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[Blue Kingfisher]

Hi all,

My oestrogen last measured 105 and I’ve been feeling very flat, can’t see the point in anything and have very little energy. I’ve been on 3 pumps oestrogel for a while and increased it yesterday to 4 pumps. I had a rough night as a result - hot flashes, insomnia and some nausea thrown in. Im unsure if I should keep going with 4 pumps or perhaps try 3.5 pumps & see how I go. I presume what I experienced as a result of upping the oestrogel is totally normal & to be expected? Has anyone else found the upping of oestrogen seemed to make their symptoms worse to start with?

Thanks hugely for any responses! I don’t know what I’d do without this forum with us all battling though the mayhem 

[Dotty]

Hi yes I think some do experience a worsening of symptoms when they increase x

[Blue Kingfisher]

Thank you Dotty. So difficult to push through these things as my mind starts to play tricks on me…..”are your sure you needed to increase your oestrogen?…..Perhaps I needed to decrease it?” etc. I’ll keep going, but might try 3.5 for a while first. One of my biggest problems is I’m impatient and quite heavy handed with these increases and decreases. It’s hard to do things slowly and gradually when you just feel terrible and want to feel as close to normal as possible. Even ‘meh’ would be a big improvement right now 

[Felix]

Hi,
It's really difficult to know how the tweaks to hrt work.
It would be really useful to know what small tweaks to estradiol and utogesten do.

What are the usual ( I know it's difficult to say as we are all different) effects of increasing or decreasing them?

I guess also we need to give time for the effects to stabilise too.

Thank you 😊

[Gnatty]

If you imagine your body to be a radiator and then it set to a certain temperature..... When you increase or decrease oestrogen you are messing with the thermostat. Your body does not like this and will react. As long as you don't keep twiddling with the knob (!!) it will eventually settle to the new temperature. You will only then be able to tell if the new temperature suits you better than the old. The initial reaction to the temperature change proves nothing either way.

[Blue Kingfisher]

Thanks Gnatty, that’s a brilliant analogy and will keep this is mind whilst trying to stick to the increased dose as I think my body needs it. It’s just going to struggle with the new thermostat setting for a while!

[Felix]

Thanks Gnatty,
That's really helpful, my body does seem to be settling a little.
I hope.yours does too Blue Kingfisher.

Do you have any thoughts in tweaking utrogestan Gnatty? Particularly in relation to bleeding?

Thank you 😊

[Gnatty]

I'm afraid not, I ended up having a hysterectomy last summer because of large fibroid and so I don't take any progesterone. X

[sheila99]

I would increase by half a pump initially. For some people it takes longer for the body to adjust than others

[Felix]

Hello,
Thinking about estrogel......I remember when I first started it I felt a bit wired, like I'd had too much caffeine and got very chatty, in some ways the energy was good but also a bit manic and that wasn't so good.
It's settled down now, I'm on 2 pumps.
Thanks 😊

[Blue Kingfisher]

That mirrors my response to oestrogel when I increased it too Felix so thank you for that. I wonder how long it will take to settle down….2 weeks?

[Felix]

I think it took a good few weeks to settle.  It's only in the last few weeks I've stopped feeling so wired, but again that feeling wasn't there all the time. So probably around almost 3 months to settle.
I had auras up to about 3 months in too. I'm almost 4 months into HRT, I started (again on the 6th feb)
I still don't think I've properly settled as I've had a lot of bleeding the last month.
I'm not sure why but it's been a concern. I'm thinking it might be because I'm only taking utrogestan alternative night 100mg vaginally and that perhaps blood has built up and us coming out?? I don't know I'm trying to work it all out and what part of HRT does what.
I'm going to try 2 night on utrogestan and one night off and seeing that helps with the bleeding. Any others people's experience would be gratefully received
Thanks 😊

[Blue Kingfisher]

Hi Felix, I couldn’t get on with 100mg Utro at all, the bleeding was ridiculous! I was flooding but this problem went away when I upped Utro to 200mg so yes, worth trying increasing your Utro to see if that eases the bleeding. However, that’s when I was using it on sequi so if you are using it conti….you should perhaps seek advice.

[Kat36]

Always, alway, always. My body HATES those increases. It does seems to settle after about a month though, but holding on is brutal when those side effects are so very unpleasant. 
For me Utrogestan made me feel lousy when I first started taking it every day orally…I’ve never felt so tired in my life. But it lifted eventually after about 3 weeks and again when I increased the dose of estrogen a tiny bit.