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[Sarahjayne82]

Hi all!

I'm fairly new to all of this, so apologies for the long post. After years of being told I was far too young and being ignored by my drs, I was told 4 months ago that I'm going through menopause. I'm 41, and after finally speaking to someone at the menopause clinic about my previous history and struggles, i have been informed that I have already passed the perimenopause stage, and am now onto the real deal 😫 I've been on oestrogel and was on medroxyprogesterone, as utrogestan was unavailable. This caused me to have 5 weeks of continuous bleeding, after not having a period for a year!! I was finally able to find utrogestan, and I've been taking it for 3 weeks now.
The bleeding has stopped(thank god) but I'm now suffering with what feels like vertigo, I feel constantly dizzy and spaced out, and had the worst migraine the other day. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it a normal reaction to the utrogestan, and will it settle down at any point?
I'm honestly at breaking point, and it's got me feeling like I should stop HRT altogether 😭😭 please tell me I'm not the only one that feels like this? I just feel so overwhelmed by everything at the moment, and I'm not sure what to do for the best?

[Tynkabelle]

Sorry to hear you’re not having a fab time with it - I have been taking HRT almost 25 years, premature menopause/in my early 30s etc when formally diagnosed after a few years of grief!

Are you taking the Utrogestan just before you go to bed and on an empty stomach?
… it makes you sleepy/disorientated so they say to have it before you go to sleep etc and a 2 hour gap from eating food?

I am on the 4th month of the 100mg version and for awhile I would wake up quite groggy but for me it has now settled down and the headaches/grogginess has gone - ok we react to it all differently 😀
I tend to give HRT 4-6 weeks to see how my body reacts and if it doesn’t like it will be back to the Drs to change! Ok I have been on various HRT for awhile so can tell the symptoms for me and I can be quite assertive when telling the Dr!

If you really feel that it is not settling at all after 3 weeks, pop back to the Drs and tell them the symptoms you have been getting and ask them if this is normal for you etc

I hope you find a positive solution that works for you.

[joziel]

You can use the same utrogestan vaginally as usually that doesn't have the same effects on the rest of you. If you've tried what Tynkabelle suggests first...

[Hurdity]

Hi Sarahjayne

 

Please don't apologise for your post - - it is not long at all!! It's good to have sufficient information so that we can try to help.

One thing you didn't say, is what dose of utrogestan you are taking and presumably you are taking it continuously? So you say you haven't had a period for a year (including spotting or very light period)- was that before you started HRT? As you are only 41 I presume you are also still using contracaption if your personal circumstances mean that you need it?

You may prefer to take the utrogestan cyclically (either orally, or vaginally as joziel suggests - to reduce side effects) which will give you "normal" periods though they are artificial withdrawal bleeds - but should be more predictable.

Hope this helps and do tell us how you get on

Hurdity x

[Furyan]

Hi all!

I'm fairly new to all of this, so apologies for the long post. After years of being told I was far too young and being ignored by my drs, I was told 4 months ago that I'm going through menopause. I'm 41, and after finally speaking to someone at the menopause clinic about my previous history and struggles, i have been informed that I have already passed the perimenopause stage, and am now onto the real deal 😫 I've been on oestrogel and was on medroxyprogesterone, as utrogestan was unavailable. This caused me to have 5 weeks of continuous bleeding, after not having a period for a year!! I was finally able to find utrogestan, and I've been taking it for 3 weeks now.
The bleeding has stopped(thank god) but I'm now suffering with what feels like vertigo, I feel constantly dizzy and spaced out, and had the worst migraine the other day. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it a normal reaction to the utrogestan, and will it settle down at any point?
I'm honestly at breaking point, and it's got me feeling like I should stop HRT altogether 😭😭 please tell me I'm not the only one that feels like this? I just feel so overwhelmed by everything at the moment, and I'm not sure what to do for the best?

I had exactly the same when I increased utrogestan recently. I had to increase to balance the oestrogen patch. Now on Evorel 75 and whichever way I tried to take utrogestan, it gave me symptoms of excess progesterone plus shocking problems with vestibular processing/balance. I’m into fitness and suddenly couldn’t manage some exercises as I was wobbling everywhere, not to mention extremely weak and fatigued. It’s eased since reducing the utrogestan, and I decided to try cyclogest until I see my consultant. Two days in, it’s too early to tell, but I’ll update in a few days.

Sorry you feel overwhelmed - I feel like this too and sometimes want to give up on HRT. Stay hopeful that, with the right supoort from here and otherwise, you will find what’s ‘good enough’ for you xx

[Sarahjayne82]

Thanks all, I feel a lot more reassured now that I know that it's a balancing act. I take 100mg utrogestan at night, and use 2 pumps of the oestrogel in thw mornings, I'm hoping that things settle down soon and I will feel a little bit more like myself again 🙏🙏  This whole menopause journey is a huge learning curve isn't it?! xx

[meno-mel]

Hi Sarahjayne82,
Huge learning curve is right.
I had no idea there was so much to menopause and I'm continually shocked at the lack of medical knowledge about either menopause or HRT.
Even the experts simply don't know the answers to my questions.
Never mind experts, even google doesn't know much about menopause!

Taking utrogestan vaginally solved the dizziness problem for me completely. I also was totally wired and couldn't sleep with utrogestan 200mg taken orally, taken vaginally it doesn't have any head/mood effect for me, taking it vaginally keeps it close to where it's needed I guess and it doesn't need to be digested because it's already in the form the body uses.

I had symptoms of menopause for years that I didn't know were menopause symptoms, even though they all started in my late 40s, my doctor didn't know they were menopause symptoms either.

I still take prozac for anxiety, bisopralol for palpatations, tramadol for joint pains, gabapentin for weird skin/nerve pains and I've had numerous "sleep hygene" lectures from doctors who don't give sleeping pills. The very last thing to happen was my periods got irregular from age 49-51 then stopped completely just as I started having hot flushes. That was when I finally googled menopause and found out I'd already been through the worst of it (I hope).

Then 16 months ago, when I was 52, I trotted along to my GP and told her it was 13 months since my last period, night sweats are a nuisance, can I have HRT please?

I'm still not sure whether that was a mistake or not, I don't feel better, but I want to protect my bones from oesteoporosis so I'm determined to figure it out, even though I've got my periods back again now.
My five day bleeds stayed regularly four weeks apart on conti for about a year, so the meno-nurse decided to change my diagnosis back to peri menopausal, I think the real reason for that was otherwise they'd have had to scan me and the waiting list is months long where we live so they couldn't.

The doctors don't actually know what will happen in advance, it's all trial and error, they can tell you how some women will react but they won't know which reaction you'll have until you tell them it and even then it can be hard to be heard as you have experienced.

P.S. This is what a long post looks like!