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[Caggy]

I’ve being taking utrogesgan vaginally for a week now, thanks to this wonderful forum. I no longer have the sedated feeling and wake up feeling quite refreshed, it’s worked really quickly. However, my mood is still quite low. I can’t tolerate alcohol any more and having had a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday probably hasn’t helped. So my question is, is it still early days expecting my mood to improve taking it vaginally or should I persevere? I took it orally for about 4/5 months and my mood was very  low coupled with anxiety. Also, do I need to tell my NHS Dr I’m taking it vaginally? I know it’s not licensed on the NHS this way, could they stop prescribing if they know?

[sheila99]

Sequi or conti? It sounds more like low oestrogen to me but if you use sequi you'll be able to tell.

[Caggy]

I’m on Everol 75, I was on 50 bur Dr upped it. I take 100mg utrogestan daily, continuously. Dr said some people just don’t  tolerate Utrogestan well but I wanted to persevere as one of my main symptoms was lack of sleep and my sleep has improved considerably on Utrogestan. I wouldn’t what to go back to lying wide awake all night.

[sheila99]

My insomnia was from low oestrogen. Utro helps most people sleep but it does the opposite for me. My sleep is better when I take it at 11am so it's worn off a bit by night (sleep is still worse but it's tolerable this way). Once you're settled on the 75 mcg you could try a couple of cycles of sequi to see if there's any difference. Alcohol intolerance may be an age thing rather than meno.

[chopsuey]

I’ve being taking utrogesgan vaginally for a week now, thanks to this wonderful forum. I no longer have the sedated feeling and wake up feeling quite refreshed, it’s worked really quickly. However, my mood is still quite low. I can’t tolerate alcohol any more and having had a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday probably hasn’t helped. So my question is, is it still early days expecting my mood to improve taking it vaginally or should I persevere? I took it orally for about 4/5 months and my mood was very  low coupled with anxiety. Also, do I need to tell my NHS Dr I’m taking it vaginally? I know it’s not licensed on the NHS this way, could they stop prescribing if they know?

I can't comment on the mood aspect of Utro, as it's never affected me in that way, just heavily sedated when taken orally.

I would perhaps be a bit cautious about informing your GP about taking it vaginally. This option to solve the sedation issue was never offered to me by the GP - it was a coil or nothing -  and I had to see a private specialist to approve it. I guess it depends on how clued up your GPs are and their general attitude towards HRT. My GPs are certainly not very knowledgeable and when I saw a gynaecologist about another matter, the consultant was very unhappy that I took it vaginally and I was worried they would put that in the letter to the GP. They didn't, thankfully.

In an ideal world, you would normally want to be upfront and honest about medications with your GP but if you choose not to tell them, just be mindful that people absorb drugs differently and although many women take it that way, look out for any signs you are not absorbing it well, such as breakthrough bleeding.

[Caggy]

Thanks all, really helpful. Just when I feel things are improving they seem to go pear shaped again and it’s a struggle to get the balance right. I’m considering coming off the patches and ask for gel instead as maybe I’m not absorbing enough. Been in tears all morning after a throwaway comment at work (but WFH today, thank god)  I can’t seem to get a grip of my emotions and the slightest thing tips me over the edge.

[Hurdity]

I’ve being taking utrogesgan vaginally for a week now, thanks to this wonderful forum. I no longer have the sedated feeling and wake up feeling quite refreshed, it’s worked really quickly. However, my mood is still quite low. I can’t tolerate alcohol any more and having had a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday probably hasn’t helped. So my question is, is it still early days expecting my mood to improve taking it vaginally or should I persevere? I took it orally for about 4/5 months and my mood was very  low coupled with anxiety. Also, do I need to tell my NHS Dr I’m taking it vaginally? I know it’s not licensed on the NHS this way, could they stop prescribing if they know?

Hi Caggy

I've only ever taken Utrogestan vaginally and ALWAYS feel sedated the next morning - because it does have a sedative effect, and is absorbed systemically. The difference from oral intake is that because it doesn't go through the digestion and liver before being delivered to the uterus, you don't get large quantities of the metabolic by-products that can be responsible for low mood.

I agree that if your mood is low you might want to increase oestrogen though the sedative effect, as well as making me somewhat fatigued, also leads to lethargy, and foggy head - not low mood as such but generally bleugh...

Re alcohol - I stopped being able to tolerate much alcohol when I reached peri-menopause and something happened. However it is always worse when on the progesterone phase of HRT. I manage it by having much less and having it ealrier in the evening - rarely after 9 pm otherwise I will wake with a migraine. Also lots of water to dilute it afterwards.

The only advantage to telling your doc is if they are enlightened enough to prescribe the vaginal preparation which comes as 200 mg so easier to insert.

Hurdity x

[Caggy]

Thanks Hurdity for the really helpful advice. Still a bit of a juggling act and I have booked a Drs appt to talk about different options as I started bleeding after taking the utrogestan vaginally and it is now subsiding after taking orally again.
You’re right, I think the alcohol intolerance might be down to age rather than menopause, and how our bodies process it. A glass of wine does me nowadays but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!