Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Sammiejane on March 21, 2020, 06:09:48 PM
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hi ladies
could any of you help me with your experience of tesosterone did you find as it strengthens muscle that your pelvic floor was stronger and VA and bladder irritation improved aswell as any stress incontinence
thank you
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I've never tried testosterone but would think that VA and bladder problems would improve more with oestrogen. Maybe someone more knowledgeable could advise. I use local oestrogen for these symptoms.
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The vulva area is an androgen receptor & yes Testosterone can help VA , some of the ladies in my VA group say it's the T that's the icing on the cake .
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Would like a bit of icing on my cake but will have to make do with ovestin!
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hi maryjane
i currently use ovestin for Va and have good E 435 pmol with 2 pumps gel but as i?m taking progesterone which i need as helped a lot with mood and aniexty but have noticed a lot more watery discharge and had burning feeling which has subsided but although i had discharge on E alone it was more of thicker consistency but now it's watery and making knickers damp so not sure if i need maybe half pump more estrogen or take progesterone every other night or wondered if maybe T was the missing key x but won't get T added till april when i have telephone appointment with menopause. hair shedding at the moment is ok but again worried if i add that but more estrogen or take progesterone every other day it will then trigger shedding x catch 22 but feel i need a tweak
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sorry mary forgot to add i did up to 3 pumps the other night but the next day felt it was to much as bad head and foggy thinking although no watery discharge hence me saying 2.5 pumps but if i dispense 2 pumps and then a half when i then next use it will i get a full pump or the half first x
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Hi Sammiejane, I use testosterone, a pea size amount on my thigh each morning for past 4 months. Doesn't seem to be doing anything. VA is horrific still, no energy, no libido etc - everything I thought it would help!!
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hi lucy jo
i think it must vary for person to person
has testosterone improved your hair does it feel thicker ?
thanks
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Sammiejane
Ovestin made the biggest improvement to my VA when I was on Tibolone, as that didn't help help much and even when testosterone was added I can't say that made a difference. Now I've been on Sandrena, Utrogestan and testosterone almost 18m I only need to use Ovestin very occasionally.
Never had a problem with incontinence but it's definitely easier to do pelvic floor exercises when the VA is under control. Are you still doing Utrogestan nightly? Have you tried alternate nights vaginally? When I was doing it every night it did sometimes irritate but it's fine for me on alternate.
HTH,
S
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hi sooze
do u you the utro vaginally every other night ?
see i take orally as have no womb so using it to stabilize mood aniexty sleep as i was crazy bitch on estrogen only plus the estrogen cause my hair to go in shedding mode i currently use every night and 2 pumps gel and ovestin twice a week i never had symtoms of VA that a lot of women discribe i just had this watery discharge and at the time didn't know if urine and it subsided for a while but every now again comes back sometimes with a little burning other times not so hard to say but has been there more since starting progesterone so wondering whether to try alternate nights tesosterone i will start mid april as my estrogen now at correct level but apart from the dampness i feel fine on utrogestan and wondering now if i change after 6 weeks will it trigger hair shedding again but i guess i won't know till i try and my pelvic floor feels a little weaker so maybe tesosterone will help with this. x
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Sammiejane,
Yes I'm on Utrogestan 100mg vaginally alternate nights and Sandrena 1mg daily, although for the last month or so I've been using less as I'm not squeezing everything out of the little foil pack as I was getting a bit of breast tenderness. Reducing slightly has solved that. I'm using Tostran for testosterone and doing a petit pois blob daily. I've been prescribed a pump on alternate days which is far too much for me, and I feel more balanced if I have a daily dose. All the above is with my gynaecologists? OK as I still have a uterus and my lining has been very thin every time I've had a scan.
HTH,
S
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Hi Sammiejane,
The testosterone hasn't really done anything for me if I'm honest!!
So wish I could sort out the VA x
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hi ladies
well had a few good days not much discharge but then this morning had a hush of watery stuff again i've had everything removed surgically but am taking 2 pumps gel and progesterone utro. daily orally i wonder whether to drop this to alternate nights or up estrogen a dose x
other then that i feel fine. x
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hi sooze
i think the sandrena is slightly more stronger then the estrogel and at the moment i?m using 2 pumps with 100mg daily orally but don't know whether to up estrogen to 2.5 pumps i feel i need progesterone daily as taking it one day then not the next i feel funny then taking it again feel funny but it may well settle after a while or shall i stick to 2 pumps i do feel i?m getting more progesterone as skin and mouth dryer plus vagina hence the watery discharge x
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hi sooze
how have you found hair shedding on sandrena utro and tostran ? did testosterone improve your hair ?
mines shedding less with the progesterone but feels thinner x
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Sammiejane,
From what I understand Sandrena normal dosage is 0.5mg to 1.5mg and Oestrogel is 2 measures (1.5mg) to 4 measures (3mg) daily. I'm currently using about ? of a pack of Sandrena 1mg, so 0.75mg, which is probably a bit more than 2 pumps of Oestrogel. I also think I absorb it very well.
Although I think HRT improved my hair, as in when I started Tibolone vs not taking any systemic HRT, I think the improvement was extremely slow - gradually over a year or more. Adding in Testosterone made no percievable difference. Neither did changing to Sandrena & Utrogestan from Tibolone from what I can tell, but it's always been very fine (I'm quite fair) and shedding has never been a problem I've experienced even during pregnancy.
Taking the Utrogestan on alternate days vaginally gives me no effects/side effects that I am aware of at all. I've had a scan this week & with over a year of this regime my uterine lining is 3.5mm - same as it was when I was on Tibolone, so the Uterogestan is defiantly doing what it's supposed to.
When I was taking Utrogestan every day orally I defiantly didn't feel 'right' and was getting gastro issues with it, plus very strange dreams & drowsiness during the day. Switching to vaginally for me reduced the side effects but I still felt I was getting too much Progesterone, slightly PMT ish if that makes sense. Similarly with Sandrena, tender breasts for me means dose too high, reducing it slightly sorted that.
I would advise using a diary to keep notes of side effects, dosages etc when you're tweaking things as it's easy to forget what causes what. If I hadn't kept one since 2016 it would be hard for me to remember how I'd felt/reacted to what I've tried. It was the diary that put me onto reducing the Sandrena when the tender breasts started as I'd had that happen at the end of 2018 also.
HTH,
S
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hi sooze
i either need to reduce progestin alternate. nights or increase estrogen by half pump i tried full pump but immeasurably the next day felt awful pounding headache thick head this may well settle with continued dose of this.
i have also tried progesterone alternative nights but when i stop and miss a night the next night taking i wake feeling like my body is puffy heavy taking continuous i don't get that but get watery discharge x i have menopause on tuesday and will need to decide to either up by half pump or reduce progesterone to alternate nights.
just concerned reducing progesterone will leave to much estrogen and cause hair shedding as i shed lots of hair on the gel when i took it on its own x but having said that last week or two i've been loosing more hair so maybe the gel doesn't suit me. x
although i do feel ok better then i have felt just need a tweak to sort watery discharge i hate it x i notice that if i stop progesterone for a night or two it goes away and again if i took 3 pumps it would go away so this is how i know i need a tweak just don't know what way x
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hi sooze.
sorry forgot to ask you also how have u found your weight on sandrena and utrogestan x
i think more utrogestan is obsorbed if using vaginally from what few ladies have said on here x
i do get looser stools on it and off tummy cramp but nothing major x
do u use sandrena on your arms or thighs ?
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Sammiejane,
Would say my weight is pretty stable, although had a knee injury at the end of last year which stopped my usual exercise regime and I put on about ? stone. Restarted exercise (slowly) at the end of Jan, back up to speed from end of Feb and lost the gained ? stone and a bit more now.
Always use Sandrena on front of my thighs (alternate each day). However I think my absorption is improved with exercise. So I apply my gels, wait 30mins, exercise around 50mins - 1hr (30 mins bike) and shower around an hour later (about 2 ? hrs after applying the gels). This is since I took a break from work at the end of Jan.
Had no gastro problems from Utero at all.
HTH,
S