Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Indigojo]

Hello Ladies,
I've always found this forum and those on it to offer invaluable advice so any help would be greatly appreciated.
My story... I started HRT at the beginning of 2016 having had 2 periods in 2 years, I was 48. My symptoms were night sweats and being a bit flighty/irrational and I was put on patches (Everol Conti then Everol Sequi) which caused me to have a lot of breakthrough bleeding and low moods. In July 2016 I was changed to Estelle Duet 2mg which I took for 7 months however, as time went on my low moods became increasingly dark from around day 10 - 14 when taking the estradiol only tablets. Having discussed this with the doctor, she reduced my dose to 1mg, her thinking being that I might still be producing oestrogen and therefore the 2mg dose maybe too high resulting in me getting down. So from March 2017 until 1 week ago I had been taking Estelle Duet 1mg and although I still got down on occasion it wasn't as bad however, for the past few months my night sweats had begun to return; I also hadn't had a period for 2-3 months despite having all the symptoms. Having discussed this with the GP, she decided to increase my does from 1mg to 3mg which worried me slightly as my mood hadn't been great on 2mg previously but she mentioned new thinking coming to light so I went with it.... Mistake!  Having taken the higher does for 7 days my mood has plummeted. I've been apathetic, tired and low with an inability to make decisions or concentrate... I've even had palpitations and joint pain so I know it's not right. This morning I was set to forget hrt all together as I'm 4 months in to a highly responsible job where I need to be able to function and lead a big team but, I went back to the doctors again and in my gps absence, I saw another doctor who advised going down to 2mg and returning next week to discuss reducing back down to 1mg but adding in Fluoxetine with my gp on her return.  Please, has anyone got an opinion on this? Should I just try a different hrt? Or should I try  adding in fluoxetine... I've heard both good and bad things. Any help, guidance or opinions would be gratefully received...  Thank you !!!!

[peri]

Hi Indigojo

I've found evorel 50 and utrogestan (for progesterone)  a good combination and felt better very quickly on this regime. I didn't like the noresthisterone in the sequi it affected my mood and I was obviously sensitive to it.  If you were peri menopausal when you tried evorel previously this may account for any ups and downs as hormones are erratic at this time.  I've also learnt from here that lots of ladies have success with gel as you can up the dose if need be.

I personally don't like anti-depressants as they turned me into a non sexually functioning zombie.  NICE guidelines recommend hrt as first line of treatment for menopausal symptoms/low mood before trying anti-depressants, although I acknowledge for ladies with long term depression they may need both. I can see from your post that you're struggling but I think it would be worth persevering to get the right regime before going down that route.  Wishing you well x

[Indigojo]

Thanks Peri that's really helpful and certainly worth discussing with the doctor. If I recall,when I first went on Everol Conti my mood was okay but after I came on unexpectedly, I was informed by another gp that I should have been put on sequi not conti...which was worse (intermittent bleeding and low mood). Before HRT I'd always suffered with PMT but was generally a happy optimistic person. As it stands though, I'd rather revert back to having night sweats and be seen as irrational (my poor hubby!) than be mentally in the place that I keep finding myself in. Thanks again! xx

[Hurdity]

Hi Indigojo

I agree with peri!  Patch oestrogen is often better absorbed and can give more consistent results than tablet oestrogen, and without having to go through the liver. Evorel sequi was the first HRT I tried and also didn;t get on with the norethisterone. Like peri,  have been taking oestrogen patches ( Estradot) and progesterone in some form ever since and feel fine. I do take oestrogen and progesterone on a longer than usual cycle ( with sanction from my doc) so that most of the time I am on oestrogen only - but this means I still have to have a withdrawal bleed - even in my 60's!!! A small price to pay in my view because like you I am also generally a positive optimistic person too, and contunous progesterone dampens this somewhat!

Personally I would try the patch oestrogen and progesterone cyclically until you get settled and then if you are OK with the progesterone maybe take it continuously.

The different oestrogen types are listed here:
https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/treatafter.php

.. and progestogens here:
https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/to_progestogens.php

It is a very narrow view of the doc just to be titrating the dose of tablet oestrogen and offering ADs when it doesn't work - there are so many different preparations and ways of taking it there is surely one there which will work.

Do follow peri's suggestion and hopefully you will feel better and positive again in no time

Hurdity x

[FiGo]

Indigojo. Hello. What did you do and how did it go?