Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: GypsyRoseLee on December 31, 2015, 01:24:56 PM
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On day 6 of Femoston 1/10. Felt really crapoy for the first 3-4 days, and sleep was poor. Not helped by my period starting on Sunday, either, I'm sure.
Period only lasted 2 days and was pretty light. Monday night felt so very low, tearful and anxious. Horrible. Then felt my mood lift Tuesday tea time. Just felt really great, which translates as just feeling 'normal' to me nowadays. Slept like a baby Tuesday night and had a really good day yesterday feeling normal and positive just like the old me again. Went to bed feeling great.............
...............and woke like a meerkat this morning. Felt jittery and upset, tearful, no pleasure in anything. Plus I also feel nauseous and light headed too.
I don't know if this is because I'm not reacting well to oral HRT or whether the lower dose of oestrogen is causing these symptoms.
To say I am thoroughly miserable and fed up is an understatement. At a NYE party tonight and I am dreading it but can't let our friends and, more importantly, our DCs down as they have been looking forward to it for weeks.
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Hello GypsyRoseLee.
I'm so sorry to learn that you are suffering. To say this journey is a roller coaster ride is a cliche but it's true! You may find your good mood returns in time for the party and if not can you plead headache and find a quiet room to sit in?
I understand that you will be seeing Annie Evans in the Spring so hopefully this will be the last NYE that your fluctuating hormones can dominate.
Sending hugs and wishing you a happy 2016.
Take care.
K.
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Hi GRL
Ive been on here for a little while as busy Xmas with my LOs. I wanted to say I totally empathise. I'm on this roller coaster too as you might remember im seeing Prof Studd and on ostrogel and utro (and testosterone) and it's tough going. I came out of a nightmare come down after the utro just had a lovely week or so slept great then bam sleep gone awful again feeling jittery heart palps and no idea why!! About to take utro again from tomorrow for 7 days and seeing Prof Studd on 14th thank God I don't know if my ostrogen is too high or too low but feels like I'll never find a smooth patch for more than a week it's rubbish! I dropped from 3 pumps of ostrogel to 2 which helped for a bit but not great again :(
I hope you enjoy tonight luckily I'm just in with my little ones x
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Thank you so much Kathleen, I really appreciate your words.
This will be the third NYE where my bloody hormones have caused chaos and misery. I feel so angry because my hormones really spoilt the first couple of years of having children because of PND. And now they're ruining these years of my DCs lives now they're old enough to be genuinely good company.
What confused me is that when I was on HRT before, then the BCP, my mood could still be very low/anxious for several days, even a week. But then it would always lift and I could expect 7-10 days of feeling good again. Even 2 good weeks sometimes!
But since coming off the BCP 6 weeks ago I have only had a handful of good days, and never more than 2 together. The pattern has definitely changed.
I really hope that this faster cyclical changes means I am coming to the end of the perimenopause, and these evil fluctuations.
Does anyone know if this is the case?
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Hi Niamh
I wondered how you were getting on?
I think only 4 pumps, consistently, will surpress ovulation and so stop these bloody fluctuations. Otherwise your own hormones will still be falling and rising in the background and causing this chaos.
That you've just enjoyed a good week probably means that your own hormones and the gel were nicely aligned. I've just had 36 hours of bliss, feeling so content and calm, slept like a baby etc. Then bam, all gone, no idea what has changed exactly, but back to feeling crap again.
It's just such a horrible, cruel, cruel syndrome. Yesterday I was giggling with my DCs over something silly. Then later on cuddling up with DH feeling really loved and content. But today I'm back to being stony-faced, not wanting to speak, unable to smile. It's just awful.
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Oh yes I get all of this!! Thank you for the reply on my other post, I wonder why he put me on 3 probably to see if it's enough now ive mucked it up by being on 2 ahhhhhh anyway back to 3 and I'll see in 2 weeks if he takes me up to 4 :) one day we will both be posting on here that we've felt good for longer than 5 mins!x
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GRL I know exactly how you feel. I too should be going to a NYE's party at friends tonight but feel so low, tearful and anxious, my lovely OH has said to stay at home, as he knows being there will just make me feel crappy all night. I then feel worse as I am letting him down and should be out having fun but just can't face it. My friends don't understand how the peri-menopause makes you feel and think it's all in my head - so I am letting them down too. He will then be left to answer all the questions about why I am not there. Like you this is really getting me down and I wonder how much longer I can go on without getting help with anti-depressants. HRT has generally helped with anxiety levels but the last few months I have felt so low. Sorry for airing my feelings on your post but just needed a release. Hope you manage to enjoy NYE. X
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Sorry to hear some of you are feeling in low mood due to these wretched hormones. Hope you all manage to feel better after a glass of wine or so and enjoy your evenings :)
Hurdity x
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Hi GRL,
I remember feeling nauseous much at the start of Femoston. Also, oral HRT does not work immediately, so don't expect anything drastic to change in the next week or so. It tskes time to build up and you are also on a low dose. It is cliche yes to say be patient when you don't feel right but it us true. I remember calling my doctor every week during the first month, asking when I am going to feel better, and him saying please persevere for a month at least. I am glad I did.
I hope you will begin to feel better much sooner than that!
Happy New Year!
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Hi GRL,
I was the same when I started Femosten 1/10 if you remember. I felt dreadful at the end of the pack and onto the new one - panicky in the morning nauseous, terrified tearful . It took 3 months for that to subside . This is because it takes time to build up and adjust ij your system. So you will be feeling crap on and off for a bit, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. After 3 months if there is no improvement at all then adjust the dosage. Give the 1/10 time to do its stuff.
Happy new year
Peppermintyxx
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Really sorry to hear you're feeling like this.
I am in a similar situation, though can't be sure if it's hormones or a continued virus. Either way, I am secretly quite glad my partner is working all night so I have an excuse to do nothing which involves forced happiness!
Like the others, I can identify so much with how you're feeling. The nausea hits me when my hormones are fluctuating, low to high or vice versa. It's pants, either way.
From what you've said in the past, your body likes high estrogen and a kind progesterone. You felt good on Marvelon at this stage (a far higher dose of estrogen than the Femeston) - do you reckon it's the drop from the patches to 1/10 that is affecting you? Could it be worth adding a half patch, given that you know you're ok with more estrogen? I know usually people advise caution with upping estrogen - understandably - but perhaps it's the drop that's affecting you? It seems strange that a 30mg estrogen pill didn't make you nauseous, but the 10 is having this effect? Unless it's the progesterone?
Whatever the cause, hope it eases soon xxxx
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Thank you for everyone's really kind words. I hate feeling this pathetic and feeble, it's really not the 'real' me at all. I've always been self assured and a bit audacious. I hate this me.
Last night actually turned out okay but I did sucumb to taking 20mg of Amitriptyline mid evening because the prickles of anxiety/dread were nasty. It worked, but meant I was struggling to keep my eyes open by 11pm and barely saw in the New Year before going to bed.
This morning I feel better, but probably because the Amitriptyline is still in my system? 20mg is a very low dose (used to take 50mg when I had PND) but because I'm not used to it, it has a stronger effect.
I'm wondering whether to just consistently take 20mg a night until I see my GP in 3 weeks time to discuss upping to Femostan 2/10?
Briony - I think you're right, in that the oestrogen in 1/10 just isn't enough for me. In the last 7 weeks I've gone from 3mg in Marvelon, to 50 mg patch, to an even lower dose of oestrogen. And I think this is why my mood has been so consistently flat and anxious ever since?
I really want to give the Femostan a decent trial, but don't want to feel as miserable as sin for the next 9 weeks until I see Annie Evans either. So I am very tempted to pop on a 25mg patch for the next 3 weeks until I see my GP and ask for 2/10. And from then it will only be a month to seeing Annie Evans anyway, and she might want me to try a whole different regime anyway.
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Hi GRL,
Just want to say I know exactly how you are feeling. Think we have spoken before, we have a lot of the same symptoms. I am on the third month of my hrt and feel exactly the same as you. i have felt really good for last couple of months but over last week all symptoms have returned including two new ones, feeling nauseous and dizzy.
Don't know now whether to continue with patch or not. I am seeing menopause dr in a couple of weeks.
Let's hope we both feel better soon. Xx
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Bracken, it might be that your body initially needed that level of HRT just to stabilise you, but now you need a higher dose to improve you a bit more?
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Hope you are feeling a little better GRL.
Peppermintyxx
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The going to bed normal (and daring to be optimistic) and waking up a mess. That is my life. I snooped around at more of GypsyRoseLee's posts and we are apparently riding the same roller coaster! Where's the attendant? Get us off of this horrid ride!
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Hi PM.
Sorry only just seen your post from a few days ago. After my last post on this thread my mood suddenly lifted and I enjoyed 9-10 days of feeling really good and normal. This coincided with my period finishing and my own oestrogen levels starting to rise. I could tell last Wednesday/Thursday that I was probably ovulating. My sleep has been really good too. Some days I was sleeping through 11pm - 7pm! Otherwise, even when waking pre 6am I was easily dropping back to sleep for another hour or so.
But I took my first combined tablet of Femoston yesterday. I admit I was a bit nervous. Last night I found it hard to fall asleep, then woke in the early hours and felt the usual jittery pangs. When I woke this morning I knew immediately my mood had dropped and the anxiety was back in the background.
Today my mood is definitely 'off' and I don't have that nice, contented feeling I've had for the last week or so. I feel.on edge and jittery, I know you know exactly what I mean.
I'm really hoping I just feel very off because I didn't sleep well last night, having fretted a bit about taking the combined tablet. Otherwise, it will be very unpleasant for the next 12 days until I finish the combined tablets.
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Hi GRL,
It is a mare isn't it !! I hope that you didn't get any worse and that the low mood was only a few days? The progesterone obviously is your downfall. Hang in there, but I suspect that the utro may be a better option for you. The appointment with Annie Evans will be coming up soon , so just hold on until then. I know about not getting enough sleep and waking jittery that is the worst feeling and impossible to control.
I am taking a extra half a oestrogen tablet every other day to see if a slight increase makes me feel any better energy wise. According to the meno nurse having a half dose every other day will still build in my system and that it wont rise and fall each day. I am not sure that is correct as I thought it leaves the system and that's why you need it every day?
PM xx
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Hi PM
Well unfortunately the low mood and anxiety have pretty much bung around since starting the combined tablets. I held in hoping for an improvement again, but no..........except for a couple of days last week, but generally it's been pretty miserable. Dratted progesterone!
I'm seeing GP this week and intend to ask to try 2/10. I suspect I need more oestrogen to oppose the bloody progesterone. I'll stick with the 2/10 for one cycle but then I will be seeing Annie Evans so (pray God) she can help.
Do you feel that upping your dose every other day helps yet?