Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: discogirl on February 09, 2023, 05:36:16 AM
-
Hi all,
I would appreciate a bit of advice.
I'm post meno, been on 4 pumps of oestrogel since beginning of december.
Its been good, sleep has been good, however breasts have been very sore and seem huge.
Last night, I had the worst night's sleep ever, nothing different with my gel, it was like the early days of starting hrt.
So I was wondering with my sore boobs if my hrt dose is too high and should I try reducing to 3 pumps or what?
Thanks a lot xx
-
Hi discogirl, I’m on estrogel have been for a few years, when I’ve gone to 4 pumps all has been ok until I got around 2 months in and then the sore swollen breasts started for me that’s one of the symptoms of too much estrogen , it happened when first increasing then settled to only come back and stay but I also had a jittery feeling on too much , can’t say if you should reduce only you can decide about that , but going to 3 pumps solved the swollen breasts and jitters for me, too much also caused insomnia to get worse for me but my insomnia has never fully gone away on hrt, hope you manage to resolve it soon it could well settle down they do say a full 3 months for things to settle you’ve only increased since December may just need a bit more time x
-
hi amazing grace
thanks so very much for your reply.
i was sleeping ok but last night i felt wired. and felt my sleep pattern had gone back to when i first started hrt last august. and like you my sore swollen breasts calmed down a bit about mth in but came back and i read thats one of the signs.
i will let you know how i get on.
thanks again xxx
-
I got that wired feeling too with insomnia, it’s a horrible feeling, really hope you find a solution , wishing you the best of luck , take care and hopefully you sleep well soon xx
-
Hi it could be too much or it could just be your body getting used to it. I noticed an enlargement of breasts to begin with but it settled down . x
-
hi dotty
hope your ok.
yes my swollen sore breasts did settle but came back very sore.
also my sleep last night was like going back to the start again.
very disheartening xxxx
-
Hello discogirl
I am sorry that you have had this trouble and I agree that these problems can be so disheartening.
My recent experience confirmed that tender and swollen breasts are definitely a symptom of high Oestrogen for me. I had been using three 1mg sachets of Sandrena and the breasts issues were getting worse but still manageable. Unfortunately this was followed with spotting then bleeding so I was forced to lower my oestrogen dose. The bleeding resolved quickly but it took several weeks of slow improvement before my breasts felt back to normal. Perhaps breast tenderness is an early indication of too much Oestrogen which gives us time to tweak our dose before any bleeding occurs.
I hope this is helpful in some way and I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do.
Take care and keep us updated.
K.
-
hi kathleen
thanks so much for your reply.
i thought it was too high a dose with the sore breasts.
thing is the sore breasts i could cope with but the wired feeling in my brain and total lack of sleep was like going back to the start again. especially as my sleep had been good xx
-
I got that wired feeling too with insomnia, it’s a horrible feeling, really hope you find a solution , wishing you the best of luck , take care and hopefully you sleep well soon xx
can i ask amazing grace when you decreased your gel how soon was it before thi gs settled as in the jitters and stuff.
do you sleep ok on 3 pumps xxx
-
Hi discogirl, my sleep was good well good for me on 3 pumps before hrt and on 2 pumps I used to be wide awake till 4/5am just couldn’t sleep I finally started going to sleep at midnight waking up only once in the night and getting around 6 hours not perfect but a big improvement, I went to 4 because I thought it would improve my remaining anxiety and improve my sleep more it was a mistake because my sleep went back to being wide awake till the early hours and feeling so wired I couldn’t relax , the jitters then started, when I reduced back to 3 it took around 2 weeks to adjust again, I did stick it out for 3 months but being sleep deprived and being jittery was becoming depressing in that time I was put on amitriptyline for insomnia which was ok for a while but then started to have the opposite affect got off that and I now stick to the 3 pumps xx
-
hi amazing grace
your reply is so helpful thank you.
i take 10mg amitry for tinnitus and your right amitr can have the opposite effect.
i take the amitry first thing in the morning as it no longer sedates me as ive been on it a year.
can i ask what dose of amitry you were on and how on earth did you get off it. it can cause rebound insomnia when trying to come off it. youve done so well xxx
-
Hi discogirl girl, I was on 10mg amitriptyline I had the same as you it just no longer sedated me and it was actually adding to the insomnia , I cut my tablets in half took 5mg for a month then just stopped , I won’t deny it was a bit tough but I didn’t feel much worse than I already did, 3 weeks and the withdrawal was over my doctor wanted to keep upping the dose to maintain the sedated effect but I didn’t want too go any higher, once I was over getting off that and went back to 3x pumps of estrogel my sleep returned to around 6 hours a night not perfect I know but it’s better than 2 or 3 hours of broken sleep I was getting, good luck with whatever you decide to do regarding your estrogel , wishing you long peaceful sleeps xx
-
dear amazing grace thank you so very very much. youve been so very kind replying to me.
youve really helped so much.
i just want to wish you all the best
take care and thank you xxx
-
Hi discogirl, bless you that’s very sweet of you, and you are very welcome it’s all about helping and supporting each other where we can through these challenging times, wishing you all the best and hoping you post back with some positive improvements soon.
Take care & fingers crossed sleep well xx
-
Hi discogirl,
I had sore heavy breasts when I started on oestrogel and it lasted a few months then completely went away and I haven’t had that problem for ages now. So you might just need to give it time. X
-
Ladies can I just jump in and ask a question, as I have also recently started taking 10mg of Amitryptiline and it's the only thing allowing me to get some sleep at the moment. I'm keen to understand the logic behind why it would start to contribute towards insomnia? I am very aware that these sedating ADs all become less effective over time, but I haven't ever heard of any of them (Ami, Mirt etc) contributing towards insomnia!
-
Gilla999 I have some thoughts on this. Although I haven’t tried amitryptiline I have noticed this with utrogestan. Last month I forgot to have my 3 day break from it and I felt like I had too much in my system, same thing happens if I eat too close to taking it, and it was hard to get to sleep whereas usually it would help me get to sleep. Also I’ve found the effects of utrogestan are more pronounced when I take magnesium too, so I’ve stopped the magnesium reluctantly. Same thing with lavender, if you use too much it can be stimulating instead of relaxing. What I’m trying to say is, although the dose of amitrypriline might be the same it might be something else has changed and is interacting with it. Hope that makes sense. Also I find sleep deprivation can cause insomnia and anxiety, and hormones, so what you think is causing the insomnia may not be.
-
Ladies can I just jump in and ask a question, as I have also recently started taking 10mg of Amitryptiline and it's the only thing allowing me to get some sleep at the moment. I'm keen to understand the logic behind why it would start to contribute towards insomnia? I am very aware that these sedating ADs all become less effective over time, but I haven't ever heard of any of them (Ami, Mirt etc) contributing towards insomnia!
hi gilla999
i dont know it just stopped being sedative for me after a while.
im really glad it works for you. as with hrt i guess we're all different xxx
-
Gilla999 I have some thoughts on this. Although I haven’t tried amitryptiline I have noticed this with utrogestan. Last month I forgot to have my 3 day break from it and I felt like I had too much in my system, same thing happens if I eat too close to taking it, and it was hard to get to sleep whereas usually it would help me get to sleep. Also I’ve found the effects of utrogestan are more pronounced when I take magnesium too, so I’ve stopped the magnesium reluctantly. Same thing with lavender, if you use too much it can be stimulating instead of relaxing. What I’m trying to say is, although the dose of amitrypriline might be the same it might be something else has changed and is interacting with it. Hope that makes sense. Also I find sleep deprivation can cause insomnia and anxiety, and hormones, so what you think is causing the insomnia may not be.
hi katherine
theres an awful lot of sense in what youve just said.
i used to take magnesium and like you ive stopped as it seemed to interfer with my amity. when i done some research on this it appears that magnesium can somehow sort of strengthen the amity in a way. i'll try and find the article if i can. xxx
-
Hi discogirl,
I had sore heavy breasts when I started on oestrogel and it lasted a few months then completely went away and I haven’t had that problem for ages now. So you might just need to give it time. X
thanks katherine i'll bear that in mind.
thanks for replying xxx
-
hi katherine
i managed to find that study
'This study was conducted to investigate whether magnesium modifies the antinociceptive effect of the tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline in mice, as assessed by the hot-plate test. Amitriptyline (10 mg/kg i.p.) showed a significant analgesic activity. Magnesium sulphate (20 mg/kg i.p.) alone had no effect but it potentiated the antinociceptive effect of amitrypline'
-
That’s really interesting discogirl. I will take a look at that. It’s so complex isn’t it, and it seems to be all trial and error, but we are getting there! Xxx
-
That’s really interesting discogirl. I will take a look at that. It’s so complex isn’t it, and it seems to be all trial and error, but we are getting there! Xxx
hi katherine
it is trial and error however you're correct ee are getting there.....slowly.
take care xxx
-
It's so interesting isn't, how much interaction there can be between things. And I personally am on a HELL of a lot of medication at th moment, all due to a sort of domino affect caused by my hormones.
Wishing you ladies all well :)
-
It's so interesting isn't, how much interaction there can be between things. And I personally am on a HELL of a lot of medication at th moment, all due to a sort of domino affect caused by my hormones.
Wishing you ladies all well :)
hi gilla999
yes even stuff i didnt think would interact with each other does xx