Elleste Duet dilemma

[MostIneptThatEverStepped]

I'd be really grateful for any advice as I will need to make a decision by Friday whether or not to continue with this HRT and not sure whether I will be able to see a GP before then.

I originally went to GP to ask for HRT in November last year and came away with fluoxetine which caused its own problems and took till March to address the PMS...by which time I'd been back to the GP and begged for HRT and was given it. I'd just had one month with relatively little PMS and made the possibly unwise decision to go on and take the HRT anyway.

As many others have said, I felt great on the white tablets and thought wow, this stuff is amazing! Green tablets however...brought the nastiest, spikiest, longest PMS I have ever had. Am still having.

I keep changing my mind about whether to stop taking it on Friday or sink into the relief of the white pills again and give it another cycle...is one month long enough to know? Or like the ADs, can it take a while to really feel the benefits? I'm still taking the Fluoxetine and have in fact increased my dose to 40 mg daily.

[pinkfrocks]

I don't think it's a good idea to mix ADs and HRT if they are to help the same symptoms. You won't know which is helping.

HRT is always a trade-off. Many of us feel great on the oestrogen part ( that's your white tablets) and not so great on the progestogens which can bring on PMS symptoms.

But it really depends on how bad your symptoms are. If you are getting 3 good weeks and 1 bad week that to me is a worthwhile trade off.

There are plenty of variations on what you are using.
The HRT you have is 2mgs oestrogen and 1mg norethisterone.

You could change to a different brand that uses a different progestogen- some people say that Femosten is better re. PMS.

See the link here Types of HRT

You could also swap to a separate oestrogen as a patch or gel, and then use a separate progesterone that is bio identical- Utrogestan.

If none of those help you could consider a Mirena coil to give you the progestogen side of HRT.

Another option is to ask to use 'long cycle' HRT which means using progestogens less- such as every 8th week. You might need annual scans to check all is ok if you do this.

Or-finally- some consultants allow women who are very sensitive to progestogens to take them for 7 days only per cycle, which ought to still be enough to oppose the oestrogen.

You might need to do the last 2 under the direction of a consultant rather than a GP but if you are very progestogen-sensitive it might be worth asking for a referral.

I think I'd rather play around with the HRT to get it right, than add in ADs as well.

[DayLillie]

In theory, it is better to keep on with what you are on, then make an appointment to see the doctor for a change of tablet, rather than stopping them. The pack of the next sort of hrt should then follow on. Easier said than done!

I tried elleste for joint pain. The first month was good, the second not so good, so I made an appointment with the gp. The third month hurt too much and I stopped taking them and was told I shouldn't have but it is hard when you have to wait 4 weeks for an appointment with the same gp! It then took two months of the next kind of pills to sort myself out again, before I could even start to decide if they were ok.

Keep a diary of symptoms - it makes it easier to explain how it is going, through the brain fog.

[MostIneptThatEverStepped]

Thanks so much to you both, this is really excellent advice. I think I'm stuck with the ADs for now but would definitely try one of the other HRT brands in the link. And it makes sense that I could go straight from my pack to another during the estrogen stage.
If it was one quite bad week and three good weeks that wouldn't be so bad. But it was two good weeks followed by two excruciatingly awful weeks. I have felt as short tempered, crabby and wholeheartedly nasty as I ever did before I started ADs and that was so disappointing!!
Thanks again. I may ask to change to Femoston.

[MostIneptThatEverStepped]

Nipping back to update and ask another question

I was feeling so bad on the green pills that I bailed out and missed the last two. My period came as normal but I had a few days of bad headaches which I'm guessing might have been withdrawal. I dithered all week instead of just starting the new pack but went to see my GP on day 8 of my cycle, he prescribed Femeston and said it would probably be ok to start taking it right away. So I'm on day 2 of this new pack and my breasts are really aching and I have lots of pelvic aches and twinges. I know I've messed up my cycle slightly by doing this but how bad is it? Should I take the full run of white tablets or switch over to the greens at the time that I originally should anyway? That would presumably bring my cycle back on track but I would have taken fewer white pills than I should this month. Will the world come to an end? Will I rip a hole in the space time continuum? Or even worse, leave myself open for another bout of very nasty PMS that lasts 2 weeks?

[DayLillie]

I did this at the start of Femoston. I stopped taking the white pills when my breasts became way too sore and I had not had a proper bleed and I was still getting pain, like on the elleste. I had a bleed a couple of weeks later (and several pregnancy tests), so started taking them again in the hope of being more in sinc. I got sore again and toughed it out. It took another couple of months to sort itself out, then I had to get another prescription as I had no idea if they suited me or I had just messed them up too much. Had no trouble since.

Probably better in the long run to tough it out. I find hormone tablets work much better if you are very consistent in their use.

[MostIneptThatEverStepped]

Thanks so much for the reply! It's so useful to hear other people's experiences. I will stick to this for now and hopefully the green pills won't be as bad as last time.