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[Taz2]

Hi Stella - do you know which climagest you are on - the 1mg or the 2mg? I thought first of all that it may have been the norethisterone making you feel like this but if you have only been taking them for a week you will only be on the oestrogen part at the minute.

Sorry you are feeling so bad. It can take a while to get the right HRT but it is worth persevering. It can take three months for the full effect of HRT to be felt. It could be that you would be feeling this bad even without the HRT given all the different stages that meno goes through. Have a hug 

Taz x

[poppy50]

Hello

Have started to use 'Red Clover' as an alternative therapy.  Would appreciate any comments of anybody who has used Red clover and how long it takes to kick in, if ever.

Regards
Poppy50

[Meggie]

Hi all

I'm new to HRT and have avoided using it for years, hoping all the negative feelings and flushes would go away - nobody else around me seemed to be having the same symptoms.  However, I have succummed to using OEstrodose estradiol gel Monday-Friday with Saturdays & Sundays "rest".  I've only been using it for 10 days, the first Saturday without I felt awful, legs like jelly and light headed. Yesterday, the second Saturday felt really odd, had 5 hot flushes in 2 hours and very emotional (probably because it frightened me).  I'm finding it hard to stay positive at the moment but the more I read the more I understand that I have to give this treatment longer before judging it.  Might I say that over a period of 24 hours pre HRT I was having as many as 25 hot flushes, it has reduced to between 7 and 15 - surely that's worth giving it a go !

Good Luck to everyone "in the same boat"

Meggie

[borchesterlass]

Hi Sarah
 I like you was adamant that I wasn't going to take HRT . I am noe 8 years since last period and only 53. I thought  I had got through the worst. Sex life was virtually nil and libido had got up and gone. But I thought hey I can cope with this. until a few months ago vaginal atrophy kicked in. i didn't really know what it was. Just knew I was sore, always having a discharge and finding it difficult to walk long distances because of course theyre was always that urge for the loo. I was sleeping only a ccouple of hours a night.
I saw a very good Gp and have been on Fem seven conti patches for four weeks now. I feel fantastic, interested in hubby once again, concentration improved and hey sleeping at night. The vaginal and bladder symptons have gone. I have however more bouts of indegestion and have been feeling more stressed. (but this could be Christmas panic). My quality of life is so much improved I had forgotten what feeling normal was.

[endoftether]

Bad bad bad! I have had a very negative experience with hrt used to combat the effects of Decapeptyl and can honestly say that I will NEVER touch the stuff again. I'd rather have the effects of chemical menopause than take the risk that is hrt.

[Taz2]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience EndofTether - did you only try one sort or did they make you try loads. The pills especially are difficult to tolerate - especially if you are already going through difficult treatments - and the different progesterones can also upset moods.

Taz x

[endoftether]

I tried Kliovance which gave me really hellish migraines and then Livial which got me arrested! No more hrt for me I think!

[Cazikins]

I have been on several types of HRT for more than 2 years now. I have tried tablets, patches & gel.

Tablets can give you a bad tummy + diarrhoea (thanks Catweazle for the spelling of that word).  They are absorbed through the stomach so if you are sensitive in that department then you could have problems.

Patches - excellent for me for about 9 months, no problems with diarrhoea or nausea but in the end I got a reaction to the adhesive & my thighs ended up looking like a patchwork quilt...red & sore.

Gel Well this was the funniest. I had to apply this pump gel twice a week to my upper arms & I came out of the bathroom with my arms akimbo in fear of touching hubby..... who could have grown breasts if I had touched him for the next 30 minutes or so (by all accounts from the leaflet that came with the gel)....

I am now on the lowest dose of HRT tablets (1mg, I was on 2). It has stopped the hot flushes but not the panic/anxiety attacks  , for that I have started beta blockers which I hope to eventually come off of....hey but then I thought the same about HRT.

[Suzi Q]

After reading all this Im not going to bother ever
If theres no new cream then sod it
The sides to HRT seem worse than the meno
Its really scarey
Suzi Q
just talked to my cousin she got HRT again for the 6th time this time she took 3 was so ill
She threw them down the loo and demanded to go back on HRT cream
 :'(she said enoughs enough she wasnt prepared to be a guinea pig any more

[terriw]

I remember all the problems I had in my twenties with the pill, tried so many, so many awlful reactions. Had to give up on that altogether. Then later I ended up having fertility treatment, yet again, hormone treatments made so ill. Now here we are, full meno for 3 years now. I was dead against trying ANY hormonal treatment, had been through enough although when it gets really bad I sometimes just wish I could find a magic pill but my doc won't give me HRT anyway as I lost my Mum to breast cancer. I'd love to know just how much money I've wasted on alternative treatments, all a waste of time. Think I'll just try and ride it through now in the hope that it will come to an end. Just trying Serenity cream at the mo (4 weeks)...and ACT (as from yesterday). Worrying though...my poor Mum had hot flushes for 40 years.......

[Meggie]

I was totally against taking HRT until my symptoms got so bad I had to give in. Nothing "over the counter" worked, I tried Red Clover, Star Flower Capsules, Evening Primrose - it cost me £100's over the 4 years before HRT then, whilst at the docs for a different problem I had a really bad flush, threw jacket and jumper off, out came the Spanish fan donated by a friend and I was flapping about trying to cool down for 5 minutes.  The doc immediately made arrangements for me to see a Specialist and when I went the following week I was so desperate that I spread the Oestrogen Gel on my home whilst travelling home ...... no I wasn't driving.

I'm now in my 3rd month and it's made such a difference, flushes down to 3 today (usually have a couple more during the evening 'cus it gets hot in front of the log burner) and sleeping much better too. 

It really depends on the individual - I think I've been lucky up to now.

Meggie

[Suzi Q]

Terri,
I didnt take the pill either tried 2 or 3 had terrible reactions then I went back home on leave (I was in the WRENS)
I went to my family Gp who threw 40 fits and said I could never take it
Unbenownst to me my Mum had gone on the pill in the early 60s when it first came out and had a heart atack at 32
They were very strong in those far off days in fact I remember dont ask me why
In 69 they took nearly all the pills of the market literally overnight google it and see think they took something like 30 off
Women and young girls were dropping like flys girls coming back from the honeymoon and dieing of heart atacks it was the pill
So untill I went premeno or in fact I was in my first year of no periods it was then I took the mini pill and Ovestin cos of dry vagina
This was the time in the 90s when the HRT scare was and millions of women world wide came off it Drs wouldnt prescribe it
There was no internet no real information GPs didnt talk about meno except to say come back if you feel bad(antdepressants)
All the aches pains dizzienss headaches depression sadness weird woozzy feeling anger achy bones
Never once put those things down to meno till I joined this forum last August I just thought I was going nuts my Mum had 7bdowns
I thought untill last year it was wonky periods hit flushes and mood swings never  thought  all the others were meno symptoms
So I never went back to the Gp about them I just carried on with the HRT cream and the mini pill
Thinking now maybe it was best I didnt know I was on my own (lady wise) I never talked about it to anyone I thought it was me
Reading now even with Av which is shite wouldnt wish that and the vanishing fanny (way too early for that)
Im glad thats all over yes I still get the hot flushes and the headaches but thats now to do with not taking the Ovestin
Maybe ignorance was bliss in my case probably right
\Suzi Q

[Susanm]

Hello, I'm new to this site and hoping that someone can help me with my recent introduction to HRT.  I started on Evoril Sequi patches which were fantastic for the first month - hadn't felt this well in years. Unfortunately halfway through the second month I was experiencing severe daily headaches and the practice nurse at my GP Surgery told me to stop them immediately and changed me to Climagest 1mg.  I've been taking these for 3 months now and whilst the hot flushes have gone I am experiencing all the other horrible things that come with the menopause/peri menopause; sleepless nights, anxiety attacks, palpatations, very emotional etc etc.  In two weeks the Evoril Sequi had got rid of all those awful feelings but in 3 months Climagest hasn't made a jot of difference.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Taz2]

Hi Susanm - welcome to the forum 

I have checked the make-up of both evorel sequi and climagest. Evorel Sequi contains estradiol hemihydrate and Climagest contains estradiol valerate. We were talking about this yesterday on here as we are not sure what the difference is. They both contain Norethisterone as the progesterone which is notorious for causing anxiety and pmt type symptoms. Are you feeling anxious all the time or only in the second half of the cycle and have your headaches disappeared with the Climagest?

I was on Evorel Sequi but changed to Femseven Sequi due to the mood swings and general low mood that Everol gave me for the last ten days of my cycle. Femseven is good but the patches fall off with monotonous regularity!!

Have a good browse around the site - you will find lots of friends on here and there is always someone around to give advice or a hug (or both) 

Taz  x

[Suzi Q]

Hi Susanm
Hope you feeling happier today
We all know what your going through
Take good care
Suzi Q