Combined Oral Contraceptive for HRT - Peri

[ramblingsonthego]

I am on Evorel Sequi currently but I am thinking of asking for COC instead of due to side effects. Is this possible? I don't need it for contraceptives (husband has had the snip) but when I was on it for years and years (I was on cilest) I tolerated it really well, it helped me regulated hormones and PMT and always had a reliable withdrawal bleed.

The mini pill never agreed with me, I have tried it 4 or 5 times over the years so it would have to be the combined pill or try another HRT. My gp took me off the pill a few years ago due to age etc... but reading online this was old outdated advice. I am 43 and in peri but I am still making my own hormones according to the blood tests I had in the summer.

Please help!

You can use CCP till age 50 now if a non smoker.

It's often prescribed for younger women instead of HRT as it's a bigger dose.

@JinglingHellsBells

You can use CCP till age 50 now if a non smoker.

It's often prescribed for younger women instead of HRT as it's a bigger dose.

Thank you @JinglingHellsBells I have done an online consultation for my gp to discuss maybe changing the hrt or going on the CCP.

After some elimination (and its still a guessing game) I do believe its the progesterone part of the HRT that is not agreeing with me. I was fine until 1.5 weeks ago and suddenly this insane itching had started and nothing is curing it. It was getting better yesterday with cetirizine and then I changed my patch (again to the conti patch of sequi) and the itching went off the scale again. Now no antihistamines are touching it again. I am not sleeping, I have changed to a low histamine diet to see if its that. I am a broken women at the moment! I have thought of ripping off the patch and just dumping them as I am having 15 + hot flushes every day suddenly as well.

I went on the pill at 45 for this and it was brilliant. The GP said I could take it till I was 50. I actually stopped taking it (I'm 47) because I stopped getting periods and I wanted to see how I feel and I feel fine. I really think it massively helped. I was struggling to sleep/I was also itchy and the pill made everything go back to 'normal'. I don't know if I have been through the menopause or not as there aren't any tests but I'm not having periods anymore.

@HappyThursdays can I ask which pill you were on?

Hi @WhereAreWeNow I asked for Yasmin as it's what I took when I was taking it for contraception

I had a lot of side effects from the pill when I was younger - couldn't have mirena etc so I wanted a pill I knew worked

@HappyThursdays thank you. I am hoping the gp will let me change. Bizarrely my itching seems to have stopped (as quickly as it started) when I came on my period but it has been a very horrible 2 weeks and I cannot go through it every month if it is hormone related. I have been hell to live with!

yes it's weird isn't it - I had exactly the same thing and it was driving me utterly mad!

if it's any consolation, now my periods appear to have stopped, I don't have any itching either !

I also bath with oils now and keep my skin hydrated and soft though I think it was entirely hormonal - but I don't want to risk it coming back

good luck and I hope they listen to you

I loved the combined pill. The GP put me on it at 43 due to flooding periods. I'd never been on it before. I slept well, lost weight, got my sex drive back. Then they took me off it at 45 due to the fact I have migraine with aura - GP hasn't screened me properly! I'm now trying to find the right HRT as the flooding, 5 week periods are back. Complete nightmare! I'd go on the combined pill again in a flash if it was safe for me.

And yes, you can be on it til 50 if no risk factors.

@ramesesmaze which pill were you on? I've got a GP appointment next week and I'm hoping to convince her to give me the pill for peri/pms/flooding issues. I'm interested in hearing which ones women in their 40s recommend.