Severe progesterone intolerance

[Touty]

Anyone else out there with this? How do you manage to ease symptoms of menopause?

im on a very low dose combined tablet for hrt, still struggling to cope with mental distress, flatness and terrible feelings of doom. Even at the low dose of hrt I’m struggling with progesterone intolerance.

Why ars you on tablets out of interest? You could ask your gp for transdermal body identical hrt which is the safest. Oestrogel (or patches) and utrogestan capsules (or combined patches). Some women find less side effects with utrogestan and you can also use vaginally which reduces unpleasant effects even further.

Ive tried the transdermal gel with utrogestan vaginally - severe emotional distress

went to see gynoclogist who said he thought progesterone intolerance also in light of Past PMDD - he said to try a low dose combinEd tablet to see if it
would be better

im ok on oestrogen but I know it’s not supposed to be taken on its own

Ive even asked the gynecologist about having my womb removed so I can just take oestrogen, he more or less dismissed this and said it was akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut???!!

I didnt get on with utrogestan either. I'm tolerating Provera better. Might be worth a try?

Im currently on 0.5mg estradiol and 0.1 mg noretisterone - combined tablet

What is provera?

It's Medroxyprogesterone. I'm on sequential HRT so I take 10mg of it for 12 days per cycle. My daily oestrogen comes from Sandrena gel.

There's a guide to progesterone here
www.menopausematters.co.uk/to_progestogens.php

I'm on Novofem (combined sequential tablet) which might be the same a you I think.
I tried patches and utrogestan and the utrogestan made me soooooo ill I had to stop - headaches, blurred vision, zombie-like daze

I'd prefer to be on transdermal, but simply will not try utrogestan again. The noretisterone is just about tolerable, but by about Day 9 I'm climbing the walls and red mist is descending. It all subsides instantly once I start the estrogen only part again.

I’m on 100mcg estradot and 12 days of Utrogestan a month, vaginally. The Utrogestan drives me absolutely bloody loopy. Suicidal thoughts, anger, weeping. I’m waiting for an appt with consultant to discuss alternatives. The problem is, before HRT I wasn’t sleeping. Now I generally sleep. But the Utrogestan bit and a few days after are not ok. I can’t go on like this. Not sure what to do. Wondering whether I should just pack it all in and go back to not sleeping.

Utrogestan turned me into a sobbing wreck too, I don't ever want to take it again. My GP at the time was really unhelpful so I went private and thankfully changed to the Provera. The private consultant said it's just a case of trying all the alternatives until you find something that suits you. We're all different. Utrogestan is normally well tolerated, but sadly not by us.

Thanks helleborus. Maybe I should give the provera a try.

Thanks for starting this thread. At times it seems the MN menopause threads are overrun with Utrogestan advocates and when I've suggested it doesn't work for me I've almost been told I'm imagining it, as it's such a wonder drug .

I'm so torn really, as I'm really pretty happy on my Novofem tablets, it's a low dose, and I can mostly just forget about it, but it seems all the advice these days is that transdermal is the ONLY way to go. When I tried patches I needed to up the equivalent level as I don't think I was absorbing the estrogen and some of my symptoms came back anyway.

I guess I should probably book myself a private appointment to go and have a proper chat about it all!

'At times it seems the MN menopause threads are overrun with Utrogestan advocates and when I've suggested it doesn't work for me I've almost been told I'm imagining it, as it's such a wonder drug'

I haven't seen anyone almost suggesting a poster is imagining problems. Thing is like all meds it can take a while for the body to adjust, also taking it vaginally reduces symptoms for many. We know tablets carry a higher risk regarding clots etc so I think to suggest women stick with it for a good few weeks, see if symptoms settle if not try pv insertion is good advice. Hrt is table form should be a last resort.

Well, I'm not going to link to it, because I posted under a different name, but there's one very prominent MN who is very pro Utrogestan who made the comment and was very dismissive of my reported side effects. It did make me wonder if she was on the manufacturer's payroll to be honest!

The thing is, if you have debilitating side effects that totally stop you functioning on a day to day basis, then I doubt anyone will be able to stick it out for a trial period of several weeks. I think I lasted 11 days and I could barely move without feeling nauseous, certainly couldn't drive or go to work/ school run.

Mirena coil ?

Yes, indeed. I too felt suicidal on utrogestan, I didn’t feel I could stick it out.

what must be remembered about using the oestrogen gel is that you have to take high doses of progesterone with it to make the balance - hardly suitable for those with progesterone intolerance.

I struggled with progesterone too, gave up after 7 days, heart palpitations, very, very anxious, vivd dreams, and really paranoid!

Not worth the hassle imo, worse than peri meno symptoms ☹️

This was exactly my experience with Utrogestan and I lasted about 6 weeks before I couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped completely for 9 months and just suffered with the symptoms thrb went private and got given combined pill (zoely) which my own go wouldn’t give me because of my age. It’s not been much better to be honest. Am on second month and feel utterly dreadful . No symptom relief at all. Constantly exhausted, nauseas, weepy or raging . I too would happily have my womb out if I could stop this shit 😭.

I’m progesterone intolerant but can manage the Mirena coil.
A (younger) relative did have a hysterectomy rather than tolerate PMDD. The one time she was prescribed Utrogestan she looked and behaved as though she’d overdosed on a barbiturate. If I hadn’t actually seen it, I’d not have believed it.

I should have said I have the Mirena as the progesterone component of HRT, alongside Oestrogel.

Definitely worth trying a Mirena coil as the progestogen

The reason that Utrogestan has become so popular is -

1 It's shown to have the lowest risk for breast cancer with no extra cases in the first 5 years. It may be safer for much longer too.

2 More women are being advised to use transdermal estrogen because it's safer re. clots - patch or gel- and the obvious combo is one of those and Utrogestan.

3 You probably need a GP who is well trained in HRT to be able to offer another progestogen alongside a patch or gel. Usually it would be Norethisterone.

When I swapped to Utrogestan after several years on another type of progestogen, my consultant said I'd either love or hate it, and to try to for a few cycles.

I don't 'love it' by any means, but I've stuck with it because I'm concerned about risks.

Many women do not get on with it, so there is no point continuing if it's not suiting you.

The other option when using any progestogen is to use it less often (not a lower dose, but not every day or every 4 weeks.) This has to be done with medical guidance and monitoring of the lining.

Is there a reason you are only on 0.5mgs estrogen? That is a very low dose and rarely prescribed. It's usually for older women, starting hrt after 60 (although they would use a patch or gel.)

I can't see any tablet form for 0..5mgs on the Menopause Matters list.

www.menopausematters.co.uk/postmeno.php

Femoston has a low dose of progestogen, and most of the ones that have 2mgs estrogen have 1mg of progestogen.

You mentioned women who use gel need more progesterone. This is not the case.

Gel can be as little as half a pump which is less than your tablet form ( a full pump is 0.75mcgs.)

Individualisation can work well, but this needs to be through a consultant (usually) with annual scans if you are using less than the licensed amount.

Im in Spain, the combined tablet is called Eviana. Maybe I’ve been given a low dose because of progesterone intolerance? I’m post menopause at 50.

im worried about underdosing with the progesterone though - I got the impression from the gynecologist that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate the amount of progesterone required to up the oestrogen.