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[chappers]

Hi there. 

I'm on my 5th month of HRT and so far all has gone well.  I'm on two pumps of oestrogen and 2 x 100mg capsules of Utrogestan for 12 days.  I'm peri menopausal and was still having a monthly bleed (short cycles of around 24 days) before starting.  I timed starting HRT to attempt to get my natural cycle and HRT withdrawal bleed in sync and so far this has worked well and for the last 4 months I've had a withdrawal bleed a couple of days after stopping the 12 days of progesterone and no break through bleeding.  Until today! I seem to have started my own period today after only 7 days of taking the progesterone.  I'm a bit of an HRT novice so could someone advise whether I should stop taking the progesterone now as I'm having a bleed and start it again 15 days from today or whether I should continue to take the full 12 days of progesterone even though I'm bleeding.  The latter would mean taking too much progesterone wouldn't it as I would presumably still start taking it again 15 days from today as its day 1 of my cycle?


Sorry for the ramble!  I'm a confused newbie!

Thanks

[CLKD]

   U ramble away, you are in good company 

I don't know how to advise, hopefully someone on this regime will be along.  I would continue as previously.

[sheila99]

My own cycle was always stronger than the hrt one too. I stopped the utro and started counting again otherwise you're likely to get even more out of step. Can you tell when you ovulate? Not everyone can but I solved the problem by starting utro after ovulation.

[chappers]

Thanks for the responses.  Stopping the utrogestan now and starting counting again was my initial thought.  I do get an idea of when I'm ovulating so may try that approach rather than sticking rigidly to the 15 days if it keeps happening. A friend did say that it might be because my natural oestrogen levels may have been fluctuating and higher than normal this month making me oestrogen dominant as 21 days is a short natural cycle for me.  Is this likely?

[CLKD]

Very possibly.

I never knew when I ovulated.

[sheila99]

Short cycles aren't unusual in peri, along with long or missed cycles, heavy, light etc etc. The only thing that's guaranteed is that everything will go haywire. It's the withdrawal of progesterone that triggers the bleed.

[Winter]

I've had a similar experience in month 4, but I carried on taking the progesterone as normal, as everything i read said to continue with HRT and ignore own symptoms

[chappers]

Thanks for the reply Winter. It seems people do different things in this situation. What confuses me about carrying on with the utrogestan for the full 12 days regardless, is that my current 'natural' bleed is heavy and will shed the lining which is what I thought the progesterone phase of the regime was designed to do.  If I'm doing that naturally this month I'd rather not take the extra 5 days of progesterone needlessly.  I guess I'll see what happens next month!!

[sheila99]

I think it depends on where you are in your meno journey. If you're later on in peri and don't have much of a cycle of your own the hrt cycle can take over. If you do have a strong cycle of your own the cycles get out of step you can find you bleed at any time of the hrt month, sometimes twice in a month. Been there, got the T shirt, it really didn't work for me.

[chappers]

Yes that makes sense Shelia99.  This is my 5th month and the first time it's happened so I'll see how I go over the next few months but two bleeds a month regularly sounds tiresome! Thanks again

[Ches15]

Goodness, this sounds so close to my own experience! I started taking estrogel and utrogeston with the same regime in July. The first 3 months had-no issues and was very happy with the choice i had made. Since then i missed a period completely followed by 2 months of very heavy periods coming day18 last month and day 15 this month. I actually fainted last month when i got my period it was that bad. Also lots of menopausal symptoms have returned.
My dr has advised changing to evorel sequi so i will see how I get on. The instructions on taking the HRT give no advice on how to change your cycle when your period comes at the wrong time, it only describes what should-be  happening which isn’t that helpful.

[sheila99]

I hope it works for you but for me the evorel sequi cycles were a nightmare. Once they get out of step (and mine was regularly out of step because it's naturally  longer than 28 days) there is no possibility if getting it back in step again. As you're now bleeding in the middle of the month your own cycle is completely out of step with the hrt one, imo the only way out of this is to alter the hrt cycle as you can't change your own.
Completely agree about the lack of advice. I don't understand the logic of continuing progesterone once you're bleeding. You're already bleeding so at best you don't need it and at worst it may interrupt the flow. Anyone have a theory why you should continue it?

[Evangelista]

This is really interesting. 
I was previously on Femoston sequi and after the first few months, my bleed always came a week into the progestogen fortnight of each month's pack.
I never thought much about it until I researched other HRT delivery methods and properly read up on what hormone is responsible for what.
Prior to changing to utro and Lenzetto my body decided to do its own thing. My bleed was a week late (never normally happens) my boobs were sore (again never happens) and then I bled for over 20 days.
I'm taking utro on a sequi basis so I can make a better comparison against the Femoston.  I didn't have a withdrawal bleed when I stopped the utro last month, and a week into taking it again this month I started to bleed, but only light spotting.
The spotting ties in with my previous cycle,  and I wondered whether my own levels of hormones are more dominant than the HRT and my own cycle is taking over again.

Is it me or is this menopause thing just a whopping great minefield?!!

[sheila99]

Yes, it's a minefield  . The only bright spot is that it gets easier to manage as you head towards meno. My body sticks two fingers up to the hrt cycle too, the only time the hrt cycle has any control is when my body does nothing. Even then it doesn't want to play ball, more often than not I have no bleed at all when I don't produce my own progesterone.