New to cyclical hrt

[kazphillips2000]

Hi all, I have been prescribed Oestrogel 2 pumps daily and Utrogestan 2x100mg nightly. I do not have a current cycle to go by as have not had a period for a few months. I understand that I take the Utrogestan for 14 days, then a 14 day break. I started this regime yesterday 1st Dec. So my break will finish on 28th Dec. My question is do I start the pills again from the 29th Dec or wait until the start of Jan?

the dose for utrogestan is 12 days not 14. I notice a lot of gps are saying 14, but it's not and the leaflet says 12. I think they are confusing many tablet regimes which may be 14 days with Utrogestan.

You take it on a cycle, so if you started on 1st Dec, you will start again on 1st January. It really isn't that critical. Meno specialists suggest sticking to the same date each month.

A cycle is a month - so that's anything from 30 to 31 days, so using the same date each month is easiest.

@JinglingHellsBells thank you for that advice that’s great. I think the GP should have made it clear and also the leaflet. It seems to cater for those still having periods or those with no periods for a year. Why do they say ‘a break of 14 days?’ If I start the pills the next month the break will be longer than 14.

I think the leaflet needs tweaking.
There is only one month with 28 days!

It really isn't that critical to be honest. Myself and some other women I know, do a longer cycle (under a meno consultant) where the estrogen-only cycle is longer than 14 days. I don't want to go into the exact details and the reasons why here, but it's fine to use Utrogestan on the same day each month.

I think one reason why GPs and the leaflet work on 28 days is because all the old hrt (tablets in a pack) were 28 days but now, many women are using 2 different items (gel or patches , and utrogestan) .

@JinglingHellsBells yes it definitely needs tweaking. I thought I was going mad or just not getting it. Thank you for responding. I’ve been doing a lot of searching on different sites and getting conflicting answers. I was fearful of either taking too much Utrogestan or not enough. Always afraid of doing some bodily damage.

There is a tablet form of HRT called Tridestra which is long cycle- the progestogen part is 14 days every 12 weeks, so 10 weeks on estrogen only.

The info on using longer cycle types (often for women in peri) is that there should be a withdrawal bleed at least once every 84 days (12 weeks).

when I first started hrt I used gel and another progestin that gave a 10-week cycle, with estrogen only for 8 weeks (and did this for 6 years before changing to Utrogestan.) so you can see that the odd day here and there either side of the regime is not important at all.

@JinglingHellsBells you have been great, thank you x

No problem :)

I took @JinglingHellsBells advice on this a couple of months ago - I start the Utrogesten on 1st of every month for 12 days. My consultant is happy with that approach.

@Itsnotdeep that’s great to hear thank you very much