Awful reaction to progesterone but feel much better on Oestrogen

[WarmBeerAndSandwiches]

Just wondered if anyone had experience of feeling much better on oestrogen but awful on progesterone? I have ME and it is very much affected by hormones as I discovered when I did IVF - always knew I felt worse at certain times of the month but my periods were irregular so it wasn't obvious before IVF.

I learnt the LH hormone and progesterone really worsened my symptoms, particularly progesterone. After embryo transfer I had to take high-dose progesterone suppositories and they made me so ill I decided to stop IVF after a few attempts. The Oestrogen injections, on the other hand, had no negative effects at all.

Roll on a decade I am now in the hell of menopause. Four months ago my periods stopped and I started having occasional hot flushes. A couple of months ago I had a massive relapse of my ME and had constant day and night sweats as well, it was unbearable. My doctor put me on Evorel patches and my symptoms really improved on the oestrogen 50 patches which only contain oestrogen, it was like a miracle. However, as soon as I had to put the Evorel conti patches on that contain progesterone I had a complete relapse back to where I was again. I now do not know what to do as, obviously, you cannot just take oestrogen due to the cancer risk. Has anyone on here been badly sensitive to progesterone? What did you do? I've read that the mirena coil gives more of a localised application of oestrogen straight into the cervix and that can be better but really I don't want to try anymore progesterone at all after the way it's made me feel recently!

Sorry, that should say a localised application of progesterone not oestrogen. Not sure why I have randomly capitalised Oestrogen at times throughout the post either!

Yes, I feel great on the oestrogen and like shit on progesterone. (I take the tablets—I’m half way into my second month on them). It’s like night and day. Someone on here said the same thing but that the problems greatly improved after three months so I’m hoping it does for me, too.

Yes same here - certain progesterone makes me feel terrible.
I know the 'modern' recommendation (especially on MN!) is to use patches/ gel and Utrogestan for progesterone, but the Utrogestan made me so so ill I had to stop - searing migraines, blurred vision and a sleepiness so heavy that I damaged my shoulder overnight and had to have physio afterwards - was terrible!
I've since gone back to the tablets I was on previously (Novofem) which suit me perfectly and just make me feel a bit like I have PMT for 2-3 days at the end of the pack.
I've also been recommended the Mirena, but have had gynae issues in the past which make me a bit reluctant about this route.

Could you try the progesterone tablets but insert them vaginally as I've seen recommended on here? Seems less intrusive than a coil, which could be the option after that if the tablets in that way don't help?

Sorry to hear you also feel worse with progesterone @WonderWine and @scaredrider, it's awful isn't it? I really couldn't take three months of it to see if it wears off as it makes me so ill I'm unable to work.

@PangolinPie I didn't know you could take the tablets vaginally, that's really interesting. Thank you.

I've tried EVERY combination of HRT and the winner by far (and also safest choice) is Mirena coil for progesterone and estrogen patches. Getting the patch dose is a bit of trial and error but they generally come in 25//50/75/100mg.

@WarmBeerAndSandwiches apparently it's not really done in the UK often, but is perfectly safe and fine to do it - your GP may or may not be aware of it as an option but if you get the tablets there's nothing to stop you trying it. I take them orally but have no issues (apart from sleeping better when I'm on them, a godsend!) but I know a lot of women struggle with progesterone in general. Good luck whatever you try!

It really is trial and error @WarmBeerAndSandwiches to find a progestin that suits you.

The Mirena may work as it releases the hormone directly onto the womb lining, but some of it still gets into the blood stream that can cause the emotional symptoms.

As others have said, Utrogestan is one option BUT it may well be what you had during fertility treatment (it's used for that in larger doses and as you did, inserted either vaginally or even anally.)

Do you know what you used? I think the fertility dose is 600mgs a day but for HRT it's 200mgs for part of the monthly cycle.

You can use it vaginally, but in the UK it's off-licence (god knows why as all over Europe it's been used vaginally for years, my consultant told me.)

Hope this gives you some options.

Thank you to everyone who commented on this thread and gave me information, it really helped to have info when I went to see my GP. Thankfully, my GP is great and very open to trying things. I'm still struggling with the progesterone though!

I'd a rotten time when I started progesterone so I switched to using them vaginally (same capsules could be used orally or vaginally), felt fine using them that way, after a few months I chanced them orally again and had no issues so I assume my body had somehow acclimatised to them. Best of luck, it can take a while to find what suits you.

Thank you @Doggydarling it's really heartening to read that your body got used to the progesterone after a while.

Doggydarling that's good to know as I plan to try them orally again this month after 4 months vaginally. I have had crippling period pains and want to rule out wether it's using the Utrogestan vaginally.

Op how are you getting on?

OP I’m in a very similar position - post-viral ME and super sensitive to progesterone, tried the Estrogel / Utrogestan combination a few times but had to give up in the end as the progesterone phase was too awful. Really annoyingly I felt most brilliant the day after I stopped the progesterone, as though having just a bit in my system was the right level for me. I’ve not dared try the Mirena as I had a terrible time with the pill when I was younger, and had phases of quite debilitating PMS too - clearly me and progesterone just don’t get on! I was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, and told that it’s quite common to have progesterone intolerance too. As far as I know, no-one seems to have established yet quite what the relationship between hormones and these other immune problems may be, but I’m ever hopefully keeping fingers crossed that some clever scientists will be able to untangle it all eventually.

I haven’t tried progesterone in the form of a patch yet, so may give that combination a go at some point.