HRT stopped working after just one month, wtf?!

HateJudgmentalPeople · 2021-10-01T08:35:54+00:00

I have been on Evorel Sequi HRT patches for just one month and already they aren’t working, I have been awake all night twice this week for no reason, I feel low again like I did before the patches, no energy and I have had restless legs all night, I am absolutely shattered, how is this possible?!

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:37

Have to add it’s the peri not the actual meno and because I still have periods then I alternate between Evorel 50 and Evorel Conti, Conti is the oestrogen and the 50 is the other 2 hormones I need.

OP posts:

Maverick197 · 01/10/2021 09:41

I started using the same patches 3 months ago. I'd say give it time, it took me a couple of months to feel the full benefits. I find the weeks when using the conti patch are not as good as the non-conti weeks and I often get headaches during the conti weeks.

DarlingFell · 01/10/2021 09:42

Give it a couple more months. 1 month is no time at all.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:43

But I felt great the first 2 weeks so it’s not like they hadn’t kicked in!

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Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:44

I maybe need one dose higher I think

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JinglingHellsBells · 01/10/2021 09:44

A month isn't long enough. It's not a silver bullet.

Also, the patches are estrogen only (that's the 50 mcg patch) and the other one containing Norethisterone and estrogen is the combined one.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:44

@Maverick197

I started using the same patches 3 months ago. I'd say give it time, it took me a couple of months to feel the full benefits. I find the weeks when using the conti patch are not as good as the non-conti weeks and I often get headaches during the conti weeks.

Strange because I much prefer the Conti patch! It’s the 50 I hate

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JinglingHellsBells · 01/10/2021 09:45

You will now be on the combined patch with 2 hormones. (If you are using them correctly.)

Women often feel a bit rough on those but it will settle down.

It's too soon to swap to a higher dose.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:46

@JinglingHellsBells

A month isn't long enough. It's not a silver bullet.

Also, the patches are estrogen only (that's the 50 mcg patch) and the other one containing Norethisterone and estrogen is the combined one.

Yeah got them mixed up! I’ll just wait a little more time but I don’t think I can wait 2 months, not when they worked at first and aren't now, that’s not right, I expected them to maybe stop after 3 months but not 2-3 weeks!

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JinglingHellsBells · 01/10/2021 09:46

If you dont' get on with the estrogen-only patch it may be too high a dose.

Are you confusing which is which?

The 2nd patch for the 2nd part of the month is the combined one, with 2 hormones.

The first patch for the 2 weeks of the month is estrogen only.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:47

@JinglingHellsBells

You will now be on the combined patch with 2 hormones. (If you are using them correctly.)

Women often feel a bit rough on those but it will settle down.

It's too soon to swap to a higher dose.

Ok thanks, doctor explained zero of this to me!

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JinglingHellsBells · 01/10/2021 09:49

I think you have to get over this idea that they arent working.

It takes weeks or months to settle and build up your own levels to a stable level.

Just because you are having a little blip doesn't mean they have stopped working.

You're looking at it all a bit back to front :)

In the early days you have to expect some blips.

ALL drs say you need to give it 3 months for your body to adjust and settle.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 09:55

@JinglingHellsBells

I think you have to get over this idea that they arent working.

It takes weeks or months to settle and build up your own levels to a stable level.

Just because you are having a little blip doesn't mean they have stopped working.

You're looking at it all a bit back to front :)

In the early days you have to expect some blips.

ALL drs say you need to give it 3 months for your body to adjust and settle.

I understand what you are saying but I felt so back to normal again so I think I’ll just get on with it, there isn’t anything else for it really.

I’m shit at suffering is the thing and I’ve now been awake for 25.5 hours!!

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spudjulia · 01/10/2021 10:50

I'm on 3rd cycle of this. The first month I said exactly the same as you - I'd had such an immediate positive response and then felt it all vanished. Seemed cruel because I'd been given a taste of what life should be like, and I'd forgotten that. For 2 weeks I felt amazing, had so much energy and motivation, I was happy and laughing.

Anyway, I was asked to keep on for 3 month, which I've now done. Things have stabilised somewhat. I have good days and bad days. I'm noticing patterns. The switch to the first conti patch of the pack seems to give me a really bad couple of days, but then it evens out again. I felt like I needed a higher dose of estrogen (I'm on 50 too), but now after reading up on it, I think I'm going to ask for a gel to 'top up' on days I need it. I think my own bodies estrogen is up and down, so some down days I need a bit extra, which is where I'm hoping the gel will fit in. Just got to persuade my Gp to let me try it!

spudjulia · 01/10/2021 10:52

Body's - gah

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 10:59

@spudjulia

Body's - gah

Especially women’s bodies! What the hell did women do before HRT, murder their husbands I expect

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spudjulia · 01/10/2021 11:05

😂
Yesterday was a bad day for me because I wanted to leave my husband, also run away from the kids and quit my job all before 9.30am.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 11:07

@spudjulia

😂 Yesterday was a bad day for me because I wanted to leave my husband, also run away from the kids and quit my job all before 9.30am.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 thankgod I’m single so nobody to take my bad moods out on, but last week I pissed off 2 friends over what’s app with my ‘moody bitchy texts’...oops

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Peaseblossum22 · 01/10/2021 11:12

Your hormones differ throughout the month with your cycle so you can’t just say they are not working ,it sounds like this dose is ok for part of the month but not for the rest . I would say it took around 6 months to find exact the right dose for me , it’s now been two years and it might need changing adjusting again. Hormones are not static things.

Original poster

HateJudgmentalPeople · 01/10/2021 11:26

@Peaseblossum22

Your hormones differ throughout the month with your cycle so you can’t just say they are not working ,it sounds like this dose is ok for part of the month but not for the rest . I would say it took around 6 months to find exact the right dose for me , it’s now been two years and it might need changing adjusting again. Hormones are not static things.

Yeah it seems so, none of this was explained to me at all, it was a telephone appointment when she gave me the patches and all she said was change them twice a week and didn’t tell me to alternate them, I used Conti first when it should have been the 50 patch! The doctor blamed the pharmacist and said she should have explained this to me, erm no doc, it’s really your job!

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SammieBM · 19/01/2024 01:07

Has my peri symptoms returned or is it having experienced a shock?

My father died just under three weeks ago. I started HRT five months ago as the anxiety was crippling me and it was excellent, however, since my father died my symptoms have returned. Is this life stress or does my HRT need increased?

I always visited my father, he was in a care home but he was never good to us. I'm now troubled with thoughts like, "what if I lose my mum"....she's amazing, my best friend, we share the same friends, do everything together, live together.... I also worry about my husband, will be be a support if anything happens mum as I know he gets overwhelmed easily. I'm an only child (47) and no family really apart from mum. I'll be 48 shortly and I keep thinking I'm getting old, how everyone is either sick or dying, how I only ever hear bad news.....

I'm a Norm Again Christian. I love Jesus passionately with all my heart and so I get frustrated in my head if my husband isn't as committed as I'd like him to be. He got saved some months back but still avails of things he shouldn't. He's such an amazing husband though. Very very kind and lovely. I'm so deeply in love with him and he with me. We are very blessed in that department.

Anyway, I digress....

Do I need to phone my GP and ask if I need a higher dose of Evorel Sequi patches or should I wait, see if I calm down over the next week or so and go from there?

I'm terrified of getting depressed as I had a very serious few years of deep depression in my early 20s and it was the most awful period of my life. I'm phobic about it in fact.

I'm on an AD called Venlafaxine 112.5 once a day, Levothyroxine 100s and Evorel Sequi 50. At the minute I've a poor appetite but make a point of eating. I normally love getting ready, dressing nice etc but at the moment I'm just not interested.

I worry about the future constantly. We have no kids. Hardly any family. I worry about my mum dying constantly. I worry about my husband getting ill. I worry about one day being alone.

I have nice friends. I've always made and kept friends without an issue as people always seem to like me. I love to serve others, help people and be kind and I want my energy and hope back so I can be the person I like being....a friend who loves others and sees the best in people.

Sorry for the rant!

I just have all these emotions and fears since my father passed. Even my withdrawal bleed came the day after my first progesterone patch instead of at the end, ie, the 4the one....

Please help x