Forgive me cutting and pasting, just posted this in newbies, but figuring out this forum and spotted this thread too. I've just seen Prof John Studd and am starting his regime, but I'm a bit of a complicated case I fear. Sorry this is chapter and verse!
Hi All
Pleased to be here. I recently had a polypectomy and D&C at ChelWest after nearly a year of banging on the door of the NHS to get my symptoms taken seriously. Two years of very heavy periods, and horribly jittery symptoms at mid cycle and just before my period. Finally got bumped up the list when I had two irregular periods (long cycles, been 28 days on the nose all my life) and then a period that wouldn't stop, followed by one that wouldn't start. On the long bleed, I took 10 days of 100mg utrogestan in the end, which stopped the bleed, but my period didn't start, which Chelwest gynae said indicated I didn't have enough of my own E. He also said he felt I was anovulatory - I'm using ovulation sticks - I'd say he's right. His thought was I'd need three pumps of estrogel.
Also need to add that I had a total thyroidectomy for Graves, Hashis, graves opthamology, and cancer in 2011 after TEN YEARS of misdiagnosis and then two years of mis treatment. German Endo professor saved my life. Took me a loooong time to get stable, and in the end I went DIY (with my endos blessing) and have been pretty stable on Natural Dessicated Thyroid hormones (the BHRT of thyroid) since about 2013. My thyroid results are good. Had a bit of a wobble in April and had to switch brands due to a reformulation issue, but other than that, all OK. I also have anaemia, and heavy periods been a bloomin' nightmare, as I have to shovel in so much iron, otherwise I get jittery symptoms there too. So I manage, but being thyroidless means I'll never be the same, 'you just take a pill and you're fine' being a woman hating lie imho!
Long story short, the NHS gave me the hard sell on Mirena (they must have asked me fifty times, including when wheeling me into theatre, despite me saying no, no, no, nope, no way! repeatedly - so much for no means no, the NHS seems to think it means maybe!) as I had a very hard time on the combined pill, and the prog only pill, and had a hideous time with prog cream a while ago (on some quack theory of a naturopathic doctor) and as I told my NHS gynae, after the thyroid hell, the NHS was never ever manipulating my hormones ever again. He said 'fair enough' and agreed with my plan to see Prof Studd (who used to be his boss).
Saw the Prof, who said he felt my jitters were 'formication'. My bone scan was terrible, I'm 46 but have the bones of a 70 year old woman, osteopenia in both hips and my lumbar spine. Yikes! No libido, tired, angry, weepy, foggy, up and down like a fiddler's elbow. So he prescribed (like he does for everyone I think) 3 pumps of estrogel, 1 x pump tostran every 3 days, and utrogestan 100mg days 1 - 10 starting Oct 'to give you a breather'.
So far so good, except three pumps gave me vertigo, I was literally listing like a drunken sailor, and the tostran gave me a banging heart. He called me back, said start on one pump, and build up weekly. Meanwhile I've decanted some tostran into a little squeezy nozzle bottle and now taking a tiny pea dab every day, that seems to have sorted out the heart racing. His nurse did tell me as someone who is 'sensitive' I might do better on a lower dose daily amount, seems she was right.
Sorry so long. So, I'm exhausted, is this normal? I'm also a bit shaky, sort of trembling in my arms and legs. I went up to two pumps last night as directed and did feel a weird calm as I woke up, before the crushing fatigue started up again.
Also, when my blood results came back, my estrogen was 1,575! I had the jittery symptoms on the day he drew the blood, so I'm thinking it's not 'formication' (low E symptom) but an excess estrogen / histmine response (I get a rash, I need to take anti histamines, I feel vibraty, like I've got adrenaline rushes, I shake inside and out, my heart races)?
https://www.larabriden.com/the-curious-link-between-estrogen-and-histamine-intolerance/ From chatting on mumsnet, some peri women do seem to suffer more on the estrogen spurts than the crashes? I'm defo getting lows as well, but it seems to be the highs that are hard to deal with. I also had the jitters on the day ChelWest tested my E, and it was 1,100 then as well, which does seem to confirm my hunch?
So sorry for chapter and verse, but does it get better? what's the rationale for putting in more E when you are getting days of high E, does it override your own cycle (happy days if it does, I feel tyrannised by my own body)? Does the fatigue lift?
Also my hunch is I'm going to need sequential from the get go, as much as I dislike the side effects of utrogestan (beyond 7 days I get really down, pile on weight, feel foggy) as the P does seem to stop the jitters on these high E days. It does make sense in terms of my cycle, at the point where P should kick in is when they start.
If you're still here after all that (thank you!) is there anyone else getting these E spurts in Peri? I am for sure getting low E days as well, and I'm seeing really changes in my skin, which would suggest that low E is a problem too, but it's these foul buzzy days that are doing me in!
Thanks
Reb
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Topic: utrogestan/estrogel support group (Read 727234 times)