is an article about peri-menopause which you might like to read - explaining what is happening to your body:
https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/magazine/pdf/Article%20-%20Perils%20of%20the%20Perimenopause.pdfHope this helps
Hurdity x
PS You don't need a scan unless you have bleeding problems or pain and even then not necessarily.
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Topic: Not sure where to post? Utrogestan in peri? Scans? (Read 2300 times)