Mood swings and Elleste Duet

[TillyVonMilly]

I’ve been taking Elleste Duet 1mgsince August, the night sweats stopped after two weeks so I slept better than I had for 18 months. My mood did improve but I felt better on the white tablets rather than the green. For the last few months I’ve been more irritable while on the green ones and my partner keeps commenting on my mood/ temper. Last week we had some awful arguments, over absolutely nothing, and I went ballistic and acted completely irrational. I struggle to keep under control when this happens and DP does point it out that he can see my mood change over the days but try as I might, I’m up in the air in no time. I started bleeding yesterday but shouldn’t have until this Friday, this is the first time , usually it’s when I’m two days in to the white tablets. I’ve one more months elleste tablets left so I’ll be making an appointment but I’m thinking of seeing the doctor rather than the nurse and asking if there’s an alternative HRT. Anyone been through similar and found a better tablet? Thanks

I was on elleste duet for a while, and had the same experiences. I went straight to the doctor and asked for different options.
Plus, my “periods” were becoming more and more irregular. It was getting to the point that I was bleeding every weekend.
So we decided it would be best for me to have the coil and have estrogen patches.

Even though at first the mood swings were still the same and had a bleed for about a month (which seemed like forever) after a couple of months it has calmed down completely and I’m a lot more relaxed.

Anxiety and depression are still a constant- where the doctor told me to take antidepressants (big no no from me) I’ve taken a different approach to it and am using a lot of different techniques to help me through it.

Sorry for the long post 🙈 I hope some of my ramblings help 😊 give me a message if you fancy a chat 😊

ThanksHT I’d been on the mini pill for about 12 years, stopped in May last year,, periods stopped pretty soon after I started taking it and didn’t restart for three years. After that they were very infrequent for a few years then stopped again so I’ve no idea if I would have them now if it weren’t for the HRT. I really don’t want to go down the antidepressant route as it’s definitely the hormones that as causing the problems, I felt anxious and tearful especially at night for a few months before I started on hrt but seemed better when I first started taking it but I think that was partly relief of getting some sleep. The anxiety has gone but replaced by an argumentative and angry person, I don’t like myself very much at the moment

It's such a shame if women think of giving up on HRT when 1 type doesn't suit. My dr compares it to buying shoes- you need to try a few to get the right fit. Most nurses won't have the specialist knowledge to help unless they have been on an advanced meno training course.

There a loads of other types - there are other tablet forms, patches, gel and various different types of progestogen.

If you have a womb you have to take progestogen alongside estrogen to prevent the womb lining overgrowing. This - in your HRT now- is Norethisterone. It's known for causing PMT symptoms. I took it for 5 years then switched to Utrogestan.
If you use Utrogestan it's a capsule you take for 12 days a month with a separate estrogen (pill, patch or gel.)
Your other option is as above- the Mirena- or pill form Femoston which some women find is good.

Unfortunately, many drs just dish out a packet of pills and don't understand there are many 'mix and match' options where you use one type of estorgen and a different progestogen (which don't come neatly packed in a box!) but need individual prescribing.
Hope this helps.

Thanks so much Queen I will go back and see the doctor, I’m going to see if I can book an appointment for next week. To be fair to the GP,, she’s pretty young and did say that one of the nurses would know more about menopause than she did, I’m unsure if a nurse can swap my medication so I’ll check that first before I book. I’ve never wanted to try the coil, heard too many bad things but I’d swap my current hrt to a different type in a heartbeat

I'm on month four of Elleste duet and think it's working, however, I tend to feel low and a bit irratiable when on the progesterone part .
Would anyone here recommend I switch to the mirena plus oestrogen pills/gell ?
My 'periods ' , while not disireable at this stage of my life , are relatively light .

I can’t get an appointment to see my doctor until a week on Wednesday, not sure if me or my relationship will last that long another two days of arguing over sod all. DP absolutely won’t back off me as he’s had enough of the moods, original argument caused by him but he’s so pissed off that it makes no difference! Day 8 of bleeding, never lasted this long my whole life. Started the white tablets on Thursday and was hoping that my mood would settle, Friday was fine but down hill since then. I’m completely cheesed off with this meno lark

I had similar on 1mg. I've been a lot better since upping it to 2mg. I still get a bit down after about 4 days on the white ones, though nowhere near as bad. I find I bleed on day 3 of the orange ones, but only for 4 days max.

I shouldn’t have started bleeding until Friday, it’s been like that since I began hrt, so why it was so early or gone on as long I’ve no idea. Can’t say I ever suffered with pmt either, not until the green pills kicked in. I’m well and truly pissed off. No wonder so many relationships go wrong at this stage of life.

Wondering if anyone on elleste duet 1mg has tried taking the white then green tabs on alternate days to possibly stop menstruation? I have been on these hrt tabs for around a year and when on the white tabs, all is good, green one's I'm a bit down, then two days onto white I've the most terrible menstrual pain. The pain is barely controlled by mefenamic acid and is very debilitating. The period is short and fairly light only 2-3 days but sooo painful. Wondering if alternating the tabs would help?