ME/CFS and bio-identical HRT - anyone else? what to trial?

[sosotired1]

Hi, nearly 50 and I have CFS (post-viral 2.5 yrs) and clearly menopausal (only a couple of periods this year and other symptoms) and am trying to work out what is the CFS and what might be the menopause (and have another neurological condition, which makes all this rather fun!).

I now have crushing fatigue (some days can't do anything at all) and brain fog (flushes don't bother me too much in the scheme of things) and trying unpicking what is going on is proving really difficlt (and of course might be related the anxiety of lockdown and homeschooling etc.).

I want to trial bio-identical hormones but just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this or can just share their experiences? I want to speak to my GP this week so would be grateful for any thoughts as really struggling right now.

The licensed drugs are called body-identical, just to make sure you know that because bio-identical is a marketing term for HRT that is unlicensed and unsafe (and only prescribed privately by drs .)There's a lot of confusion on this but you can google both and lots will come up to clarify.

90% of estrogen is body identical (only the pill type where the brand name starts with PRE isn't.) You can use a tablet form, a patch or gel.

Body identical progesterone is marketed under the brand name Utrogestan.

Good luck with it- it's worth a try :)

Thanks so much for that - and for reminding me body not bio (brain fog here!). I think gel or patch, possibly gel better. Does this mean you can manage the dose yourself?

Gel- you can adjust the dose to suit your symptoms. Recommended dose to start is 2 pumps but you can start with 1.

Thanks so much once again, that was very helpful and I had an incredibly good conversation with a great GP and have the gel and Ultrogestan prescribed and will pick up on Sat. Fingers crossed it makes a positive difference...