Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jennyg]

Hello ladies, I am 57 and have not had a period for 10 years. I have endometriosis and Adenomyosis. I have been on Tibolone for the past few years but it's not helping me. My Dr gave me femseven conti and it's now causing pain. I am looking for advice on what is the best HRT for women with endometriosis that still has your uterus. I am so fed up at the moment I just want help with my menapause symptoms. I don't seem to get any help from my Dr 

[Nas]

Is a hysterectomy an option for you?

[Taz2]

Hi Jenny G. My daughter in law has these two conditions and trying to balance the hormones has been really difficult. If you use the search button in the blue bar at the top of the page it will bring up posts about it. This is one thread which may be helpful https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,61772.msg859333.html#msg859333  There has just been a programme on Radio 5 Live about adenomyosis if you'd like to listen to it - I think it will be on Listen Again.

It's always difficult with endo as oestrogen causes it to grow. How much endo have you got and where is it if you don't mind me asking.

Taz x 

[Jennyg]

Is a hysterectomy an option for you?

  Hi Naz Sadly I can't have a hysterectomy as my bowels and bladder are fused to my uterus.

[Jennyg]

Hi Jenny G. My daughter in law has these two conditions and trying to balance the hormones has been really difficult. If you use the search button in the blue bar at the top of the page it will bring up posts about it. This is one thread which may be helpful https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,61772.msg859333.html#msg859333  There has just been a programme on Radio 5 Live about adenomyosis if you'd like to listen to it - I think it will be on Listen Again.

It's always difficult with endo as oestrogen causes it to grow. How much endo have you got and where is it if you don't mind me asking.

Taz x 

Hi Taz thank you I will have a look. Yes it's really difficult I have started with bad pains again trying femseven conti patch. I was put into the menapause with zolodex implant. This helped my pain but the menapause symptoms are bad too 😔. I feel it's like a no win situation.

[joziel]

Jenny, I have endo - I had a lap in 2013 which lasered it out. Then I was put on desogestrel POP for 10 years which suppressed it fine... Till I hit peri-menopause at 43yo and got every low estrogen symptom that existed.

I'm on HRT and have been since then. I'm doing fine. There are different options but ideally my recommendation would be to see someone privately who understands how to manage HRT and endo. Like one of the Newson doctors for eg. (I see Dr Olivia Jones.) They can experiment will all kinds of progesterone options to help suppress it whilst you take estrogen.

You might be offered a Mirena coil but my advice is not to rely on that. The Mirena works mainly in the uterus itself and if you have endo, you have it outside the uterus - that's what it is. So you need some kind of systemic progesterone/progestin to suppress it. Same goes for utrogestan vaginally - I don't think it is systemic enough.

If you can tolerate utrogestan, then you can just take higher doses of that. I take 2x 100mg capsules orally every night (continuous) but because I'm in peri, I do stop to allow a bleed - otherwise I get breakthrough bleeding randomly which freaks doctors out. You can take 3x 100mg capsules nightly, if needed.

Your best bet is not to take a combi product (like Femseven Conti) because it doesn't allow you to adjust the estrogen and progesterone separately. Use a transdermal estrogen (patch or gel) and utrogestan to start with. Use the minimal amount of estrogen you need to get rid of symptoms (2 pumps is the starting dose of gel or a 50 patch) and go as high as you need with the utrogestan to suppress the endo.

If you need more progestin, you can add in desogestrel POP - which is licensed to be used alongside HRT for younger women who need contraception whilst on HRT. But the extra progestin will suppress the endo further.

Basically it's about dialling up the progesterone and being careful with the use of estrogen. Having said that, you do need to check you're absorbing the estrogen - I'm on 5 pumps of gel and about to go up to 6 because I don't absorb it well. My serum estrogen was only 283pmol on 4 pumps. So don't get all afraid about how high the dose is, check the blood levels too...

[Jennyg]

Hi joziel thank you for being very informative I have not had a bleed for over ten years since having zoladex I was on Tibolone for the past 2 years but hasn't helped. I will be contacting my drs tomorrow as the femseven conti has set my pain off. I have a lot of endo in and around my pelvic area and my bowel stage 4. I will definitely look into private Dr for hrt as the Dr I saw was only a young man in his late 20s early 30s.Iylink=topic=68048.msg928273#msg928273 date=1701180025]
Jenny, I have endo - I had a lap in 2013 which lasered it out. Then I was put on desogestrel POP for 10 years which suppressed it fine... Till I hit peri-menopause at 43yo and got every low estrogen symptom that existed.

I'm on HRT and have been since then. I'm doing fine. There are different options but ideally my recommendation would be to see someone privately who understands how to manage HRT and endo. Like one of the Newson doctors for eg. (I see Dr Olivia Jones.) They can experiment will all kinds of progesterone options to help suppress it whilst you take estrogen.

You might be offered a Mirena coil but my advice is not to rely on that. The Mirena works mainly in the uterus itself and if you have endo, you have it outside the uterus - that's what it is. So you need some kind of systemic progesterone/progestin to suppress it. Same goes for utrogestan vaginally - I don't think it is systemic enough.

If you can tolerate utrogestan, then you can just take higher doses of that. I take 2x 100mg capsules orally every night (continuous) but because I'm in peri, I do stop to allow a bleed - otherwise I get breakthrough bleeding randomly which freaks doctors out. You can take 3x 100mg capsules nightly, if needed.

Your best bet is not to take a combi product (like Femseven Conti) because it doesn't allow you to adjust the estrogen and progesterone separately. Use a transdermal estrogen (patch or gel) and utrogestan to start with. Use the minimal amount of estrogen you need to get rid of symptoms (2 pumps is the starting dose of gel or a 50 patch) and go as high as you need with the utrogestan to suppress the endo.

If you need more progestin, you can add in desogestrel POP - which is licensed to be used alongside HRT for younger women who need contraception whilst on HRT. But the extra progestin will suppress the endo further.

Basically it's about dialling up the progesterone and being careful with the use of estrogen. Having said that, you do need to check you're absorbing the estrogen - I'm on 5 pumps of gel and about to go up to 6 because I don't absorb it well. My serum estrogen was only 283pmol on 4 pumps. So don't get all afraid about how high the dose is, check the blood levels too...
[/quote]

[Nas]

Is a hysterectomy an option for you?

  Hi Naz Sadly I can't have a hysterectomy as my bowels and bladder are fused to my uterus.

Ah I see…
So endo is infiltrating those organs?
Parts of bowel can be resectioned during surgery ( if necessary)
Personally, with stage 4 endo, I would be seriously thinking about surgery. These womb tissue issues can be very debilitating and it would take a knowledgeable specialist to help you navigate a way round this.

Good luck 👍👍🤞