Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Sammiejane on February 20, 2020, 11:15:36 AM
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hi ladies
a bit of advice please , i've been on 100mg every night for 13 nights day 14 today thought i was doing ok as just had a few flushes on utrogestan was previously controlled on 2 pumps gel only but adding in prog a few more flushes .a couple of aniexty waves nothing bad but last night all of a sudden after feeling perfectly fine all day got this sudden thumping headache my throat all sore my body aches like i've got flu this isn't normal surely i've been fine on it even all day yesterday the about 30 mins before going bed felt like i got flu feel awful today spend all night sweating this isn't a cold this i believe is utro has any one else had it x
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Hi Sammiejane,
Lots of people have reactions to utrogestan (or progesterone generally). Headaches and low mood are the most common but there are plenty of other side effects...., but if I remember rightly you have no womb, you have had a hysterectomy? In surgical menopause you would be given oestrogen which you have in the gel why would you be taking utrogestan? There is no need for it as you have no womb lining that could thicken?
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hi ladybt28
im not taking it for that, i?m taking it to balance estrogen and as a mood stabilizer as in estrogen alone i was erratic with bad mood swings and aniexty weight gain hair loss etc so i?m hoping adding progesterone will balance things.
but the gel isn't controlling flushes at 2 pumps with the added progesterone and yes i have had a few side effects from progesterone dryness down below mainly and irritated bladder but bloating bette mood better sleep was great first week but second week can't sleep as well x
many women have progesterone after hysterectomy purely for mood and sleep but also if they have had endometriosis because estrogen can cause it to come back
i?ll see how i go been 2 weeks today and hair shedding hasn't started again but we shall see if it doesn't work and i don't improve then i?ll continue on estrogen only just not the gel i?ll go on patch or tablet
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Those in surgical menopause often need higher doses of oestrogen to control the symptoms Sammiejane, so maybe 2 pumps isn't enough? If you are only a couple of weeks into the progesterone, that is very early on and progesterone takes a while to settle even if you are not in surgical menopause. From what I have read here on the forum those who are in surgical meno seem to find it harder and longer to get the balance. Tc, was at it 6/7 months or more and I can't remember who else is in surgical meno.
Put it in the search bar and see if you can find those ladies...it might help you get some timescales for how this stuff works against those who are just in "normal" meno...although god knows what "normal meno" actually is ;D
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My daughter in law has had the same op. as you Sammiejane and doesn't take progesterone as it's not needed. It took a while to find the right dose patch for her and she had to persevere but is doing very well now. She is 38. I know you post about hair loss too and no, she hasn't experienced any on her HRT or since surgery which has been 2 years now.
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hi gerry L
that is very interesting thank you x
did your daughter in law suffer mood swings aniexty , although i've only suffered these since taking hrt prior to this i was fine so i?m wondering if it's the hrt which doesn't suit .
i was on the gel for a year before i stopped for 9 weeks as my hair was shedding and become thin so i took a 9 week break and the shedding stopped so i know it's not low estrogen for me so i?m ruling out imbalance but i agree i shouldn't need progesterone to balance things i should feel great on estrogen alone which makes me wonder if the gel is just not suiting me .
do i know which dose and patch your daughter in law takes. x
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hi gerry
sorry i mean do u know not do i know x
thanks
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hi gerry
did your daughter in law keep her ovaries. x
thank you
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Hello Sammiejane. No she didn't. As I say it took her a while slowly moving up through patch doses but she got there. You will too I'm sure. Maybe try that approach with patches too? I know she had a bit of bother getting hers for a while but she managed to get an alternative and as it was the same dose it worked just the same. Things were OK last time she got her prescription though. Good luck. :)
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Sammie I just checked with DIL and she is on a 100 patch. That might give you a bit of an idea as you're a similar age. Hope that helps a bit.👍
Sorry had to change my post to just say that she did have her ovaries taken too in case I wasn't clear.
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hi gerryl
hi sorry to be a pain but would u mind asking her what her patch is called and has she also suffered weight gain as this is something else i struggled with is weight gain on the gel. x
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Hiya,sammie. As ladybt says I used utrogestan after my surgery.until recently.
On continous the headaches settled after 2 or 3 weeks. Unfortunately it made me feel tired , depressed and ill on conti regime and a cycle. And the cycle gave me migraine. But I may not be a good example as the jury is kind of still out over whether I'm progesterone intolerant.. it's also possible I wasnt balanced enough. So became progesterone heavy
it may take a while to figure out how to tweak to get best balance for you. It's only been 2 weeks so if you are experiencing low E symptoms. I would probably give it another couple of weeks. Before starting to increase. E.
I know that some women without uterus feel better balanced by taking progesterone. So I dont think it's unusual but you only want enough for balance and bearing in mind
Oral progesterone itaken for uterine protection s higher dose than our natural progesterone would be. I would imagine its possible for you to take lower doses of it than someone with a uterus. I'm by no means an expert though, as you know I'm very much a work in progress myself!
X
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No problem Sammiejane. I just texted her. She has stayed about the same weight but said she put on a couple of pounds at Christmas. Easy to do at that time of year!
She had to switch over to progynova patches for a bit but has now got her estradot back which she is very happy about. But she said the progynova were ok for symptoms and didn't notice a difference that way. She just didn't like them as much as they were a bigger patch. Hope that helps. :)
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Hi again Sammie. Now please dont shoot the messenger lol! My DIL sent me this video because she likes this lady and although she is a US doctor I have to agree that once I got over her slightly batty (but likeable) manner I found the video to be very good and informative. Just skip over the bit about the products only available in the US.
Apparently shes a top menopause doctor in the states. DIL said watch it and tell you the info but its 25 minutes long so I thought id better let you watch it yourself. Youll learn a lot especially about progesterone. I was going to send it if I could in message but cant seem to do that so just putting the link to it here. I hope thats ok. Please do give it a watch and let me know what you think. :)
https://youtu.be/NdI-L87IQJU
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hi gerryl
thank you i shall have a look x
sorry one more question does your DiL use the patch on her abdomen or buttock x
thank u
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hi tc
yes i take 100mg daily
2 pumps gel
i tried the progesterone utrogestan every other day but felt worse
the utro though only 20 percent is actually obsorbed as progesterone as the rest is lost in the gut as it goes through the liver so really so only getting 20mg progesterone same as mirena as this is 20mg i was under the impression the progesterone in hrt is low it's higher in contraceptive as it prevents ovulation well i don't ovulate as no ovaries so i don't think the 100mg is to much it maybe i?ll need more estrogen but i?ll see how i go as not feeling to great last couple of days so may knock it on the head
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Oh she sticks it on her tummy Sammie. I know because we went out shopping one day for clothes and she used to stick it on her bottom. Well, we went for a bite to eat later and she felt really poorly and we had to get her home quickly. I thought she might have had a bad reaction to something she had eaten but then she rang me later to say no, she must have lost her patch when she was in the changing rooms! No wonder she felt so unwell. So she sticks it on her tummy now where she can keep an eye on it and it does work really well there for her. :)
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I see. I didnt realise you,d already tried every other day.
Sammie. I know ho you feel. I've had awful problems myself. But you realy cant tell how it's going to work for you after 2 weeks. I've always tried to give everything a 3 month go. Of course if you find side effects intolerable then you must do what you feel is best for you.
X
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Tc the doctor in the video I linked to for Sammiejane made a point of saying that you have to give each HRT a good few weeks at least and that changing too quickly can make it harder to find relief.
My DIL gave each of her doses a good while to settle too. When she was on the 100 patch at first she thought it might not be enough but held on and it turned out to be just right once it had settled in.
I read your posts about your implant Tc. I hope that it all goes really well for you as you've had quite a time of it to put it mildly bless you.
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hi gerryl
it's funny because i was breifly swapped into estradot 50 because menopause thought i weren't obsorbing the gel enough but only did 5 weeks and went out of stock and they are unable to get hold of i?ll give this a go but took the progesterone tonight and feel funky it's making me feel like i have flu don't want that x lol
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These HRT shortages have a lot to answer for Sammiejane it makes me so angry. It's hard enough as it is for women in your shoes without all that carry on too.😡
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Thank you Gerry. Yes its usually recommended 3 months . Glad your DIL has found the right dose for her. X
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hi gerryl
the other question i meant to ask you to ask your DIL was has she noticed not necessarily hairliss but an increase in hair shedding when brushing and washing as this is what happened to me before i started her over a yea ago i could brush my hair and wouldn't loose any i'd loose a couple upon washing and brushing but daily brushing didn't loose any and then i started hrt estrogen only and noticed one day 12 weeks later brushing my hair and was shedding hair and it continued the whole year never improved till i stopped the hrt hence one of the reasons i?m adding in progesterone but i may be wrong and it may start again so then i?ll know well the progesterone is making no difference and i?ll have to change the estrogen and start again as like you say your DIL hasn't suffered being on estrogen only a couple of people i know say they are shedding more but are on the tablet and there hair is thinning on the sides x they have had same op as me x so if you could ask her if she has noticed any extra shedding that would be great and thank you for all your help x
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hi tc
have you had full hysterectomy with removal of ovaries to ?
have you had any issues with hair shedding /loss xx
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Hi sammie. I still have uterus. I had hair loss before starting HRT. X
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hi tc and gerryl
i?m starting to go into complete panic now that i've made a big mistake adding in progesterone as i shouldn't need this just desperate to stop my hair shedding and thinning i expect some as we age and get older but i?m 40 not old x
i don't know whether to stop and start again on a patch only and stick to it as u day increasing doses x
the first week in progesterone i felt great sleep amazing but second week and going now into 3 week sleep is not as good my chest boobs and under armpits feel heavy swollen .
i've watched several videos by that lady gerry and she also mentions estrogen dominance to in ratio to progesterone as in weight gain irritability tender boobs etc so my thinking was well women of surgical menopause no ovaries no womb surely supplementing with just estrogen will create estrogen dominance as progesterone and tesosterone still low in ratio to estrogen and this was what i thought was causing my hairloss hence adding in progesterone x
i just don't know what to do if i?m going to be on estrogen only then it won't be the gel as felt awful on it and my hair definitely shed x my levels in blood seem to fluctuate too on it no consistency as went from 195 to 104 to 368 to 113 .
i do feel ok on progesterone just vagina dryer but on gel and ovestin i was to wet down there and i had a lot of groin sweating which someone said in here is low progesterone x
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Hi sammiejane - hope you're feeling better today. Porgesterone shouldn't give you a sore throat and make you feel fluey although can lead to headaches and foggy head, low mood, sometimes dizziness or nausea. I know you were convinced it's the answer to your imbalance but many of us on here would hate to take it every day due to side effects! Many who have had hytserectomy are thrilled to be relieved of this burden too!
GerryL - I think you're new so :welcomemm: Do introduce yourself on the new members board telling us a bit about yourself and where in menopause you are and how we can help:). Also please do suggest to your daughter-in-law that she joins the forum herself so she can share her experiences with like-minded and friendly women - even some of similar age - tell her we're not all old birds y'know!!! Even if we are, we don't bite (often ::) !).
Hurdity x