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[Gilla999]

Ahh that's such good news MadameOvary! Interesting about month 2 being harder - I can't understand why that would be medically - but we shall see! I'm doing really well - aside from a few nights at the very beginning I've had none of my crippling night sweats and therefore no middle-of-the-night insomnia. Like you it has been such a relief to just have a normal life for the last few weeks! My breakthrough bleeding stopped about a week or so ago, the boobs aren't sore anymore (still a cup size larger tho) and generally I'm feeling really good. I went straight through on my pack so no period - not even sure what day I'm on anymore! Fingers crossed it continues to improve for both of us xx

[Angelasurrey]

MadameOvary and Gilla999 I’m pleased things are improving and moving in a positive direction. It’s nice we are able to share our experiences and support one another. Have a great week x

[MadameOvary]

Glad things are going well for you too Gilla999.

After I posted yesterday, I had a massive meltdown which was like my worst pms/irritability/unable to cope. To be fair, the washing machine broke in the middle of me making dinner so I was trying to cook and fix the machine all while my husband was relaxing with a beer watching football... So maybe it's not a hormonal thing, maybe I had good reason to lose my rag!

Then I had a terrible night of insomnia. Shattered today. I wondered if it was my own hormones playing up/not quite suppressed by the pill yet?

I'm still over the moon about the light, easy painless period though!

[Gilla999]

It's difficult to know isn't it - the world itself is such a strange, rubbish place at the moment. There is a lot of stress on everyone in different ways! Keep going and see how you get through this second month xx

Thanks for the lovely words Angela! Hope you have a great week too. I can't wait for all this covid business to be done and dusted and we can get back to normal living!

[MadameOvary]

So true Gilla. The world is such a weird and scary place right now. It's hard to know what's hormonal and what's just a normal reaction to life's stresses and strains.
Keep safe x

[CrispyChick]

Ladies. That's excellent news. Keep updating. I'm still following.

I've had the worst week of pmt. Now subsided. But I'm left fatigued low and flat and just generally feeling off. So, against my better judgement because my kids are home schooling, I've stuck the contraceotive patch on.... Fingers crossed. I've stuck it on my bum 

Day 1...

[Angelasurrey]

Crispychick, that sounds incredibly tough. Hormones have alot to answer for. I hope the patch gives you some relief and you feel more like yourself. The cold and dark is definitely making this lockdown even harder. I think I’m just fed up with both peri and the pandemic.
The past two nights I have a gurgling stomach. It’s bizarre definitely digestive as I wake up with reflux and am  up for a few hours. Have had a skin breakout but that doesn’t bother me too much.  Just hope the pill starts overriding my natural hormones. I also am feeling PMT a bit. Have been homeschooling and trying to juggle everything else.

MadameOvary, after reading about the dinner time and washing  machine breaking.. this resonated with me. Lack of sleep doesn’t help either and I think most of us don’t get a chance to recover !
Big hugs xx


Ps - As Gilla some of my symptoms could be pandemic stress related. 

[CrispyChick]

33 hours on the patch... Is it too early to update??  . Had nippy head all day and mild nausea.

[Aveline]

Hello,

New here, nice to meet you all. I've been hovering for a couple of days reading reading.

42. Diagnosed peri by my specialist based on symptoms and family history.

He put me on Zoely to help with irregular painful periods. I took it till the end of month 2 (I know you're supposed to give it 3) but stopped because my OCD thoughts were out of control, I couldn't sleep at all, it was like I'd drunk too much coffee alllllll the time. I lost weight because I had a constant feeling of having a rock in my stomach and I was so wired I was like a coiled spring. I felt truly awful. (I also had constant cramping and a LOT of breakthrough bleeding although that was getting better in the 2nd month).

The pill hasn't played nicely with me in the past. Microgynan gave me burning stomach cramps and upset my IBS as did Triphasil so I'm thinking levonorgesterel doesn't like me.

I have a script for microgynan 20 (I believe but aren't sure that I was on 30 in the past) and one for Yaz, however latest studies have shown it not to be very good for people with IBS so I'm a little scared of it.

After reading these forums I'm wondering if Qlaira might be a good fit for me. I have to be careful with my estrogen dose as I have a significant fibroid I don't want growing.

Other options might be to try the microgynan (not keen), norimin or marvelon or minulet although all have higher estrogen.

I don't want to keep bugging my poor doctor for scripts!

I look forward to continuing to read your updates so please keep them coming!

[CrispyChick]

Hi Aveline

Nice to hear from you. This is becoming a lovely wee thread for those of us in our early 40s trying the COC to help with peri  .

I'm sorry zoley didnt work for you. But yes, it may well have been the progesterone.

As you've probably seen from my posts, I've tried most of the common COC over the last year... And not had success. Yes in my 20s, no problems 🤷‍♀️.

I've not tried zoley or qlaira (I'm in Scotland and I think I'll have a fight on my hands to get them) but hopefully madame and gilla will continue to update.

I put the patch on on Tues... I was nervous as I'd read you absorb more estrogen. Sure e ough, within 2 days I had the horrific vile poisoned feeling... I'm now kinda sure is too much estrogen for me.  I tried hrt for 2 weeks and the estrogen alone was horrific.

So, as I was awful on nothing, I'm going to give microgynon another shot. Before it made me low and off... But I think the more estrogenic ones are too much for me. I didn't know you got microgynon with 20 estrogen, mine is the classic 30.

I know what you mean about keep pestering gp for different ones, but hey, I us usually just ask for what I wa t to try and I get it.

Have a look at the Avon pill ladder - it helps explain the potency of each pill in terms of its estrogen /prog balance.  There are certainly 2 with 20mg estrogen... Weren't enough estrogen for me. Hence me working out I need the 30mg estrogen but balanced with a heavy prog. Hope that makes sense.

This is awful. I totally understand. Today I am still feeling nauseous avd dizzy despite removing the patch yesterday morning. 🙄 Xxx

[Gilla999]

Hi Aveline - I'm sorry to hear Zoely didn't work out for you. I guess it shows how different we all are as I had none of the side effects you describe. It makes it really hard because someone's "review" of a Pill (or HRT) might be bad and that puts you off or vice versa and there really is no way of knowing until you try yourself. Don't feel bad about pestering your doctor to keep trying different types - you pay National Insurance towards the NHS, that's what they're here for. And my own experience has been very much that I've had to research and help myself. Everywhere I've read does say you need to give it at least 3 months on each though - but if I were suffering as badly after 2 months as you were on Zoely I would probably have stopped at that point too.

All still fine here for me with Zoely - the only side effects I have are minor annoying things but NOTHING compared to the crippling night sweats and insomnia I was suffering for the last year prior. The minor side effects are: weight gain (about 2-3 pounds, not much), bra size has now gone up to 34G (!!!!) - some ladies might think this is great but not for me, relentless constipation no matter what I eat - even laxatives don't help, and a little bit of cramping. But again, nothing compared to what I was going through. Trying not to be over optimistic or jinx myself but the last 4 weeks have been the best in such a long time and I'm so grateful just to have felt like a normal human being!!

Good luck - I really hope you find something that helps you xx

[CrispyChick]

Gilla, so true. We all react differently to the pill, clearly.

That's me on microgynon. Feeling very sick and dizzy. These are the initial start up symptoms I get with any and, I guess the first few weeks are the worst as my own body is still producing. So that's my estrogen dominance symptoms, wheras gilla got the boob pain.

I read a lot yesterday and the points that struck me were:

The pill enters your blood stream within an hour, so I'm going to move mine to nighttime so I metabolise whilst I sleep.i certainly felt at my worst the first few hours after taking it yesterday (although need to bear in mind I had the patch on since Tues... So changeover yesterday may have been overdose!)

Secondly, an interesting point - and certainly true for me last year... If only I hadn't just taken this 4 month break...once you get to the 3 month mark, your body is adapted to the new levels of hormones. It's then easier to swap around to find one that works for you, as realistically you're only changing the prog and perhaps a very small increase or decrease in estrogen. Makes sense.

Good luck. Let us know which one u go with..

Great to hear your update gilla. I'm feeling more positive today. Xx

[Angelasurrey]

So pleased for you Gilla.

Just a quick update. The past week I have had patchy sleep, almost burning boobs and I feel the ovulation symptoms. I’m on the pill so not ovulating but had some pain. Feeling quite overwhelmed By everything and hot today.

CrispyChick Thanks for the info .. I might switch the pill to evening..

Aveline , Nice to hear from you.. all the best..

MadameOvary - How are you?

[Aveline]

CrispyChic, thank you for the welcome.  Sorry to hear you're not having any luck with the COC. It's never played well with me so I'm not too hopeful, sad because while the Zoely was sending me into feeling crazy, it was helping my chronic pelvic pain a lot. I didn't even notice how much till I stopped taking it and the pain all came back.

Thank you for mentioning the avon pill ladder. I will take a look at it too. Yes, microgynan 20 is relatively newish here I believe (not that I've had much experience for 20 years or so!).

I hope you start feeling better after removing the patch! I have no idea what my body likes in terms of progesterone and estrogen. I just know that generally my body seems to hate hormones!


Thank you Gilla! I'm in Australia so no NHS although thankfully we do have medicare. Financial circumstances have changed suddenly the last few days so not sure I can do the Qlaira ($30 a month over here and I'm already paying for other medications for various health problems). Looks like it might be one of the old fashioned types that are cheaper.

Glad to hear you're doing well on the Zoely! If I'd just had the cramping and a bit of anxiety I would have kept at it in hopes it eased after month 3 or 4, but it had just become unbearable. I feel your pain on the relentless constipation. I seemed to start suffering that one a couple of years ago after many years of having the total opposite. No amount of fibre helped (in fact seemed to make it worse).

Angelasurrey, thank you for the welcome! Hope the sleep settles soon (I'm a terrible sleeper, you have my empathy) and the burning boobs (yowch!).

Thank you all for the kind welcome

[Sue_M]

I had similar symptoms at 49, the mood swings being the worse. I was referred to a menopause clinic and the gynae put me on qlaira as I need a conception too. Was on them for 5 years and they helped me alot. Plus side is they are free as they are contraceptives. They did take about four months before seeing positive affects which she did warn about this. Hope this helos