Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Latte21 on April 16, 2023, 01:48:31 AM
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Hi everyone. I am 52 and currently in perimenopause and on evorel sequi 50mg. My question is do I stay on these until I reach menopause then change to evorel conti? How do I know when I am in menopause when using these patches as obviously they cause a monthly bleed? My Gp doesnt do blood tests to check as she said they are not accurate.
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Hi the advice is that you can try a Conti regime after you’ve been on hrt for a year or when you reach 55.
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Hi Poppytoast,
This is what I was advised by my GP when I went on sequi HRT at 53. She wanted me to try conti as per the guidelines at age 54 having been on HRT for a year. I think the thinking is, on average, you should/may have reached menopause after a year due to the average age of reaching menopause being 51. That is my understanding of it. I just think it's not black or white but trial and error.
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As you're on hrt you probably won't know when you're meno so the guidelines are more of an educated guess than anything else. Some GPs still think everyone is meno by 54 when in reality some are in their early 60s before they reach meno.
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As per the other thread - the stats are 80% of western women post-meno by age 54. The suggestion is a trial of conti by either age 54 or if you have been on HRT for a year. If breakthough bleeding still occurs then go back to sequi. Of course this advice is quite strange because some women go onto HRT while still in the reproductive phase ie still having regular periods so clearly conti after a year won't work for them! If you are late peri when you start HRT then conti may well work after a year - but it depends on the type of HRT too. The thinking I guess is that most women won't want to have a bleed any longer than they have to, so the idea of prolonging the bleeding through having artificial withdrawal bleeds may be anathema! Some women like me choose to stay on cyclical HRT well into late 60's because we don't like taking continuous progesterone so having a withdrawal bleed is the lesser of two evils!
I started HRT just before age 54 but I hadn't reached menopause so doc put me on sequi HRT and didn't ever suggest conti until I was about 58 but only took it for a day! (Then tried again later but soon returned to cyclical as above).
So what were your periods doing before you started HRT and how far along the peri-menopause journey are you?
Hurdity x
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Thankyou everyone for your replies. I've had the mirena coil for 9 years replaced once along with estrogen only hrt for the past 4 years. Always had a light regular period but in the last year od the coil only had 2 periods. I no longer have the coil and gp prescribed evorel sequi so now having monthly bleeds again. So no idea where I am or if I was nearing menopause but your replies all make sense thankyou x