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[westie]

Hi all

Am almost giving up with this lark.

Had blood tests 3 months ago which said that my Oestrogen levels were still quite low (143) despite a 75mg patch. So as advised I have been topping up with Oestrogel ( 1 pump). However, I now find that I have a very upset tummy each morning and my anxiety levels have really increased.
I take utrogestan every three months under supervision as I am quite intolerant but am wondering if the oestrogen dominance is causing these problems.

Has anyone else had this? Last few days I have cut back on the gel to see how i go. I just wish I could just live normally again, it such a rollercoaster.

Thanks

W x

[Lamplighter]

Hi Westie, yes I experienced something similar when I upped my oestrogel pumps from two to three - I started to feel really agitated with elevated pulse, which could easily be mistaken for anxiety (and at times did make me anxious, a kind of anxious about feeling the symptoms of anxiety circle).

Didn't have any digestive issues though.

I only lasted nine days before dropping back to two pumps, so don't know if persevering with the higher dose evetually would have levelled itself out.  At the moment I've decided to up again by a half pump, but as today is the first day I don't know yet what effects that too might have.

Yeah normality seems like a long distant dream doesn't it?  xx

LL

[EllaAurora]

Hi Westie,
I'm new in this forum and this is my first post

To your question, YES. Exactly experiencing the same, unfortunately!
I had initially only 1 pump of Oestrogen until March this year, and was doing well. Then, symptoms worsened a lot (started getting lot of palpitations, anxiety attacks which felt like adrenaline surges, insomnia etc). After this have tried to increase, first to 2 pumps which I needed to divide into two doses (1 in the morning, 1 in the evening), as applying 2 pumps on one go caused a reaction of sudden very high anxiety, tachycardia, diarrhoea etc. Almost felt like having had an overdose.

Overall my symptoms have continued and my estradiol reading was only 160 with two pumps, so have tried to up to 3, but had to cut back to 2 very quickly as it seems I simply cannot tolerate more than 2 and even 2 only by splitting into two doses. At the same time, two is not enough to control the symptoms  So I'm really puzzled as to what to do. Will discuss with my gynaecologist on Friday and hopefully will get some advice how to continue.

Would love to learn if someone has similar experience and has found any solution?

Thanks to all lovely ladies. x

[Gnatty]

I have watched a lot of podcasts from Louise Newman but also lately a lot from Harley Street Emporium. I wish I could remember specifically which one, but pretty sure it was HSE on IGTV where it was definitely mentioned that anxiety can increase when increasing oestrogel but you need to give it time to then settle down again. Hopefully someone will be able to come along and confirm this. I can remember when I first started oestrogel myself definitely anxiety worsened, felt revved up, but then settled down within a couple of weeks I think.

[Flan747]

I also have those symptoms when I increase the gel, lime said previously it does settle over a short period of time. Try to keep busy to help the anxiety

[EllaAurora]

Thanks so much for these reassuring messages. Will have to check the Podcasts as referred above.

I feel like I need to push forward and try to increase, even if just bit by bit, as 2 is definitely not enough and sticking to it will not help.

Has anyone tried splitting doses even more than to 2? I.e. to take 1 pump every 8 hours? It does sound quite tiring routine and in the longer run not sustainable, but given current working from home, it could be manageable. Just to see if this would enable higher dose and building up the steady state, and then eventually could go back to once, or max twice daily dosing without these adverse reactions.

Flan -I so agree with the point on keeping busy to avoid anxiety. That is also my experience. If something really important comes along that needs my 100% attention, I can function normally, but the minute there is even a bit of space to reflect how I feel, the anxiety comes back and then its the vicious circle again..

[westie]

Thanks so much for all your replies ladies. It helps enormously to know I am not alone with all this.

I am going to stick with just the 75mg patch for a while and see if my symptoms reduce. I really can’t cope with the high level of anxiety and digestive issues with the increased dose.

W xx

[EllaAurora]

Lamplighter, how are you getting on with increasing the dose? Any early experiences?
Westie, do you feel better now staying on the 75mcg patch only?

I'm stuck with the two pumps of Oestrogel though I know I should be higher (2,5 or ideally 3). Will start increasing tiny bit at a time over the new days. Fingers crossed it would work.

Hope all is well with you! xx

[sheila99]

Westie it might be that you absorb gel much better than the patch so you might effectively be getting a much bigger increase than you expect. I would try half a pump for a month and see if it settles. If you do absorb gel better than the patch the long term solution might be gel instead of patch. Also maybe keep a diary to see if the digestive issues can be linked to certain foods.

[KarineT]

Hi all,

Was anxiety present when you started HRT?  I'm wondering if HRT makes this symptom worse.

Thanks

[Lamplighter]

KarineT, anxiety has never been a symptom for me (more a way of life lol) so I don't really notice that it increases or decreases depending on which medication I'm taking.  I have read on here though that many women do suffer increased anxiety as a menopausal symptom, and also that the progesterone part of HRT seems to bring it on in many. 

EllaAurora, too soon to tell definitively but had the usual worsening blocked nose that oestrogen seems to bring on, but which fades away in time, and positively, the pressure incontinence seems to have diminished even more - but that is so up and down that I can't be sure just yet. 

Just to confound matters, I've started taking an ssri antidepressant, one of which side effects is increase in body temperature, which I seem to be suffering full on right now - so hot hot hot.  Not quite the same as hot flushes but it's hard to tell the difference at times, much as I'd like to think the increase in pumps has helped diminish the hot flushes even more. 

I have faith that one day I shall regain a modicum of normality and be able to just get on with things without being permanently distracted by this or that or the other symptom.  By which time I daresay I shall be suffering all the 'symptoms' of old age.  Groan.

Thanks for asking    Hope you are managing to persevere with the increase.  xxx

[westie]

Lamplighter, how are you getting on with increasing the dose? Any early experiences?
Westie, do you feel better now staying on the 75mcg patch only?

I'm stuck with the two pumps of Oestrogel though I know I should be higher (2,5 or ideally 3). Will start increasing tiny bit at a time over the new days. Fingers crossed it would work.

Hope all is well with you! xx

Hi EllaAurora yes I am feeling better without the additional pump of gel. The anxiety has definitely reduced and the diarrhoea has thankfully gone although it took a few days to settle.

I am having blood tests on Wednesday to check my levels so will be interesting to see where I am after the rollercoaster of the last few weeks.

When I increased my patch last August from 50mg to 75mg I did get gastric symptoms then but it settled down quite quickly. I know the transdermal route isn’t supposed to give these symptoms but it definitely does for me and the additional pump of gel is just too much to cope with.

I’ll report back once I get my blood results.

Hope you are feeling a bit better.

W x

[westie]

Westie it might be that you absorb gel much better than the patch so you might effectively be getting a much bigger increase than you expect. I would try half a pump for a month and see if it settles. If you do absorb gel better than the patch the long term solution might be gel instead of patch. Also maybe keep a diary to see if the digestive issues can be linked to certain foods.

Hi Sheila99

When I started HRT two years ago I used the gel but I just wasn’t absorbing enough to give my bones protection hence the switch to the patch, initially 50mg but that didn’t help raise levels and then to 75mg which has helped but still quite low (170). The extra pump of gel was supposed to help but my digestive system clearly thinks otherwise!

W

[Denise Didi]

Hi all I am confused as to why you can't go up to 100mc patches? Rather than messing about with a pump.  I'm on estradot 100mc. Do your patches not come in a higher dose? Didi

[westie]

They were out of stock at the time and as I still had gel left from my initial use she suggested I top up with that. Given that I’ve had these problems I am glad I didn’t just wack on a 100mg patch as at least with the gel you can reduce the dose.

I have now had four days of patch only and feel so much better but who knows where my levels will be when I have the bloods done tomorrow.

W x