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[angela27]

Hi ladies, was wondering if i can use the tablets vaginally?, have read on the forum that some women have done. I spoke with the hrt clinic a couple of weeks ago and they said absolutely not may not give the prortection needed and is only used like this for ivf purposes anyway.

Really struggling with side effects....headaches, nausea, feeling like i am coming round from sedation not a nights sleep in the mornings, tiredness throughout the day and low mood.

I attend the hrt clinic at the Mater hospital in Belfast know there is one lady on here that also goes there. If u happen to read this how do u find them?, they wont do anything for me until my review in September though i am going to try again.

Many thanks in advance for any replies.

[Blue Kingfisher]

Yes you can definitely use them vaginally as that's what I've been prescribed to do. I feel shocking on them though personally so obviously I absorb these very well vaginally as I feel in a complete coma! Hopefully they will be better for you x

[angela27]

Hi thank you ladies for your replies, you would wonder why a menopause nurse would tell you to definitely not use them this way, i honestly dont believe some of them know what they are talking about there is much more knowledge on this forum!!
Blue Kingfisher i was reading your thread in case i react even worse than what it is at the moment im going to leave trying it until Monday night as my daughter and i are having a 'dude's day' tomorrow and going ice skating need to be half alert for that one!!!, x.

[Hurdity]

Hi angela27 I think it's Ladybt28 who is the member you are thinking of. She might be along if she sees this thread but if not why not send her a pm? (There are lots of threads and you only have to busy for a couple of days and you miss all the previous ones!).

I agree it's appalling that your specialist menopause clinic is not familiar with this and giving you incorrect information. OK it is unlicensed (in UK) to use it vaginally but all specialists should be aware of this alternative use of delivery and better effectiveness as Stellajane says.

Both the 100 mg and the 200 mg Utrogestan caspules are for oral or vaginal use and for fertilty or endometrial protection as part of HRT (according the the French medicines info).

Hurdity x

[angela27]

Hi Hurdity thanks for your reply, i couldnt remember the ladies name like a lot of things these days!! i will pm her tomorrow.  Another thread you replied in this afternoon think it was to Blue Kingfisher you were saying utro used vaginally gives better absorption than used orally so possibly more side effects? not the words you used obviously just my way of putting it! haha. Did i understand that correctly?

[Ladybt28]

hi Angela27, yes its me who goes to the Mater and I found them really good.  I have only had to physically attend once but have had 3 telephone consultations.  My consultant is Joanne McManus and I saw her registrar the first time in July 18. The first regime they put me on didn't go too well and after 8 weeks or so I phoned asking for another appointment.  I spoke with Philomena who is the hrt nurse and I was pretty clear about what I wanted to do and so I got what I wanted which was to change to oestrogel and utrogestan by phone and didn't have to attend any appointment.  The 2nd call was to talk about going from a continuous regime to a cycle which is when I brought up using the Utro vaginally when I was talking to Philomena and she said "oh no blah blah blah" but when she phoned me back she said "yes, that was fine and that she had never heard of it being used that way in 20 years as a nurse, but you learn something new everyday".
If you have been talking to her Angela then she must have a short memory! Hah...maybe she has meno brain fog!  Philomena should definitely know about using Utro vaginally.

The last time I talked to her she was doing a follow-up call in December 19 when I asked about testosterone and she called back and said I could have that too but it would be January before the GP got the consultant recommend and low and behold the letter appeared and I have my testosterone.

I have to say that had done loads of research on the forum since March 18 before I even went and then quite quickly worked out what was going wrong for me thanks to all these ladies here and I can be quite forthright (that's not what my family call it...my husband says I could tell you to F.O and have you looking forward to the journey! ) so I was pretty clear what I wanted to happen each time and I also have to say that on one of the calls she spent 20 minutes or more talking to me.
I use my utrogestan 200mg 10 days on a cycle even though I am post meno at 57.  All my anxiety, panic, joint pains, fogginess  (the testosterone helped with the brain fog), insomnia, acid reflux...you name it I had it (except for VA - thank the lord!) are all gone or under control.  All I have left is crippling depression which has been underlying all my life but was totally uncontrollable due to hormone problems but that is also now being tackled. I had problems in meno for 9 years although I didn't know it at the time until I came to the forum at the beginning of 2018 when it all started to make sense.

Who are you dealing with at the Mater...feel free to PM me if you want to discuss where other's can't see. I am happy to tell anything you want to know feel free...ask away....meno nearly took my life, it was that bad so I know how horrible it can be and when you cant get the people who should know what's going on to help you just makes it worse.
 

[angela27]

Hi Ladybt thanks so much for your reply. Ive been with the clinic from 2017 i think!, like you my 1st set of treatment didnt go well but after a few horrendous months got sorted. I had been on femoston 2/10 not perfect but bearable was still getting hot flushes and on the prog part my mood was ok for the 1st week then went downhill but i always knew it was coming to an end. I think its Dr Kirk i see (slim lady, dark hair), i never bled on femoston as she believes i am now post she decided to change me to Zumenon and Utro 100mg daily.

I didnt think anything of jt Zumenon is still estradiol though was apprehensive of utrogestan. I took zumenon for 2 wks alone (putting off the utrogestan stage). From the start my hot flushes came back worse, night sweats returned, bright red chest neck and face and developed a thick green gunge from my eyes (which was treated a lot with antibiotic drops) but still returns at times. I put all of these things down to zumenon which I dont get as its the same thing and dont see why it should have to build up in my system when  i was already on femoston??

Utrogestan i had been taking orally with the usual side effects, sedated feeling and thumping headache on wakening, tired through the day, low mood. Rang the hrt clinic i didnt get speaking to Philomena another nurse and it was her that said you cannot use it vaginally etc hence my question.

Yesterday i had a great day apart from the headache getting up i felt just like my old self thought oh maybe taking utro orally is starting to settle. To see if i could improve with the headaches i used it vaginally last nite, didnt want to get up this morning ( cant go back to that feeling), headache and awful mood, sort of low, couldnt be bothered with anything, felt weepy.
So i am going to go back to using utro orally and see how i feel over the next week if i can stick it that long.

I always thought flushes were one of the first things to clear but mine have never went completely. The skin on my hands is so dry it just splits open, dry lips and nose, always thirsty i wonder if my oestrogen levels need raised.

I was due for a review with the clinic in June but because i didnt start my new regime until March instead of January they have now pushed it back until September!!! The nurse i spoke to said i need to give it a good 6 months to settle i just cant do that if there is not improvement i have 2 young girls who will be getting off for the summer in 8 wks time!!!

Sorry i have waffled on for forever and jumping all over the place, if i could get emoji's to work on my phone i would have added a few!!

Hope you are doing ok 

Angela, x.

[Ladybt28]

Hi Angela, as you only started the new regime in March you will need a good 3 months for it to settle which is why they pushed back your appointment.  It is usually the progesterone part of any regime that most people have problems with so you are not alone and its right pain when the hrt you are happy with is withdrawn or has supply problems. Hah not that I actually had that happen to me cos I've only been happy for 9 months!! Utrogestan orally is known to have a sedative effect and some women like it because it helps them sleep and helps with anxiety but I would be like you dopy during the day and I had terrible time on other progesterones.  When you take it orally it goes through the stomach and the liver so some women react to that and so they take it vaginally because then it doesn't go through the digestive tract.

I have never hear of zumenon and I don't think I have seen it mentioned on the forum either, but changing from one oestrogen to another although it is all supposed to be the same can just cause problems.  Some delivery methods and combinations just don't work for some women but work brilliantly for others.  I tried 5 types before this one.  One of them nearly had me in a strait jacket!  I had prepack (now discontinued) femoston, elleste, everol and premarian+provera oh and tridestra...6!  None of them were any good for me and nothing settled until the oestrogel & utrogestan on a cycle.

It really is trial and error unfortunately and you really do need to stick with it.  I hope you are luckier than I was and it settles soon.  Permanent headaches and your flushes back isn't good.

[angela27]

Hi again Ladybt, i was thinking of ringing the clinic about the 3rd/4th week of May if things dont improve as that will be nearly 3 months done hoping they might be open to changing me, didnt you say they changed your regime after 8 wks?

The only reason the dr changed me was because she believes i am now post but from what i have learnt from the ladies here is i could have stayed on femoston regardless of being post.

Anyway i will just have to stick it out for another few weeks and see how it goes. Thanks for your replies, take care, x.

[Ladybt28]

One of my regimes the Premarin+provera progesterone continuously,  I changed after 8 weeks.  It sent me totally off my trolley! I was a jabbering wreck due to the continuous progesterone and the ladies here helped with that and told me to stop the progesterone immediately which I did, but having done a lot of reading here I knew I wanted to try the gel and the utrogestan because they are flexible in the dosage and so that was what I asked for quite forcefully explaining that I was having problems with the progesterone and I also said I wasn't going to do continuous I was happy to bleed and why.  You can either do it continuous or in a cycle.

I don't know why they told you had to stop the femeston just because your post meno.  GP's and consultants do prefer you to be on a continuous regime because they assume you don't want to bothered with bleeding anymore but some of us just can't do it for lots of reasons.  Could be progesterone intolerance and or unable to get the balance right and getting loads of spotting.  Continuous progesterone sends me round the twist!  If you know you can have Femeston and you were fine on it and you know why you can have it and can explain then I think you should ask them to tell you why you cant' have it again and argue to say that's what you want. I cant see why if it works and there is not reason other than a doctors ignorance you should have what makes you better?  Let us know how you go.x