Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[shrosphirelass]

I am in my second month of taking evorel sequi and wondered if anyone could share their experiences. I'm taking it largely because of very bad headaches and nausea.

I have started on half a patch twice a week. The first month I didn't really feel any different, good or bad. I bled during the fourth cont patch patch which lasted 11 days. This time I do feel better, but am also making changes to my diet. I am on my second conti patch and have already started bleeding and having cramps, so earlier than  before. Is this usual and what are peoples experiences generally?

Many thanks for any help

[Hurdity]

It depends what you were doing before you started the Evorel sequi and how often your periods were. Often you get more bleeding when you first start HRT in peri-menopause because the womb lining could have built up on the months where you haven't ovulated nor had a period, but eventually this should settle so that you get a predictable bleed towards the end of the conti patches or just after you stop these. Are you still taking half a patch?

I used these when I first started HRT when I was very late peri-menopause ( 5 months since previous period and sporadic prior to that). I started on a whole patch and it worked very quickly for flushes and sweats but the conti patches gave me headaches ( due to the norethisterone) so I changed to bio-identical progesterone (Cyclogest then Utrogestan). Many women are very happy with them. MY bleed was predictable and came after stopping the conti patch.

Hurdity x

[sheila99]

I was on it for 3 months before it gave me a rash and I had to change. I bled twice while on the conti patch and once after finishing it but I was in peri so my natural cylce may have been interfering. Hot flushes went quickly but it took a good 6 weeks for the insomnia and anxiety to improve at all. I didn't have headaches or nausea. They say it can be 3 months to feel the full effects.

[pamb]

sheila99 - I'm on Evorel Sequi and I've been fine for the past 8 months but like you I've started to get a prickly rash, not on the patch site, but on my chest which started last month.  Also like you my hot flushes and night sweats and interrupted sleep have disappeared. 

Did you try a different HRT or did you stop completely?  I'm just wondering if my own hormones are conflicting with HRT and giving me too much oestrogen or progesterone and considering whether to stop and wait until I'm post menopausal and my own hormones have subsided and then try again, although I'm also reluctant to going back to flushes and sweats and bad sleep. 

Sorry to have hijacked your post shropshirelass.

pamb x

[shrosphirelass]

I was on it for 3 months before it gave me a rash and I had to change. I bled twice while on the conti patch and once after finishing it but I was in peri so my natural cycle may have been interfering. Hot flushes went quickly but it took a good 6 weeks for the insomnia and anxiety to improve at all. I didn't have headaches or nausea. They say it can be 3 months to feel the full effects.

I was also peri, had been having regularish periods up until a couple of months before taking the HRT so maybe that's why. Just surprised the bleeding started when it was supposed to last moth at the end of the conti patches but this time shortly after starting the conti. Bad cramps too. I'm going to persist as my nausea is better so far this month (hope it's related) and no really bad headaches either.

[sheila99]

I'm now on estrogel & utrogestan. I like it because it gives you the option to vary both the dose and the length of the cycle. My natural cycle is 6-7 weeks and I think the forced 28 day cycle on everel messed up my periods. I also increase the dose in the months when it feels as though my body isn't contributing.
  I think while we're in peri we just have to accept things will be a bit variable. As long as we get a bleed I'm not sure it matters when it comes. I felt so bad before I started HRT there is no way I am giving it up!
  Shropshirelass it might be worth noting if your symptoms are different on the conti patches in case you don't tolerate this type of progesterone well. 

[shrosphirelass]

I'm feeling so bad today. Headache is back, was so hoping the HRT would have sorted it. I've just applied the conti 3rd patch and feel so sick I had to lie down and that's only half a patch.

Like you sheila99 my cycle was always longer 5-6 weeks. Was wondering about having he evorel 50 for 4 weeks and the conti for 2 weeks and that way maybe I'll get 4 good weeks. I haven't got an appt at meno clinic until December and my drs don't seem to know much about it. They are only dishing out the HRT each month and were concerned I bled last month even though that was exactly what I was supposed to do.

Totally fed up with it all

[Hurdity]

Shrosphirelass - sounds like a possible plan to have a longer cycle ie 4 weeks of oestrogen only followed by two weeks of the combi patches. You would need doc approval of this to ensure the uterus lining was protected as you would have having an extra 2 weeks without additional prog (so you would need to have regular scans at least more frequently initially to see how your uterus lining responded to this regime).. However if you are still ouvlating then you would be producing some of your own which would help shed the lining. Is this something you could aks your GP pending the menopause clinic appointment - and then see if they can approve this regime too?

Sorry to hear about your headache - I got headaches on Evorel - well it was the prog part that didn't suit me. Is it a migraine do you think?

Hope you feel better soon...

Hurdity x

[sheila99]

Good luck finding someone who can tell you what to do if you have a longer natural cycle. My experience (even from meno specialist) is that longer cycles don't exist, just like no-one has periods after they're 55 ... except that I do both. I suspect it's that hrt hasn't been tested on longer cycles so all they will tell you is what it says on the patient information sheet. I decided (and I may be wrong) that I'd survived the last 40 years with a longer cycle and it hadn't done me any harm so why try and force my body into a shorter cycle which just messes it up.
 If you feel worse on the conti patches perhaps ask for a different type of progesterone?

[shrosphirelass]

Thanks both. I don't think the dr's is an option. When I mentioned bleeding they got very twitchy and it seems that they know very little about HRT. I was told categorically by the senior nurse practitioner that there was no way they were giving me HRT. Luckily the dr I see (who is currently off sick) agreed to refer me to the regional menopause clinic who then prescribed HRT. I'm only using half a patch at the moment so am tempted to increase the estrogen, maybe I'll just add an extra week. But maybe as it's only my second month I should wait for things to settle.

Like you Sheila I am over 55 (56!) and have always had a longer cycle. One of the dr's wouldn't believe I was still having regular periods at my age!