Kliofem.....anyone else?

[PrudenceDear]

After what seems like forever, I've just started on kliofem today.
Anyone else? Or anyone any experience of it?

My last period was almost 15 months ago but had been every 11 months for a couple of years. Hot flushes have come and gone over the years but have been back for about 7 months now. More recently I've had several episodes of anxiety and I get lots of aches and pains so hoping this will help.

Now I need to overhaul the diet!!
I'm 44 btw

I was on kliofem for 10 weeks having been period-free for 18 months.

I was not keen on the bleeding and cramping I suffered for 5 weeks. I stopped taking it at week 10.

I am going cold turkey without HRT. Managing with diet and exercise.

It will be interesting to see how you get on with it, OP. It may well work for you. Will you update this thread, please?

Good luck and you are quite young for being post-meno. I started peri at age 36. It was pure hell for 12 years.

Thanks Mc
So did you start bleeding around 5 weeks in? I'm really hoping to avoid but seems it's probable with a conti. I have a job where it's very difficult to escape to the loos when necessary and I'm quite worried that I may bleed heavily.
I feel a bit crampy already but only slightly.
I started peri around 36 too but didn't realise until about 4 years in. Just thought I was going mad!

Six days in and I don't feel any different so far although possibly less hot flushes.

Hi
I have been taking it now for 8 months after no period for over a year.. I did have some fairly heavy bleeding for the first 2 months ( for the last 2 weeks of each pack) but nothing since then. The hot flushes and sweats stopped in less than 10 days.
My periods had been getting further apart since turning 40 so on the young side of normal....I am hoping that taking it will be good for my bone health!

Hello Prudence,

First bleed was two weeks in. Then a break. Then flooding for almost a month. My work too disables me from running to the loo regularly.

It is unavoidable, but the sweats went. Cramps started within days. I may well have not given it long enough to settle, but I could not stand it any longer. I lead on projects and I received a bloody complaint about me at work. I would rather keep my job than have no night sweats.

Wishing you well with it. Oh me too - peri was awful for me. But now I feel much better back to flashes and no periods. GP sending me for a bone scan as I am going without HRT to check bone density.

I guess it depends on symptoms and what is best for each woman in terms of medical benefits from HRT. I really hope you settle down on it.

Thanks ladies, I will prepare myself then for a bleed in about a weeks time. Will be a shock to the system!

I did take a months worth of elleste last year but couldn't remember where I'd put the other 2 packs so stopped taking them. I didn't get a bleed then.

I'm taking them mostly for my bone health. Although the sweats are annoying and often embarrassing. I get quite bad anxiety from time to time and a lot of aches and pains which I'm hoping for some relief from.

Mc I can't believe someone would complain about you? For using the loo too often?

Haha. No for being a right bitch. Had to go through a right HR review.

I have always had cringe worthy period pains. To be without them for 18 months was bliss. To medically give them back to me seemed counter-productive.

Swings and roundabouts I guess. Bone health is so important and HRT is beneficial for this.

Oh no!! Haha!!! I've always had awful periods too! Luckily I've always held it together at work but I only work 10 days a month, although towards the end I'm usually struggling!! It's at home that I struggled the most. With 3 very young children and no one other than DH to help or for support it's been tough.

I definitely feel a bit crampy. Like the ovaries are starting to twist in a vain effort to squeeze a last egg out....

Oh I feel your pain right now. The memories. Our bodies are amazing aren't they? Keep trying to give us one last opportunity...

Coping with children and peri? I can only imagine. Mine are grown up so nothing like that for me.

Not even children - all 3 were under 2 years when peri started. Was also kindly 'gifted' a moody teenager who slept or flounced until DH pulled onto driveway at which point she sprung into action!!

So, a quick update. I've about 4 tablets left from my first wheel and so far, so good.

I've had no bleeds or spotting so far, I felt a bit crampy at the beginning but that all settled down. I do feel a little anxious at the moment, bit of jaw clenching going on but that's probably just in line with a few life things being thrown at me at the moment. I am exhausted though, maybe my body is just trying to catch up on lost sleep!!
And the flushes, I think they'd gone by about Day 8. I had a couple of occasions when I would normally overhear, but it was really weird, it started and then cut out.

@PrudenceDear

TY for the update. Interesting to note you have not had bleeding with Kliofem.

My hot flushes disappeared within days on the little blighters. The bleeding & cramps I suffered were immense, so it is very interesting you have not experienced the same. Goes to show us women are totally different.

I would get the jaw clenching checked out. Has your GP requested a 3-month check on HRT?

Since I have ceased Kliofem, my hot flushes have returned but the cramping & bleeding has ceased. I am more than happy to return to night sweats and sacrifice cramps and endless bleeding.

I was offered a DEXA bone scan as I have chosen to go without HRT, had this to check my bone density, I think this is very pro-active of my GP.

Keep the thread updated, Prudence. I am completely gripped and a welcome break in our house for a labour/con split.

Be well.

Mc Have you not considered a sequi type of HRT where you have a monthly bleed rather than using conti which doesn't seem to suit you?
Or you could have a Mirena coil as part of HRT which means you are unlikely to have periods at all, and then you just add in estrogen.

It's not mandatory to use conti HRT after periods have stopped. I've been on sequi with a bleed for many years.

How are you getting on OP?...hope the kliofem is working for you and you are feeling better.

Well I'm now over half way through wheel number 2 and so far no bleeds or spotting. The hot flushes have gone. It's difficult to gauge whether anything else has improved as I seem to be having lots of life stresses thrown at me at the moment, relatives staying, some welcome others not so, a few school problems, the usual money woes, childcare issues etc but I'm holding on just about!! Let's hope they're at least improving my bone density.....

@Prudencedear you are so lucky! After 21 months of no period but with all of the other side effects of menopause (flushing, night sweats, sleep disturbance, menopausal arthritus, brain fog to name just a few) I finally took my GPs advice to try HRT. I'm 48 and started Kliofem nearly 7 weeks ago. First thing I noticed was that I was having great deep sleeps, but still felt knackered, feel as though I'm catching up on 2 years of lost sleep! After week 5 I had a breakthrough bleed or so I thought, as it hasn't stopped. I would say I was having a light period but now on day 10 of bleeding and it's getting worse, heavier and I'm very cranky. It's a shock to the system when I've been without it for so long. I've also been very emotional weepy or angry?? Poor other half should get an award for putting up with me. However, no flushing, no night sweats and most of all no joint pain. Having read a couple of threads I'm going to try and persevere for now. I've read that all should settle down after 3 to 6 months and then no more bleeding. Will keep you posted. I've to go back to GP after taking it for 3 months. Wish me luck!

Cranky = Crampy! Typo

Hi all,

@DeeJay16,

Wow, that is exactly what happened to me. At week 10, I chucked it all in. I have now been off them for 3 months and I feel so much better. I am not taking anything and apart from the bleeds I had with Klio, I have been period-free for two years now.

Granted the hot flushes have rèturned but I can manage those. But I am not cranky or anxious as I was on the little blighters.

At my 3 month check up, I explained the effects of the KF. He said as I was fairly healthy he saw no medical benefits for me from HRT. Sent me for a dexa bone scan to check my bone density. Came back normal.

Prudence, how are you getting on?

Polly. I do not want to go on anything as I feel I am able to manage with diet, exercise and am a natural gal. But I am very interested in how HRT works for other women.

No bleed HRT is possible with many different preps, not just Kliofem.
Mirena + oestrogen gel
Gel + Utrogestan daily (micronised natural progesterone)

ALL conti HRT can take a while to settle, or the option is still to have bleeds.

The 'rubbish' feelings of moods etc are due to taking daily synthetic progestogens. For that reason I use sequi. Ok the bleeds are a nuisance but it's also safer longer term re. breast cancer and I get a good 2 months between the bleeds.

There ARE options if Kliofem doesn't work for you/

Hi Polly,

Fantastic information for women requiring alternatives.

I just do not want any alternatives. I feel quite strongly about my choice not to go for an alternative. I like that my GP does promote patient-led choice. It is only my experience and feelings on the matter that my GP who is very pro Menopause Matters forum feels that the medical benefits for me of HRT as an intervention are small and the only benefit for me would have been to lessen the risk of bone thinning, however, as my bone density is normal, HRT intervention is of limited benefit.

It's every woman's right to use or not use HRT according to her concerns and medical history.
But....!....I'm concerned that this is an informed choice, ( which is the statement borne out by the NICE meno guidelines.)

Early menopause (before 45) increases the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis. More women die from the former than anything else.

The research shows there is a 10 year 'window of opportunity' as it's called after a final period. HRT started during those 10 years gives heart protection as well as helping bones.

Research from Denmark recently shows that women on HRT have 50% less arterial plaque than the controls (not on HRT) and assume this is regardless of lifestyle as it's a double blind trial.
www.bmj.com/press-releases/2012/10/10/hrt-taken-10-years-significantly-reduces-risk-heart-failure-and-heart-atta

Hot flushes etc although a PITA are small fry compared to the really serious risks of being without oestrogen too soon.

I think some GPs are being negligent if they don't update themselves with all the research and pass it on to women so they have the full facts.

It's great that some women (like my mum who's 90) have been relatively though not completely healthy without HRT (her GP didn't allow it as he thought it was no good and too late for her when she asked for it) but she's the exception. All her friends are dead or disabled with osteo or heart disease.

You have presented persuasive arguments there, Polly. (I will read later)

However, my mother died of heart disease at 69 and did not receive HRT. But that is not to say she would not have had heart disease if she had taken HRT.

My choice was a fully informed choice by my GP weighed up against the risks of my health previously, genetic factors, in that my overall risk of heart disease and osteoporosis is low.

My mother's heart disease was due to poor dietary choices, 60 fags a day and general inactivity that placed a strain on her heart.

For me it's just good to know that others have had similar symptoms with Kliofem and also that others are having none. My periods were always horrendous so I should maybe have half expected it wouldn't be plain sailing. My decision was an informed choice, I am a scientist and my GP knows me well. He gave me a bundle of reasearch papers for and against HRT to read. At that point I decided to wait and see if I could manage without. However I had to take Naproxen to manage the pain in my joints and this can cause gastric bleeds. Clonidine, which is a vasodilator, manages the flushes and night sweats. So I decided to try HRT at least until I'm 50 rather than stay on an NSAID that can lead to other issues and was starting to give me gastric problems. If Kliofem doesn't work out I would try something else.

DeeJay and Mc you might find this research interesting unless you've already seen it?
International Menopause Society (UK consultants some main researchers)

www.imsociety.org/manage/images/pdf/4429e3dd302aac259ad68c3be7f60599.pdf

It's pretty long-winded but it's interesting. Stops short of saying HRT should be used prophylactically, but does point out the reasons why it may help women's health, long term.

Omg, not sure I'm going to be able to stick this out! Been bleeding for 27 days now no let up, some days light some really heavy with clots and bad cramps. Can't believe I'm taking something that is doing ok his to me!!!! I've just swapped one set of of horrible symptoms for another. Finished 2nd dial today. Don't know what to do, can't do this for much longer, back at docs 13th Aug 😭😭😭

I would call the GPs and ask to see earlier. 27 days bleeding @DeeJay16 is too long. I feel for you.