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[luna66]

Hello All

I've been on a combined Estrogel (three pumps a day) and Utrogestan (100 for 10 days a month) regime (under John Studd) for about a year and a half now. I've generally been great on it and my menopausal symptoms have massively improved.

However, in the last couple of weeks I've started waking up in the night again with a thumping heart, having hot flushes and feeling muddled and generally unwell.

I read that Utrogestan can build up and that some women are intolerant to it. Could this be the problem?

Also, I wondered if I had a dodgy pump of Estrogel. Has anyone else experienced this?

Any thoughts/advice hugely appreciated. I'm terrified of going back to the hot, sleepless, emotional, muddled mess that I was before I started all this.

Thank you! x

[racjen]

Hi Luna66, you don't say where you are in the whole menopause timeline, and how old you are. Is it possible that your hormone levels are still dropping, and so the 3 pumps of estrogel isn't enough anymore? If you're getting hot flushes back that sounds more likely than problems with utrogestan. Especially after a year and a half of being OK. You could try increasing to 4 pumps and see if that helps.

[luna66]

Hi Luna66, you don't say where you are in the whole menopause timeline, and how old you are. Is it possible that your hormone levels are still dropping, and so the 3 pumps of estrogel isn't enough anymore? If you're getting hot flushes back that sounds more likely than problems with utrogestan. Especially after a year and a half of being OK. You could try increasing to 4 pumps and see if that helps.

Hi Racjen

Thank you for your reply. I'm 52. I had had a year without a period, just, when I started HRT (and this was prescribed because I was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis, but I was also reporting other difficult symptoms). So, I started the HRT regime just after my 51st birthday and have been on it for about 20 months.

[racjen]

So it's perfectly possible your own hormones are still gradually declining, which would mean that your body may be wanting more estrogen to stay in balance.

[luna66]

So it's perfectly possible your own hormones are still gradually declining, which would mean that your body may be wanting more estrogen to stay in balance.

Thank you raclen.

I had understood that I should keep the dose as low as possible, and especially because the utrogestan dose is lower than usually prescribed (as is Studd's--sometimes controversial--way). Is it ok to raise the Estrogel dose for a while then, and if so, how high is it safe to go and for how long? I know the answer to this will be 'it depends' (everyone is different), but is there a general rule to use as guidance?

Thank you!

[racjen]

I know that there are a number of women  on here using Dr. Studd's regime who use 4 pumps of estrogel and 100mg utrogestan taken vaginally, which makes it more effective for a smaller dose. There may be a few going even lower than that ie Utrogestan at this level for 7 days a month. A specialist said to me that the cancer risk is something to worry about over the long term,but really not a huge problem if you're having to tweak things here and there like this just for a while.

[luna66]

Thats good to know. Thanks so much. I'll up the estrogel dose for a little while and see how that goes.

Thank you!