HRT survey

[Helenahandkart]

I’ve been taking HRT for 3 months. It’s done nothing so far. I have a follow up appointment this week and I’d like to go in armed with as much information as possible, as it appears I’ve signed up to the wrong kind of HRT.

Please could you help me out by posting what you’re on, what dose, how it’s administered etc
Please don’t list symptoms as that’s a whole other thread.
I still have periods, which I think affects the type of HRT I should have, so please don’t comment if your periods have already stopped.
Thanks!

Here’s mine:
Bioidentical HRT
Combined estriol and testosterone cream, applied vaginally every morning
DHEA capsules- every morning
Progesterone cream applied to forearms twice a day during second half of my cycle.
No idea about doses as the doctor hasn’t given me that info.

I want to change, probably to body identical HRT, but I’m a bit lost and it would be really helpful to know what other people take.
Thank you

Can you confirm or otherwise that you are seeing a private Dr/clinic for these as some are not available in the UK on the NHS.

Sorry, yes, it is a private doctor, but I might swap to the NHS as I’m skint/underwhelmed with the private experience so far.

I’m just interested in what other people are taking so I have a better idea of what my options are. Regardless of whether it’s private or NHS.

Evorel conti patches. Change them twice a week. There’s only one size of the Conti I think. It’s stopped all my symptoms within a month. I had a little bit of spotting about 3 months in and that’s it. Been on it for 5 months.
I had looked at bio identical but our health board has a prescribing cascade they have to follow. I knew I was ok with oral norethisterone so was happy to give patches a go. Very happy with the outcome.

If you’re still having periods the equivalent is Evorel Sequi and the oestrogen part of that can be altered.

I'm sorry to take a slightly different tack with your question, but I've had private menopause treatment for 15 years but it's licensed products and not what you are being prescribed.

The products you are using are not endorsed by the British Menopause Society as they are regarded as unsafe and possibly ineffective.

Sorry to be so critical - and I know it's not exactly what you asked for - but there is a lot of info on their website about the risks of 'bio identical HRT'.

• You have no idea of the dose you are on- what reputable dr would not tell you?

-You are using cream progesterone (which is known to be absorbed poorly, if at all, putting you at risk from hyperplasia)

• You seem to be doubling up on vaginal estrogen + DHEA when maybe you only need the former.

You can get safe body identical HRT on the NHS.

• Transdermal estrogen as gel or patches
• Micronised progesterone, used orally or (off label) vaginally
• Vaginal topical estrogen.

• Body-identical and bio-identical or different.

The former is licensed, the latter is a marketing term for HRT made in private labs with possibly dubious quality control.

Body identical is available on the NHS.

Thank you @JinglingHellsBells
We’ve actually PM-ed about this before, which is one of the reasons I’m hoping to change to body-identical. I totally take on board everything you’ve said here and am planning on tackling the doctor. When you messaged me before I had already paid for all the meds so was prepared to give it a go and see how it worked. If this follow up appointment isn’t satisfactory I’ll be going back to my GP. Thank you for your advice.

I just want to hear from other people to find out what they’re taking so I have a bit more information at my fingertips.

Mirena coil for progesterone and contraception (which vastly reduced and then stopped my periods completely).
Oestrogen as patches, but recently switched to gel. I preferred Estradot patches but took whatever was available during the shortages. No difference in effectiveness, but huge difference in aggressiveness and skin irritation. Hence the switch to Oestrogel. On patches my dose is 75micg, but for some reason I need a higher dose on the gel: 2-3 pumps to get the same effect. I have switched back and forth between patches and gel without noticing any difference.

I have heard and hoping it's true that when you do get the NHS to prescribe you something- anything they give you will be as good as what you would get privately. Certainly everything that's recommended by the British menopause society was discussed with me when I was looking at options with my GP. Except testosterone maybe? That was not mentioned.
I took elleste duet for 6 months but found I was getting a bit anxious on the progesterone part. I stopped to Femoston and have been on that for 3 months. Apart from a bit of bloating all is good so far.

Ah, okay @Helenahandkart :)

I don't know if I mentioned this before then, but usually with private consultants, or maybe even NHS if they are menopause trained, the actual dose and type of HRT can be varied.

I use licensed body identical HRT (gel and Utrogestan) but on a slightly different cycle to the usual 28 days. This requires some monitoring (scans now and then which I pay for) which would not normally be available on the NHS.

HTH

I have the Mirena coil for the progesterrone and it has stopped my periods totally.

For the oestrogen I have Oestrogel pump - just one pump a day.

Seems to work really well for me.