So it starts

[inaclearingstandsaboxer]

I have been peri for longer than gods dogs been alive ( well it feels like it)

My main symptoms are

Pain
Sweats
Memory loss


Can't remember the others

So I have been started this morning on Femoston 10mg

I hope I feel better soon - joking aside I am worried about my mental health as I am really struggling especially with the joint and muscle pain.

So fingers crossed!!!

[MadameJosephine]

I feel for you OP, hope you feel better soon. I've got an app with my GP next Monday to talk about my symptoms. Brain fog, lethargy, depression, joint pain and palpitations 😢 I can't remember the last time I felt well!

[inaclearingstandsaboxer]

Are you me?

I have been wondering if I am a hypochondriac !

Good luck for your app - I went in with a 'no I don't want a leaflet and come back after thinking about it' attitude... It worked!

[LineysRun]

I'm on day 11 of Estel Duet Conti. I feel miles better already, but oh dear God the bleeding ... I know it'll settle down eventually, but I wasn't expecting the blood bath tbh. And it hurts.

But I feel calmer, and my skin is not so dry, and I'm sleeping better already.

[Hellothereitsme]

I've just finished month two of Estradot and Vagifem. The fog has lifted. I mainly sleep through the whole night now. I don't get woken up by a night sweat. My hands and feet don't hurt in the mornings anymore. My aching hands don't wake me up at night anymore. Sex isn't painful anymore. Infact it feels normal. So for me HRT is working. My consultant also told me it gave me protection against heart attacks and bowel cancer (my parents died of these).

[MagentaRocks]

I've got an appointment this week. Night sweats, itchiness, erratic periods, muscle and joint pain. I'm only 44 but convinced that's what it is. Could cope with most of it but the joint pain is getting me down.

[ALaughAMinute]

I'm on day 5 of Elleste duet and feel better than I have done for years! I know it's very early days but the hot flushes are less frequent which meant I had a good nights sleep last night but more importantly the anxiety and depression seems to have lifted. 👍😀Just hope I don't get the blood bath that Lineysrun describes. I'm also not looking forward to taking the green tablets as from what I've read they can be more problematic.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/menopause/1477727-Anyone-taking-Elleste-duet?pg=1&order=

Time will tell but the signs are good.

Good luck OP!

[Joto369]

Im starting Femoston 1/10 as soon as I get my script (had to go private as my gp just wanted me on ad's). I am hoping this will help with the constant spaced out feeling, erratic mood and anxiety as well as joint pain (48 but feel 84!) Fingers crossed 😉😉

[LineysRun]

Day 16. The bloodbath is worse, I'm all bloated, and the pain is awful - I'm on co-codomol - but I'm hanging on in there. I've been doing some reading, and I need to give it at least two months I reckon.

Bizarrely, I'm sleeping so much better. It's a much richer, happier type of sleep, devoid of nightmares and anxiety. My anxiety generally has lessened. My skin seems so much better. I'm eating less crap.

Hoping for the brain fog to start to lift soon.

[Joto369]

Hope it lifts for you too lineysrun - for me it's the worse symptom though the bleeding you're enduring sounds awful xxx

[LineysRun]

Thank you, Joto. I'm having a fibroid removed soon (waiting for surgery) so that'll help a lot, hopefully.

My OH of four years was a bit of an arsehole last weekend and it was like I could see it clearly for the first time, put my foot down calmly, and walk away. The narrative of me always being the 'irrational' one is changing - interestingly so. My DS is 18 and he's stepping up, much to ExMiL's chagrin. (She thinks women shouldn't discuss gynae issues with men. Ever.)

[Joto369]

Good at least it's been sorted x I've had another day where I felt ok this morning went for lovely walk and then an hour ago telling a huge pot of depression from nowhere with a side order of anxious. Ended up in tears. My OH said what's wrong now. I restrained myself!!!

[Joto369]

Fell into a huge pit of!!! Bloody fingers are against me now 😂😂😂

[inaclearingstandsaboxer]

So it's been a week since I started

Negatives - have been up every night with indigestion and today I felt quite faint and 'out of this world' whilst gardening. So I got rushed into the house and put on the sofa by DH who has clucked round me all afternoon. Friday night I got up and had an episode of very very fast heartbeat with light headedness - had to crawl back to bed feeling very ill.

Pluses - hot flushes have reduced ( thank fuck) and my dry flue seems to be improving

[LineysRun]

Day 17 in the Big Bloodbath House.

I have gone back to super max plus plus tampons with those pads that look like nappies. OH is concerned I must be getting anaemic, but I'm eating ok (just not as much).

OP, drink plenty of water, see if that helps. Can't do any harm.

[Joto369]

LineysRun - I just said that in my head in a Geordie accent!!! Sorry it made me smile. I hope I don't get this kind of bleeding it sounds horrendous 😯😯😟

[PollyPerky]

Liney are you post meno if you are using a conti regime?
You may get some spotting with a conti regime but a 'bloodbath' is unusual unless you are still peri and it's your own cycle coming through.

You might get on better with sequi types of HRT where you would have a bleed once a month.

[LineysRun]

Hello, Polly! Tbh if it weren't for you and your championing of the NICE guidelines I wouldn't have any HRT at all, so thank you.

I'm 56 now so everyone seems to assuming I'm post-meno and that the previous bleeding was fibroid-related (fibroid to be removed in near future), But it makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I did have a pre-op assessment last week and asked about all this, but the gynae nurse I saw said to carry on.

[LineysRun]

Joto, it's like being inside my own reality show, here. I forgot I'd put some Dovonex on my thighs earlier for a skin condition, and the new HRT patch has fallen off and I'm paranoid that the cat or my barefoot teenage son will stand on it and get it stuck to the soles if their feet.

[PollyPerky]

Hi Liney What previous bleeding do you mean?
The 'rule' is that post meno is 12 months with no period or aged over 54 for conti HRT. This is not set in stone. I, and some other women I know, still use sequi HRT in our 60s. The bleed is a nuisance, even though I have it once every 2 months, but I'm doing it this way because I don't want to take progestogens daily. (There is evidence this increases the risk of breast cancer.)
So- that's just to tell you you can go 'off piste' with HRT if you don't want conti.
Your fibroid- is it big? I've always had one (I've had loads of scans privately- pay my money and they do a scan) but it's not grown on HRT and doesn't appear to be an issue. But it's not a big one.

I did try conti for a few weeks and spotted all the time which was bearable, but I also felt headachy and tired so gave that sort up.

Not sure if any of this will help, but there you are!

[LineysRun]

Thank you, Polly, that's helpful. I've had lots of gynae investigations for unexplained bleeding, ie bleeding on and off all the time. I never went 12+ months without bleeding; the longest was six months.

The fibroid is 'only' 5cm so not massive, but is slowly growing not shrinking. I've had three hysteroscopies, seen three (NHS) gynaecologists, and just want a resolution to this now, as its painful and I'm sick of it.

Tbh I feel really good on the HRT - it's just this breakthrough bleeding that's the issue. I did read one clinical review of the data on same (there's not much, is there??!) and there was reference to possible menorrhagia for 2-3 months. That was the term used by the authors used at the start of the article - 'menorrhagia' - and then they dropped back into using 'breakthrough bleeding' for the remainder.

It's as though heavy bleeding on HRT is glossed over, despite being a common cause of women giving up. Maybe if it were better known, normalised and not so scary, more women would persevere and get the benefits of HRT.

Another benefit I've noticed today is that my bladder is back to normal. It's a miracle!

[PollyPerky]

So it sounds as if you were never really post meno?

When they remove the fibroid, why don't you ask for a Mirena coil at the same time? This is considered the gold standard HRT along with transdermal oestrogen ( patch or gel.) You'd be unlikely to have any bleeding at all with the Mirena (after a few weeks maybe?) and it might work well. if it didn't and gave you side effects, you could have it whipped out after a few months.

[LineysRun]

I'm giving some thought to the Mirena. Thanks again.

[MadameJosephine]

An update following my appointment this morning. Lovely GP went through all the pros and cons with me and agreed that given my symptoms HRT was a reasonable course of action so I have started 1mg elleste duet today. Not looking forward to the bleeding though, not having to deal with periods was the only good thing about it!

[LineysRun]

My bloodbath continues which means I should be on the sequi not the conti, according to you wise posters.

[LineysRun]

Good luck, Madame, and OP.