First few days of oestrogen gel - what to expect?

[Sugarandteaandmum]

I'm on day 3 of HRT, I feel worse than I did! Very wobbly like low blood sugar all day, threatening sense of a headache about to drop, the worst 2 nights of night sweats I've had. Feel so tired.

Has anyone had this - and how long before I might feel better?

I'm on Femoston tablets, been on them for 3 months and I feel like a new woman.
Maybe you need to keep going a bit longer and then if the gel doesn't suit you discuss trying something else with your GP, I feel for you, it's horrendous.
If you really can't cope, don't suffer, ring your gp, there are other things to try 💐

I know this may sound odd @Sugarandteaandmum but it may be nothing to do with the gel. Those symptoms are common peri/ meno symptoms and it could be they would have happened anyway.
3 days of gel will barely be in your system at all. Drs say give it 3 months !

How much are you using? My specialist suggested starting with 1 pump, not 2, and gradually increasing over a couple of weeks or longer.

Please don't think it's not working after such a short time. You could easily have something else ( a virus or whatever) and nothing to do with the gel.

Hope you feel better.

I didn’t feel any dramatic changes when I started using oestrogel. It’s been a year now and I feel great overall, but I don’t know how I’d feel without it so it’s hard to tell what it’s doing.

The most dramatic change, for me, came after I started taking Menopace vitamins, just the cheap £4.50 type. They saved my life! No more rage, mood swings, or waking up every night. I can’t recommend them enough.

Following as I started oestrogel yesterday and I am in all sorts of hell anxiety wise (but I was before I started it).

I really hope it helps.

@Sugarandteaandmum how are you doing

I used to feel a kind of pleasant rush when I applied it but it might be in my head. I had to tweak the dose up in consultation with my GP before I got to a manageable place with my symptoms. I still take 4 pumps a day and have felt wonderful for the last three years.

Thanks all. I am taking 4 pumps and yes, I did start it at the horriblest point of my cycle (which is now day 2, yay, PMT symptoms hang around with extra night sweats for a while).So it was probably symptoms as normal.

I feel a bit better now but definitely more cold, shaky and low blood sugar than usual.

Can't see how I could have a virus at current levels of social distancing! But I take the point!

@Sugarandteaandmum Why are you using 4 pumps? Are you very young and has your dr told you to use 4?

The starting dose is 2 pumps ( as on the leaflet.) I was advised to use one and monitor how I felt. (menopause specialist advice.)

No one starts on 4 - that's 3mgs estrogen and very high! Most tablet form is 1mgs or less.

I had to split the dose am and pm as 2 pumps together gave me 'morning sickness'.

2 pumps is normal, some women only need one.

Best to start on one pump and gradually build up to two if required.

OMG I've just taken 2 pumps - am I going to feel terrible?

I'm hideously anxious as it is....

I had no effect from oestrogen gel until I'd been on it a few months (when it seemed to kick in and reduce my mood swings/anxiety) I haven't noticed any weird side effects at all.

actually I felt fine in the end 🙂

Hmm. I was prescribed 4. Maybe I will go down to 2 and see how I feel.

@JinglingHellsBells are you a medical person? the consultant letter for me said either 100mcg oestradiol patches, or 4 pumps gel. Which implies the same dosage. I'm not massively young -46. Obvs got progesterone too.

[quote Sugarandteaandmum]@JinglingHellsBells are you a medical person? the consultant letter for me said either 100mcg oestradiol patches, or 4 pumps gel. Which implies the same dosage. I'm not massively young -46. Obvs got progesterone too.[/quote]
@Sugarandteaandmum We need to know a bit more!
Why were you referred to a consultant?
Why are you on the highest dose of estrogen already? ( 100mcg patch is the highest)
Do you have underlying conditions that mean you need a very high dose?

As other posters have also said, the dose is 2 pumps unless there are reasons to go higher.

I will PM you about who I am and what I do.

I didn’t have any side effects or symptoms at all when I started oestrogel. As others say it may be menopause symptoms that have coincided with starting the gel. I am on 4 pumps (I’m 40, early menopause and lots of chronic health conditions) and my consultant advised starting on 2 pumps and gradually increasing to 4 pumps over a 6 week period adding smaller amounts every few days to get to 4 - otherwise you can get breast tenderness. (I’m with the Newson Health clinic). Ask your specialist before changing your dose though.

I would check with your doctor because the balance between the hormones is important too I believe.

Thanks for your message @JinglingHellsBells, I have replied, but will post here in case it's helpful to others reading later.

I was referred to a consultant as I have various thrombophilias (discovered during a history on long & complex fertility treatments). Plus elevated red blood cell levels that they can't explain currently, although personally I think it's more likely to be 2 or 3 blips or just part of general thrombophilia (rather than pointing to a secondary more worrying cause of polycythemia). Plus had ovarian cyst removed last year and GP wanted all menopause discussion looped in with that.

I was fine researching and recommending HRT for myself really, but GP got cold feet and wouldn't prescribe. I've seen a couple of private consultants, mostly due to the time lag of covid - I wasn't getting anywhere for over a year with the NHS referral.

The private ones charged me some more for the same blood tests, which aren't massively conclusive anyway. One said do both oestrogen and progesterone, one said do progesterone only and DHEA.

I know what my hormone panel has looked like in the past, and what seems to be happening now is a decent egg reserve still but progesterone and oestrogen not quite in sync and fluctuating, rather than particularly low oestrogen in itself.

I thought about doing progesterone only but when I eventually had a phone consultation from the complex menopause clinic at imperial they said they thought symptoms more indicated oestrogen deficiency especially in luteal phase. So given that I'm now fed up with the whole thing I've just done what they said!

Which was 4 pumps & then progesterone from day 17.

I may go down to 2 pumps in the light of advice here!

And not just due to advice here - have done a bit of googling about building up the dose. I think the gap for me has been everything done in quick phone calls and letters, so they haven't given any advice on starting at lower dose. Which they should have done it seems.

How are you getting on @Sugarandteaandmum?

I'm on day 5 of 2 pumps and no miracle for me yet :)

Hope you're feeling better.

I am on my fourth week now and do actually feel calmer and anxiety is definitely better so fingers crossed it carries on that way.

I think I felt worse the first week or so but I find it hard sometimes to tell the difference these days between what is real pain and what is in my head! I did message the consultant several times in the first fortnight with various queries and worries but it has all settled now.

I also had a few days of stomach pains when I started the utrogestan but that settled quickly and again it’s fine now.

Good luck to you all x

@HelloDaisy

Thanks for posting it's really helpful for those of us starting out.

Not sure how much more I can take of this hideous unfounded anxiety. Beginning to think I'm just mad :(

My problems started almost 4 years ago and I spent the first 4 months in and out of a&e convinced I was really ill!

My anxiety has been through the roof and at times I think I’ve morphed into somebody else as I don’t recognise myself. I have health anxiety so every ache or twinge is terminal! Also if dc mention not feeling well I can feel a cold dread washing over me which I know is irrational but hard to manage.

I do think the hrt is helping even though it’s early days so we just need to persevere with it and keep reviewing. My aunt said to stick with it for 6 months and see how I feel then.

I have also been out walking every day with a friend which helps me as well as reviewing my diet so think it’s all helping.

Good luck to you and keep talking on here if it’s helping.

@HelloDaisy

I'm the same, anxiety is my worst symptom .

I've been put on antidepressants by my GP but they don't keep the anxiety at bay. My periods went wonky last year and I've been getting night sweats so I wondered if there might be a hormonal cause.

I'm only 45 so I may just be crazy.

Sounds like it could be hormonal as you have other symptoms and the peri menopause can affect women up to 10 years before the menopause! Mine started when I was 48/49 and although I haven’t had the usual hot flushes I do have night sweats, changes in digestion and my periods are now 3 weeks apart. The joys of it all!!

I was also px antidepressants but didn’t seem the right path. You could see your gp again for a review with regards to looking at menopause or ask for a referral to a menopause clinic. I eventually went to a private clinic in January as felt so desperate with no help from anywhere - probably due to covid but for me it was definitely money well spent. The doctor took time to listen and explained what was going on with me and how it could be helped. Even talking t other has helped me as it made me think I was t going mad and there was a reason I felt like this.