perimenopause and combined pill

[puppypops]

at the grand old age of 42 I've gone back to taking the pill due to symptoms of the perimenopause - not been on it since I was 25. For those of you who have always been on it - does it mean you dont get any perimenopause symptoms? Does it also impact on how women look and their energy levels? I am hoping to regulate my moods as well as night sweats etc. What have your 40s been like if you carried on taking the pill?

The amount of oestrogen in the combined pill compared to HRT is tiny. It probably won’t have any impact on your menopausal symptoms- I tried it for this reason and felt it did nothing at all. I went into early menopause aged 37 due to autoimmune issues, I’m now 42. I switched to the mini pill which also counts as part of the progesterone part of HRT and I have oestrogen and utrogestan as well (3 pumps of oestrogel and 100mg utrogestan every night continuously).

Ok, good to know. I thought the combined pill would have sufficient levels of hormones both for my body to feel normal and not get pregnant

Typically the amount of oestrogen in a combined pill is between 20-30mcg, but can be as low as 10mcg. The average amount of oestrogen in a single pump of oestrogel is 70mcg and most women use at least 2 pumps (2 pumps is the average amount but you can use up to 4). So there’s a huge difference!

@Xrays does that regime stop your periods? I don’t want to have monthly bleeds. I’m over it!

i currently have 3 pumps oestrogel & the mirena. I hate the mirena & I’m looking for other options.

My worry is that I’ve always been very sensitive to progesterone (took lots of experimenting to find a COC that worked for me…then it was discontinued in 2019 😩) This was my concern about the mirena but I reluctantly agreed and hoped the low dose would be ok.

Now aged 48, I changed to HRT in Oct 21 (from combined pill Qlaira) because I was having night sweats. But the mirena steals 2 weeks of my life every month & I can’t live like that. I want to love it because I don’t have periods (I do have spotting & PMS on steroids though) but the PMS is intolerable.

@puppypops Qlaira is sometimes suggested as a good COC for perimeno. It didn’t work for me because I like to take my COC continuously to avoid the monthly withdrawal bleed & couldn’t do it with this because it’s quadriphasic. Also at 46 I started getting night sweats. Perimeno - the gift that keeps giving!! Good luck with your search!

I don’t have any bleeding on it but I’m unsure as to whether that’s due to the mini pill or whether it’s because I’m actually post meno now being honest - I’m 42 and went into menopause aged 37 due to lupus and autoimmune issues. I had been on the mini pill for 8 years by then and liked it because it stopped my periods completely and with the lupus I found I’d always suffered from heavy clots etc so when I started having symptoms of menopause I really didn’t want to stop taking it so the specialist advised I could continue with it and add the oestrogel and utrogestan which suits me really well.

Thanks for your reply @Xrays
I have tried cerazette POC in the past but it triggered PMS. I had noriday POC while breastfeeding and recall this being ok so I’m planning to ask for this as my contraception. Alongside the hrt.

Did you go straight onto a continuous utro regime or start with cyclical?

I went straight onto continuous. Never done the whole 2 weeks of progesterone thing. Can’t be bothered with all the faff of remembering what to take when- I already take 22 medications a day for various things.