Menopause Matters Forum

Menopause Discussion => Personal Experiences => Topic started by: Neerb74 on September 15, 2020, 08:45:59 PM

Title: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Neerb74 on September 15, 2020, 08:45:59 PM
I just don't know what to do. I'm 45 and have been on hrt for 6 weeks. I thought hrt would approve my joint pains but they are so much worse and are affecting every joint. I thought going from 2 to 3 pumps would improve things but they are a lot worse. Even every joint in my finger is painful :(
I had a Serum Estradiol bt and it has come back as 1500 so I'm thinking maybe I have too much Estrogen? I'm thinking of stopping as it is restricting me so much, I can't exercise either.
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: dahliagirl on September 15, 2020, 08:57:35 PM
Do you have enough vit D and magnesium as well?
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: DS68 on September 15, 2020, 10:40:08 PM
Hi Neerb74

I'm interested to.know how you progress.  I'm 51 am on the gel 1.5 pumps a day and tabs 12 days 200mg

I'm in a lot of pain with my joints too, even joints.i forgot I had hurt.
I used to jog as it helped free my mind a bit but I feel so frail suddenly it's awful.
Should I increase the gel ?
I'm not sure, do let me know what you try and what works if anything
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Gnatty on September 16, 2020, 07:48:55 AM
It seems to me that whilst some women feel the benefits of HRT relatively quickly, for others it takes a good few months. Joint pain is something that HRT helps with and for me after 3 months I noticed a big difference. The difficulty is getting the dose right. From what I can glean from the internet  it seems that some symptoms require a higher dose of oestrogen for relief compared to say relief of hot flushes and again if you up the dose it will take a while to notice any difference.

Anecdotally, my Auntie who is 80, still takes HRT - loves it - but said it was 6 months before she felt the full benefit!

Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Brit66 on September 16, 2020, 02:36:16 PM
I hope the joint pain settles down and disappears soon! I have that every few months and it's absolutely awful to live with  :-\ I have just started HRT so hoping this will be the answer for my symptoms.
I have read of others using the testosterone gel for this, it seems to really work so maybe worth a try?  :)
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: sheila99 on September 16, 2020, 04:36:43 PM
It might be worth getting checked by your gp. Although low oestrogen can cause it so can other things, you might be starting with arthritis or some other problem. I had pain on my hips which went with hrt but it did take a while, probably 3 months but can't really remember (seems the brain fog is on-going!). Testosterone stopped me pulling muscles but didn't make a difference to my joints.
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Neerb74 on September 17, 2020, 11:50:17 AM
I've decided to stop completely. It has got worse since starting hrt and worse since upping the gel :(
I think I'm going to give my body a break from all these hormones as had lots of side effects from the 5+ pills I have tried before hrt.
I'm very sad but it seems that hormones are not for me 😥
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Neerb74 on September 21, 2020, 08:57:29 PM
5 days on and my joints pains are non existent. I can't believe hrt would do that :(
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Brit66 on September 21, 2020, 10:21:27 PM
5 days on and my joints pains are non existent. I can't believe hrt would do that :(

Really? Wow-I thought that the opposite would happen.. :o
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: dahliagirl on September 21, 2020, 10:51:07 PM
I had problems with Elleste, but it seemed to be in progestogen (norithisterone) phase.
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Neerb74 on September 22, 2020, 11:42:01 AM
Dahlia - funny you should say that as it was when I took the Progesterone it got worse and I do have intolerance. It got so bad it was disabling, honestly. I really could not put up with that amount of pain and was hoping it would help my joint pain but it made it considerably worse :(
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: dahliagirl on September 22, 2020, 09:42:58 PM
I took it for 3 months and gave up after the first few days of progestogen on the third month (got told off for that  ::) )

I went on Femoston (dydrogesterone) afterwards and had no problem.  The doctor thought that as my aches had initially improved then got worse that I actually needed more oestrogen.  I moved onto the Femoston 2/10 about a year later as I realised the 1/10 was not quite doing enough and I was getting more anxiety/adrenaline problems and I was lucky as this was good for quite a while.

The thing is that when I changed from Elleste to Femoston, I had bloods done for arthritis and it came up with VitD levels just above the low level and I started on vitD. So I will never know if it was this or the hrt.  There was a definite increase in the joint pain during the progestogen phase that got worse each month, but I get pains if I do not take vitamin D for a while.

The pains in my neck, before hrt, were so bad that I used to go to bed early to lie flat.  Couldn't even hold my head up with my pile of pillows to read a book.
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Brit66 on September 23, 2020, 06:44:46 AM
I took it for 3 months and gave up after the first few days of progestogen on the third month (got told off for that  ::) )

I went on Femoston (dydrogesterone) afterwards and had no problem.  The doctor thought that as my aches had initially improved then got worse that I actually needed more oestrogen.  I moved onto the Femoston 2/10 about a year later as I realised the 1/10 was not quite doing enough and I was getting more anxiety/adrenaline problems and I was lucky as this was good for quite a while.

The thing is that when I changed from Elleste to Femoston, I had bloods done for arthritis and it came up with VitD levels just above the low level and I started on vitD. So I will never know if it was this or the hrt.  There was a definite increase in the joint pain during the progestogen phase that got worse each month, but I get pains if I do not take vitamin D for a while.

The pains in my neck, before hrt, were so bad that I used to go to bed early to lie flat.  Couldn't even hold my head up with my pile of pillows to read a book.

So your joint pain went away with an increase in hrt?
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: dahliagirl on September 23, 2020, 01:50:03 PM
It improved on the lower dose, and with the vitamin D, (although I discovered I needed magnesium as well to keep it that way) and also with the change in progestogen.

The higher dose did not seem to make any difference either way. However, now I am on the lower dose again, I find I am having more problems and it is harder to keep it at bay.
Title: Re: Thinking of stopping Estrogel due to joint pain side effects
Post by: Brit66 on September 23, 2020, 08:51:28 PM
It improved on the lower dose, and with the vitamin D, (although I discovered I needed magnesium as well to keep it that way) and also with the change in progestogen.

The higher dose did not seem to make any difference either way. However, now I am on the lower dose again, I find I am having more problems and it is harder to keep it at bay.

Hmm, that's interesting isn't it? And frustrating! Sending hugs..