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[Turkish delight]

So I ran out of my Amber square bottle a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to believe the whole Green square Amber square thing, partly bcz there's nothing we can do about it. Plus apparently, there's a Yellow square one too.

I had trouble with reoccurring symptoms back in Jan and Feb, but didn't know anything about the squares theory then so didn't take note of whether I was on the less potent bottle(Green)

So after a good month on Amber, symptoms were under control again though I had upped the dose by half pump as I was still unaware of the squares theory. I now have insomnia, headache, bad tearfulness, mood swings, dry throat, bad brain fog, I'm saying the dumbest things, and body aches again.
So I'm thinking there is something to this. It's weaker it seems!? Based on my own anecdotal evidence, which pharma company is going to spend the money to test this out in a lab!?

 

TD

[Flan747]

Definitely is different! I was on 6 pumps orange square ticking along nicely then had some green and some orange square but without the swirl and my symptoms returned and this was backed up by a low estradiol blood test! Now on patches and am much better and just getting my dose right !

[Turkish delight]

WOW! really, that's amazing. I've never been offered a test so don't know what my levels are. Can you just ask on the NHS?

TD

[Flan747]

I asked my GP for a test to see if I was absorbing the gel due to returning symptoms and luckily he was happy to do it!

[Louise2010]

Keep the bottles ladies and report defective product to :

https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

This will make sure any batch that is not doing it’s job is reported and something can potentially be done to highlight any watering down, ingredient changing etc. I reported 2 green square bottles that were completely different texture to orange square and on the green square my symptoms returned.

Confusingly I’m now on more green square and consistency/texture is thicker and symptoms under control.

[Turkish delight]

Lousie, I just re-watched the insta post you linked, it is brilliant, I really recommend ppl watch it. Reading the posts alongside someone wrote something very informative, I will copy-paste it under here.

"Ladies, if you read the Patient Information Leaflet of Oestrogel you can see that the product used to be manufactured by Delpharm im Drogenbos, Belgium. The recently changed PIL (December 2021) says it can be manufactured by Delpharm in Drogenbos, Belgium OR Besins Laboratories International, in Montrouge, Paris, France (LBI), so there's clearly a difference between the products, even if the formulation should be exactly the same, it will probably not be the same because different manufacturing facilities might be subjected to minor differences in raw materials, including the API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), in this case, estradiol hemihydrate, or the other non-active ingredients (alcohol, trolamine, purified water). LBI only used to manufacture testosterone gel for the US market (Androgel), according to Besins Healthcare international website, but now LBI is also manufacturing Oestrogel (the ones with the green square 🟩 apparently, the batch numbers are a 5-digit starting with 10). I still don't know if all products are going to be manufactured in France in due time (France has a government project to relocate many manufacturing facilities back to France, to avoid shortages caused by the monopoly of China and India in the pharmaceutical industry, among other factors).
I suppose it's just a matter of adjusting the doses between the 🟧 bottles and the green square 🟩 ones. It will depend on each woman to figure out which one has to be increased or decreased in dose because depending on which one you were before, you might feel better with either the green square 🟩 or the orange square 🟧."

[Louise2010]

That’s really useful TD thank you for posting. The link was good wasn’t it? The Australian lady hosting is great for talking to many people with useful info on all things to do with the menopause to. definitely re post it.
X

[Turkish delight]

The link is great Lousie, thanks for finding and posting it.
The date on the post is September 2021, just so ppl know when this was starting to become noticeable, but reported before that date obv.

For those looking to watch it, the link is under here.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CTpiD9GqVS1/?utm_medium=copy_link

All my most recent bottles are the Green square from France with 5 digit code starting with the number 10...boohooo!

I find it hard to believe Basins hasn't drawn a connection to the different plants being at the center of the issue, it's page 1 stuff, not like you need to do a lot of digging if you were working for Basins and put in charge of researching why this is happening.

For me, I've decided to add another small blob of gel, I'm already at 6 pumps, and then ask to have an Estrodial test at GP and/or be referred to a menopause clinic with the view of changing to patches. Bcz it seems as though Basins answer to higher demand for their gel has resulted in the French plant now producing some too, and it seems to be producing a "less than"version.

TD

[Jillyboo]

Very late to the party I know but has this issue been resolved now? I came off oestrogen for a while then restarted using a canister I obtained months ago which has the green square and was baffled as it doesn't seem to be working at all. Reading this thread was a comfort- I'm not going crazy. I will ditch this canister and try one with an amber square now!

[Gnatty]

Weirdly I prefer the green square. Maybe I am on too much with the amber? Have you considered that your needs might have changed now and you need to adjust the dosage?

[Jillyboo]

I've been using the gel for many years. Started off on two pumps then gradually reduced to one. My main symptoms have always been night sweats and daytime flushing.  Some time ago we had the Oestrogel v Oestrodose debate.  At that stage I seemed able to swap between the two with no issues at all. Possibly I think it may have been because at that stage I was well pre-loaded with oestrogen.

Recently I tried coming off HRT but within a few weeks the drenching sweats returned so I re-started using a green square canister which I've been using for several weeks now and it's made absolutely no difference at all. I would have expected at least some relief by now. I was lying in bed last night under my summer weight duvet absolutely boiling up and wondering what the hell was going on. Going to start using an orange/amber square canister tonight so fingers crossed I'll start to feel some improvement soon.

Maybe there was just a rogue batch of green marked canisters and others are OK?

[Dotty]

Hi Jillyboo…it could take 3 months for the Oestrogen to build up again in your system. x

[Gnatty]

I agree Dotty. When you have been running on empty it takes a while to build up reserves again. You could try increasing your dose and then rein it in again once you are settled. Or go slow and accept the time it will take to get to a decent level.

[Pippa52]

Sadly none of them worked for me whichever colour the bottle had on it.  My oestrodial level plummeted to only 53 as I did not absorb it at all according to the Meno consultant yet before the shortages I was on Oestrogel for over 25 years with no problems so for sure for me personally something changed.  I have transferred to Estradot 50 patches and had my first blood test this week levels up now to 144 and have been advised to go up to the 75 patch which should hopefully get my levels up again to over the 200 mark.  Definitely beginning to feel a lot better than I was on Oestrogel - still get some ups and downs but the downs becoming less and less. x

[Turkish delight]

Oh, there's definitely something in the sauce as they say.

Some women feel it and others are less sensitive to it. We are all different, some do better with green square and others amber, and you don't know until you know if you get my drift. It's blatantly obvious to you when it affects you.

TD