Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: vintagefiend on August 26, 2016, 11:36:01 AM
-
Hello,
I've had horrible emotional perimenopause symptoms for a while now and have tried a variety of treatments.
I am now in my second month of qlaira. The first month, I didn't notice I was on it- which I took to be a good sign as previously unable to tolerate any hormonal medication for that long!
However, this second month, I really don't feel good at all- depressed and anxious. I will persevere, particularly if I know that this sometimes happens- just weird that it didn't happen in first month.
The other concern which may be related is that I've read on here that it's more akin to HRT and I've realised (after much trial and error) that I'm not yet a candidate for HRT as doses too mild for my early stage of peri/meno (I'm 44). I thought that qlaira prevented ovulation- as with other contraceptive pills- but could it be that it's not "strong" enough and merely adding to my my fluctuating hormones rather than overriding them? I really want a blank canvas, want to eradicate my own cycle!
Should I just wait a bit longer before making a judgement call?! Thanks :)
-
Normally, you stick it out for 3 months. Try keeping a diary. Also, make sure you are sleeping and eating properly, exercising and drinking plenty as this will help you ride it out.
Qlaira should do the same as a normal coc, except that the oestrogen used is more like our own and the phase without any pills is shorter.
The high dose of progestogen stops ovulation, and this is helped by the oestrogen, which also keeps bleeding under control. This is a tri-phasic pill so the amount of hormone changes gradually and gives you more of a 'cycle' which may take a bit of getting used to, but it should be consistent.
-
thanks Dahlia, appreciate the response- I will give it the full 3 months.
I hadn't realised that the progestogen in qlaira was high and I'm a bit concerned about this as have had v difficult time with various progestogens and would prefer to minimise! But I have read that qlaira good for those who can't tolerate other ocps so i took this to mean people like me (with likely prog intolerance/pmdd). But then again- various other forms of progetogen would affect me within a day or so whereas qlaira was fine for first month (which totally amazed me!). For some context- when i had mirena coil- i was loopy after a couple of days and that was def the prog!! good to know ovulation will stop- maybe I'm not fully suppressed yet. Thanks again.
-
From what I've learnt from the MM Qlaria expert, it has progesterone in it for 22 days, so could it be the build up of the progesterone in your system that you are reacting to?
Also correct me if I am wrong anyone, but I don't think Qlaria has strong oestrogen like some of the other CP's. But the oestrogen is bio identical and not synthetic in Qlaria.
I'm not sure but the only other way to get a blank canvas would be to switch off your own oestrogen production. Not sure how effective this is, but I know another member of this site is currently undergoing this treatment.
Good luck!
-
Thanks Mis71- it certainly feels like a progestogen thing! Feel v on edge and furious!! (NB 2 kids at home, hence the summer holiday fury! just about reining it in in front of them)
i have tried chemical meno/ zoladex and that was disastrous, i'm afraid- i was v v depressed- so i think i need my oestrogen (the add back was not enough)
it would be helpful if progestogen wasnt in 22 of the qlaira tablets! i know that femoston has prog in only half the tablets- maybe i should try but dont know what prog it has and i'm soooooo exhausted from the trial and error! i will stick with qlaira for 3 months, though. thanks again x
-
sorry another question if you're still there Mis71! Is there an official expert on qlaira on MM? CHEERS
-
Yes - the expert to me is Briony - I'm sure she won't mind me mentioning her name. Also Angel66 has been on it a while and about to come off it I think.
I do know Briony says that she started to feel better after 4 months. So maybe you will need to give it a bit longer. Briony also likes the progesterone side of HRT rather than the oestrogen.
-
thank you, Mis71- that's really helpful.
-
Hi vintage friend. I am on my 3rd month of qlaira and I am struggling with bad irritability in the first week of pill taking. I'm hoping this will get better but not sure where to go next if it doesn't improve. Like yourself I am struggling with kids/ school holidays so do not know if this is just exacerbating my feelings of irritability!! Starting to feel down/ weepy too... I've tried loads different pills and always struggle with side effects, mirena not an option for me.
Hoping symptoms improve once kids are back at school!!!
-
The pill is stronger so is more likely to stop ovulation and over-ride your cycle compared to HRT. Takes a month to kick in initially so you may be feeling the truer effects now your own hormones have been dampened down.
I tried Qlaira but I really didn't feel good on the progesterone in it and think that is more dominant in this specific pill as the Oestrogen is plant based, so you may feel the prog more if it doesn't suit you.
If you find the progesterone you are best with then you can play around with that family of pills. I felt depressed on Levonorgestrel but uplifted on Norethisterone. I thus had the choice of oestrogen dominant (Brevinor) or progesterone dominant (Loestrin) which suited my body chemistry.
Like with HRT, it's about trial and error.
-
Thanks, I have tried all various types of pills/ formulations/ progesterone types. I found loestrin 20 fine at first then made me incredibly depressed. Tried brevinor to see if more estrogen improved the depression which it did, but I had horrendous irritability and breast pain. I thought of may be trying norimin as it's in between the 2 but the Dr suggested qlaira. Perhaps I should try norimin? Running out of one's to try. I've been on femodene, femodette, microgynon 30, cilest, cerazette, micronor, yaz, yasmin, loestrin 20, brevinor..... running out of options :-\
-
Forgot mercilon, 2 attempts at insertion of a coil and said I'd have to have a general anesthetic... prozac, .... agnus castus, magnesium, vitamin d, epo, Trans and mef acid for bleeding on cerazette. Getting desperate now
-
Well for similar reasons, I used to take Brevinor for half the month at end and beginning of cycle, and Loestrin for the other half when oestrogen is higher in mid-cycle and that seemed to tame the extremes like you had. I tried Norimin but found it similar to Loestrin due to the prog dominance but only for a few days as had found my system worked so stuck with that, if had given it longer Norimin may have been a good balance.
I found the pill too potent once my oestrogen surges had calmed down (Brevinor suited me for many years when younger) which I think was due to less need for Norethisterone to oppose the surges, so I felt a bit more irritable on it. Nothing terrible though but I felt medicated as opposed to relieved so have stopped it now - I guess like when you take antibiotics when you need them and you feel great but once you no longer need them they make you feel rough!
-
Thank you danger mouse I never thought about combining the 2 at different points. I felt a million dollars when I first tried loestrin but gradually got more and more depressed verging on suicidal which is completely out of character for me. Brevinor I felt like an enormous irritable bomb lol.... but my hair had stopped falling out and started growing again .
This has been going on for at least 6 years, trying different pills. I'm 40, have had bad arthritis for 2 years now and symptoms seem to be getting worse with everything. I can not not be on the pill as I am a nightmare. I've young kids too, 2 with special needs so I need to be on as much of an even level as possible!!
-
Yes the GP suggested I try a Triphasic so I could take higher or lower oestrogen depending on how I felt that day but they only had them in Levonorgestrel so she said to use the 2 Norethisterone pills in the same way.
Sounds like you have a lot to cope with and that fear of not wanting to make things worse when you're already doing a balancing act I'm sure resonates with many here, including myself!
-
Thanks for the replies keithee and dangermouse- sorry that qlaira not the magic bullet for you two either (at least not yet)! I am going to give it the full 3 months though as I've never made it this far on any hormonal preparation recently (was fine when younger)
I too have great probs with progesterone/progestogen and didnt really appreciate that this pill heavy in that department! Thanks both of you for the various suggestions- I'm too wired at the moment to take them in but will read when calmer.
sick of feeling depressed and anxious argh! my friend in similar position finding aidulan good but i think that's femodene (already mentioned in this thread)- as i say- will stick it out for a bit longer- read on this forum that one member felt much better on qlaira but not until 4th month. interesting that you can tinker around with oestrogen- does that mean that if i identify the days i feel particularly bad on (that's of course assuming i have days where i dont so bad which at present is not the case!) i can use oestrogel or something? think i saw something like that suggested on this forum. sorry you're feeling crap keithee- hang on in there- think i'm about 2 weeks behind you (around day 20 of 2nd pack)- and thanks for giving your experience dangermouse- glad you're sorted- i'm now going to look up brevinor! not yet discovered which prog i can tolerate and god i've been thru a few! sorry this prob a bit rambling but feeling a bit spaced out!
-
Hi vintage, still having problems with qlaira, mood all over the place- irritable, snappy, depressed... I nearly told the ice cream van to f off the other day as it pulled up outside my house after I'd just settled the kids.... not good!!!
I'm on month 3 and day 11. Just started bb. Would explain my mood swings but I'm not happy... I need calm!!! Not sure whether to stop and try norimin or carry on. From how I've been before on various pills I can't see it improving.
I hope you are feeling better vintage. Thank you for your replies
-
Hi Keithee, sorry you're still having mood issues with the qlaira- definitely understand your desire to berate ice cream van!!
I am still going to stick it out though have felt crap for days- I need to give it the full 3 months. Could i ask a couple of questions? Did you feel bad in the first month and can you tell me what "bb" means?!
thank you- i do appreciate it x
-
Hi vintage, sorry i meant btb- breakthrough bleeding.
I seem to feel extra irritable during the first week of pills when the estrogen is at its highest in the pills. Then I calm down but saying that I could still throttle someone this month!! My patience / tolerance has gone!!!
The first month I felt ok, I started after a very rare hormone free month which quite frankly scared me!!! Prior to this I was on brevinor then before that loestrin 20.
The first week I was extra irritable. You know where you have to hold your breath/ walk out the room before you explode? But it got easier. But then came back 2nd month first week and the 3rd. It is like pmt just after your period. I had breakthrough bleeding throughout 1st month but put it down to hormonal imbalance from not being on anything before.
2nd month I had no btb but my boobs were really sore and even more massive!!
So, I've been taking evening primrose oil and it seems to have helped. But now more btb. And tolerance of anything remotely annoying has gone!!!
I am seeing the quack next week. Will try stick it out 3 months full. See how a few weeks kids back at school helps ;D
-
Thanks Keithee, it's really helpful to hear someone else's experience.
I was ok first month though was on a very easy holiday which I'm sure helped! The second month- possibly from the beginning it's been difficult both in terms of depression and anxiety- I feel it's got worse as the month's progressed which does make me think it's the progestogen but obvs difficult to know really.
I haven't had sore boobs (and i'm pretty sure they haven't grown!) but had crampy abdo, not pelvic, pain last night and I read that prog can do that. I feel strangely reassured when I have physical symptoms like that as it shows me that perhaps my body hasn't settled into the pill yet, so fair enough that I still have swinging emotions. Obviously that's with hoping that my body and mind will settle on the pill eventually!
I read a forum where a few women had breakthrough bleeding on qlaira- all in the early stages though- some gave up because of it, some persevered and it resolved- i guess it demonstrates that the qlaira hasn't yet fully replaced your cycle?...so hopefully all that we're experiencing will go away in time- god! wouldn't that be marvellous- life can resume!
agree- kids being back at school a very good thing- one of mine on a 3 night trip, so v quiet house! Hope your visit to the doctor is helpful and I'll certainly post again if anything changes for me. Best of luck x
-
I am by no means an expert, but I am someone who stuck with it and 'rode' the initial side effects. Looking back, months two to four were my worst (bit low, very itchy, still had crazy anxiety) and it was nearly half a year before someone commented that I was 'like old B again' (they didnt know I'd started taking Qlaira).
My body is so used to it now, there are no side effects, regardless of which of the pills I'm taking. I have the odd blip (feeling anxious and always followed by slight spotting) but it never lasts more than a month - fingers crossed!
I tried stronger pills but couldnt hack the stronger estrogen (felt sick the whole time) and the stronger progesterone made me very loud and angry ???
To be honest, unless a pill makes you feel horrendous, I really dont think you can judge it for several months when you have passed through the side effects. To say 'X makes me feel awful' after less than four months really should say 'the side effects of X make me feel awful'.
-
Really useful to read this thread as I am already not coping on day 10 of Zoely😫.
-
I do think it takes time for the body to adjust to any hormone supplementation - whilst the body welcomes the positive effects of oestrogen and sometimes progesterone there will inevitably be adjustments generally that may take time to settle. This is why I get very worried when I read about women chopping and changing HRT types and doses within only a few weeks of starting any HRT treatment, in an attempt to reduce or control side effects - I'm afraid HRT needs patience and also an acceptance that there may be compromises. DG x
-
Totally agree DG. Anything less than 4 months and you're not assessing the medication, but its side effects.
-
I do think it takes time for the body to adjust to any hormone supplementation - whilst the body welcomes the positive effects of oestrogen and sometimes progesterone there will inevitably be adjustments generally that may take time to settle. This is why I get very worried when I read about women chopping and changing HRT types and doses within only a few weeks of starting any HRT treatment, in an attempt to reduce or control side effects - I'm afraid HRT needs patience and also an acceptance that there may be compromises. DG x
I agree, when I was on Qlaira it did take around 4 months to be symptom free. It did get rid of hot flashes/sweats the first month but had to wait a couple more for the mood/insomnia to dissipate. I did have spotting and bleeding for the first three months and then just a very light one day bleed before the two white tablets.