Unexpected bleeding - Evorel conti

[chimichangaz]

I'm 56, haven't had a period since 2014. Started HRT tablets in dec 2019, switched to patches late 2020 (Evorel conti). I came off hrt altogether in April due to a breast cancer scare, and restarted in about May/June time.
Earlier this week I noticed some dried brown spots in my pants. Just noticed some again this evening. Is this anything to worry about? I think one of the side effects is breakthrough bleeding (lost the leaflet..) but I've never had any before. Seems a bit odd to be starting now?

Thank you. @BM1 Both of you for your response. I am very grateful. It is always a weekend with any trauma. I booked a private scan for Monday as I am not interested in waiting at this point. To answer your question BM1, my GP referred me under the 2-week urgent referral. I called into hospital/gynae and spoke to the secretary who stated they received my referral and that was the wait. 110 days. I said, but I was told they were sending me for an urgent referral and she confirmed it was urgent and then said, "If it was just a referral that is 72 weeks." 🙈 I am in Scotland. I considered just stopping. Turning off the hormone fountain and trying to get rebalanced. I'm terrified as I was finally feeling good, but the bleeding, cramps, ovary (area) pain/stretching is like my reproductive system attempting to kick start and I am not interested after 16 years, it is traumatic. Worse is the inability to get anyone to take it seriously! Fast track!! I am calling in to my GP again tomorrow, but going for that private scan, in any case, and asking for my GP to have the referral resent as URGENT, URGENT under the 2-week rule, or send me elsewhere. I will update if I get somewhere. @Movinghouseatlast how are you doing now though? What are you trying these days? My neighbour, in her 70s, is on a patch for oestrogen and she takes a nightly dose of progesterone and told me she is doing fine with this for years. 🤷‍♀️ I don't know what to think. It is all so overwhelming and then the fear pond I swim in just exhausts. I want some answers.

Hi @ChefMumma I'm so dirty to hear about the issues you're experiencing. I started this thread ages ago and like you I'm horrified at the number of women posting here about bleeding on hrt.

I had an appointment at one point which was about 18 months away so I contacted my MP who was brilliant, contacted the health authority and I got seen pronto (they brought the waiting lists down for all patients). So kick up a fuss!
I've been using Ovestin in the last few months and I've even had a bleed with that!! I just think my body is extra sensitive to oestrogen.

And I was surprised to read what a pp said about it being our right to insist on a GA for a hysteroscopy. I had one last year and it was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. And I felt like a complete wuss and was told by the consultant that they wouldn't give me a GA for that procedure. It's just not good enough.

I'm so sorry - not so dirty 🤣🤣🤣

ChefMumma - I am not taking anything now instead of my HRT. Still not sleeping well, the hot sweats seem to have subsided though. I paid to see an endocrinologist privately ( as there was also an issue of low thyroid function, unrelated I think). She advised not to go back on HRT, so I didn't. She thought the lining ( of my womb? Uterus?) was still more than she would like. So I've taken her advice. To be honest, I don't feel as well as I did on HRT, but am frightened of going back on it if it causes future bleeds and then the worry of having to be fast tracked again and go through a hysteroscopy etc, worrying if it is something more sinister

Chimichangaz
have a look at the Facebook page - Campaign Against Painful Endoscopies .
i looked also at Hansard and debates in Parliament and wrote to the CEO of our local hospital asking why they were not abiding by official advice from the Royal College ( dr I had first seen at the hospital said I didn't need GA). They came back to say I could have GA, and then the second time they said I needed a hysteroscopy they didn't quibble when I said I would need GA.

@chimichangaz thank you for your reply. I actually understood what you meant (and also think the NHS is doing us dirty!)! @BM1 Good to know you are 'surviving' without the HRT, I have debated all weekend, just stopping and never putting the patch back on and then remembering the awful and I mean debilitating leg cramps I was getting, would stop me in my tracks, or wake me in the night, and my partner would need to rub them, while I wept, until it was gone.
I am going in (privately) today for a scan. I will ring the GP this morning to advise I am not being 'fast-tracked' despite the urgent 2-week referral. I shall keep you posted. So grateful for the info on hysteroscopy and GA. I am not going to stand for being awake during a procedure like that. Gah.

Thank you @BM1 for that information. I actually feel really angry that I wasn't allowed to have the pain relief I so clearly needed. Wouldn't happen to men, would it?

Absolutely not. Men have many benefits we do not, as my husband gently pointed out. :(

No, it certainly wouldn't

Update: Back from internal scan. All is well. The uterus and ovaries are looking content. Lining measured at 2mm. I did remove the patch after asking my Dr. if that would cause an issue. Other than a potential bleed (Umm already bleeding) she said nothing would be a problem. I am sad, I liked the benefits and I am not keen, at all, to experience symptoms but I cannot go on bleeding here and there indefinitely. Tomorrow a boob check at the wellness center and then I will await my body's estrogen dump and begin searching for some remedies to assist in that potential storm of flailing hormones. I really appreciate this thread. Thanks ladies!

I went to see a herbalist soon after they told me to come off HRT. She tried all sorts of stuff, not sure some of it worked. However I still take magnesium, an over 50s vitamin and red clover flowers. Sorry, I think I said earlier wasn't taking anything but I was referring to prescribed medication then

Sorry, forgot to say. Glad all was well at the scan

Sorry if you have said and I haven't seen it, but have you tried upping the progesterone part of your HRT or changing it? Some women need more progesterone.

You could go onto Evorel patches with Utrogestan 200mg tablets every day, or Evorel.with Provera 10mg tablets for example.

I have been prescribed these by a menopause specialist and she said using Provera stops bleeding for most women.

@Movinghouseatlast My GP has refused to up or change it. I just removed the patch and am now awaiting my appt with meno clinic on referral, you know, urgently. (Fife). I'd like to try separating the hormones so I will await further instruction from my next opportunity! Thank you for checking in. Such a bummer all of this.

If your GP has refused then uou should complain to the practice manager. You haven't asked for anything unusual, this is what millions of women take. Your GP should take advice from a menopause specialist if he is unsure of what to prescribe. Or you could print off the NICE guidelines and show them to him.

Upping the progesterone will probably stop the bleeding. I'm so angry on your behalf as you are suffering pointlessly.

@ChefMumma glad your scan was ok. Good luck going forward and keep us updated!!

ChefMumma, if they have said they'll refer you to a menopause clinic then you are doing better than I did. My GP told me there were no nHs menopause clinics when I asked to be referred to one. Untrue, although admittedly there are not enough

do not have a hysteroscopy without a spinal block or anesthetic

sorry- I was about to post but the thread is almost 5 years old.

Typo- 3 years old!