Help! I think HRT is making me worse.

[Dawnpri]

I have been on various hrt for eight months now, first Conti patches and then estrogen patches and Utrogestan. My patches have been increased more and more so I am now up to 250 but I am feeling more and more ill. I am burning up all the time, which causes my chest to feel like there is an internal pressure. I also have unbearable anxiety. I am absolutely desperate and my gp doesn’t know what to do. The menopause clinic just told me to stick with it but I don’t feel safe any more. Has anyone else got much worse on hrt? I am even starting to wonder if I’m intolerant to the estrogen itself, as I’m using the utrogestan vaginally and I’m told that shouldn’t be affecting me. Things seem to get worse each time the patches are increased. I would be so grateful to hear from anyone who has experienced similar.

Oh I see! Apologies for misunderstanding your message. And thank you for replying again.

My case is unusual and I think that is the main problem
This was never and it makes life much worse as not only do you need to cope otherwise the symptoms of the menopause but also having to justify that the treatment that helps he majority is having the opposite effect on you.

Like you I tried various modalities of HRT and I felt worse on all of them.

I concluded that my symptoms (mainly neurological) were not caused by a lack of Orstrogen but the hikes that still happen throughout the change. I always had the worse symptoms 1 hour or so after the gel application.

What has been a miracle treatment for me has been antidepressants. I sorted my anxiety and made me realise 90% of my symptoms were caused by anxiety, even though I rarely felt anxious in my mind.

It's been amazing and I'm able to do things again I became incapable through the perimenopause and early years of being menopausal.

As it is, the more I speak to women, the more I realise that quite a few are like us and respond the opposite to what is expected on hrt. Mainly those whose main issues are neurological and suffer from very poor sleep.

That’s really interesting to hear. And I’m glad you have found that antidepressants have helped you.
Although my main symptoms aren’t really neurological (I’m burning up for hours at a time) I do have underlying Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which causes neurological and anxiety problems. It also affects the nervous system and the nervous system affects the menopause! So I will definitely give some thought to this. I am grateful for your reply. Thank you.