Premature Ovarian Failure

[Disco68]

Hi - I had been take the pill from the age of 12 due to heavy and long periods. The pill regulated my periods and was on it till 21. I stopped taking the pill as I had been having some light bleeding whilst taking the pill - I put this down to a new job, working nights and forgetting to take it as regular as I used to.

When I stopped taking the pill I started to develop hot flushes, decreased sex drive, vaginal dryness, feeling irritable and moody. I did what everyone else did and searched the Internet thinking it might have been a overactive thyroid. I eventually got the courage to attend my doctors and was referred to the hospital were i was diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure. I was 23.

Iv found it very hard to come to terms with and felt very depressed ever since - the symptoms of POF have made it even harder. The thought of not being able to have children leaves me feeling distraught and really alone considering all my friends have children. Now at the age of 26 I have decided to do something about and started taking HRT (Elleste Duet Conti) due to the potential risks of Osteoporsis.

I have been taking it now for nearly two weeks and my symptoms have become worse. I do have a stressful job and life at the best of times but Iv recently been breaking down in floods of tears, feeling like a can't cope, the POF symptoms worse than ever and at times feel like I'm gonna lose it.

Has anyone else had the same problem or is it my body adjusting? I didn't like the symptoms before but i was able to live with it.

[pinkfrocks]

Oh you poor thing- what a situation to deal with.
Have you heard of the Daisy network- site for POF? I suggest you look at the website because it's very helpful.

The type of HRT you are taking may not be the best. Isn't the conti sort = continuous- meaning you don't have a bleed with it? This means you will be taking 2 hormones every day, compared with the sequential type of HRT which is one hormone (oestrogen) every day and adding in progestogens for 10 days to mimic a natural cycle and give you a monthly bleed.

Your dr may have chosen the conti type for you as you are theoretically post-menopause (I'm assuming your periods have completely stopped and not just irregular at the moment...?) .

It's likely that the progestogens are making you feel depressed which they can do in many women. But the upside can be that for many women they take them for only 10-12 days a month, not 30 days.

I think you ought to go back to your dr- or specialist- and ask for a change of HRT to sequential type which means you will mimic a cycle, instead of using a conti sort which is for women much older than you- normally. You might also need to experiment with the type of HRT as the progestogens are different in many pills.

[Disco68]

Thank you for replying, didn't think anyone would. I was looking at the packet as iv had seen some ppl was taking 1 or 2mg and I seem to be taking 3mg.

They gave put me on a non bleed one because I didn't want to have unnecessary bleeding but would you suggest I do to make the side effect less severe?

[pinkfrocks]

Yes, in a word!
That will mimic your natural cycle more. If you are seeing a consultant they may well allow you to take only 7 days of progesterone a month - but for this regime you would need a separate oestrogen and a separate progesterone.