Print

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

[CrispyChick]

I know I'm being pathetic. But I've been through so much and I have so many symptoms and sensitivities.

I'm 3 weeks into a small HRT dose. My god, the mood swings. I'm so angry and full of rage and irritation. Horrific.

I was keen to go higher, quicker, so i don't need to go through all this start up hell again. But alas, I can't because I suffer in other ways - MCAS reactions and central nervous system dysfunction.  So I'm stuck trucking along on a small dose.

Please tell me your experiences of the first 2 months.

What got better?
What took longer?
Who experienced severe mood swings? How long for? 

Much appreciated. Xx

[Dotty]

Hi Crispy I’ve got my diary out to see what I felt like. I’d been suffering for 6 years with horrendous symptoms and had been house bound and felt very ill. I somehow managed to get myself back to a state after 4 years where I felt “ok”. Then two years later the horrific symptoms started again and I realised that they were all caused by menopause. Before that I’d been told I had CFS / ME.

So I started HRT … a low dose 1mg tablet to start with. After 3 weeks I went up to a 2 mg pill as my symptoms hadn’t changed. I had 12 weeks on the 2mg with very little change. The hot flushes went after 4 weeks on the 1 mg but nothing else changed.

Nothing really changed until I went onto 4 pumps of Oestrogel. Once I was on this dose things improved within a month.

I saw a specialist when I was at my worst and told her that the side effects of the hrt were awful. She explained to me that what I was experiencing weren’t side effects but were because my oestrogen levels weren’t high enough. She told me that I needed to carry on and if I stopped the hrt then I would be back at square one. But she refused to change my hrt until I had taken the same dose for 3 months, which I did but felt no better.

I saw another specialist who took one look at me and put me on Oestrogel and finally the improvements happened.

That’s my story … I’m not saying you’re the same but I hate to see someone suffering as I did 😢.

[CrispyChick]

Thank you Dotty. Yes, I remember your story.

I'm so glad you found your solution. 

I've never actually needed E before, despite my 7 years of hell. My levels have always been decent.

But now I'm 49 and I'm using cerazette to try and control my cycle. Double supressed me too far. E of 24pmol. So I dropped back to one cerazette - where, after another 8 weeks of adaptation hell, resulted in the return of some fluctuations. Sigh. But also the low E symptoms of the supression remained.

Hence me now adding in HRT.

But...when I add or remove hormones I trigger hell. I have a very dysfunctional central nervous system. And, on top of that, I seem to have MCAS. So I can't increase my E easily. Currently suffering with an MCAS flare after starting the HRT.

I'm just fed up. I'm still feeling low E stuff. But I'm now suffering with my MCAS flare and my moods are horrific - both rageful and low/flat.

I'm just needing to hear from others that really did find HRT took a while to settle I guess. X

[sheila99]

Flushes usually go within a couple of weeks but the emotional ones seem to take much longer. My anxiety and insomnia didn't improve much at all in first month and took 3 months to completely go. I didn't take quite so much notice of the bad temper but I'm fairly sure the improvement was in the second month. Feeling flat and disinterested in everything didn't go until I started testosterone several weeks later. Do you have flushes? As they can be a useful indicator of whether your oestrogen is sufficient.

[Dotty]

Have you looked at the work of Dr Tina Peers? ( I think you probably have.)

[CrispyChick]

Thanks.

Yes having flushes and night sweats. Neither of which are my worst symptom. But I agree, a good gauge.

Still here just now. 3 weeks in.

That's helpful about the bad temper because it's really bad right now. 

Thanks dotty. Yes, I've looked at Tina peers. Spoken to someone that has seen her. My problem is the MCAS reactions are horrid, but they are by far not my worst set of symptoms. So stabalising my hormones is my aim. But when it flares the MCAS in the process it's an added hell.

I know for MCAS the idea of adding in HRT is very very slowly. Start low. That's what I'm doing.

[CLKD]

Butting in here: R U able to explain MCAS 

[Dotty]

What are your worst symptoms ?

[CrispyChick]

Sure. MCAS - mast cell activation syndrome. Histamine intolerance type thing. Very poorly supported by the NHS.

I won't bore you with all my hellish symptoms. A lot of which are my nervous system distinction triggered by hormonal fluctuations rather than the hormones themselves.

But, I'm trying hrt because the Cerazette is holding (hopefully) my E too low and my symptoms of low E are joint pain (groin, wrists, fingers, agonising back and neck pain, hot flushes, sweats, fatigue, mood swings and generally low and flat. And a big dollop of anxiety...but that's always been hanging around.