Utrogestan hopelessness

[Moredarkchocolateplease]

I have just finished my third round of utrogestan.

I feel absolutely hopeless. Like nothing will ever get better again. I feel numb. I am crying, can barely be civil with my family, am livid about everything and I'm swearing at the dog. I'm utterly exhausted too, the deep sleep makes me so lethargic.

I felt like this in month one and two but then increased my oestrogen for month three and felt amazing for a week and hoped it might over ride the progesterone depression.

This is how I have felt on three different pills and to an extent even in my natural cycle I would have days like this around ovulation. But everyone said body identical is gold standard.

Have you felt like this and if so what option worked best/would you go for?

Vaginal application of the utrogestan
The coil
Another kind of progestin
Stopping HRT despite how amazing I felt for one week out of the 12!

Thanks in advance for any useful feedback!

The coil and oestrogel work very well for me. I had to take progestin for a short period whilst waiting for a replacement coil and I didn't feel great.

Thanks @6namechang3 I'm on the patches which I really like, gel is definitely not an option, but at this stage I'll consider any alternative progesterone.

So you didn't get any mood issues with the coil?

Progesterone has always made me like this, I used to get PMDD for 10+ days a month. I didn’t even bother taking Utrogestan orally due to bad past experiences with mini pill (I get progesterone related migraines with aura and have a high risk for DVT/heart disease). I did use combined patches but again got migraines and terrible depression /anxiety.

i did a few months of oestrogen only (patches) and felt amazing but then got a roasting due to risk to womb lining, and then last month used Utrogestan vaginally for 12 days and was absolutely fine. I was so pleased else I’d have to have stopped the oestrogen which I love.

i also use vaginal oestrogen due to atrophy, which has helped too.

Good luck

I have had mirena coils on and off for about 17 years and I have never had any side effects with them. I also find it a lot easier to manage as I only have to remember one hrt med ( alongside my other meds) They don't suit everyone and obviously if it doesn't work for you , it can be a wait to get it removed

@Matchingcollarandcuffs thanks so much.

And you didn't get any side effects?

My pmt was always ten days long and I even went to the GP for help when I was 39 and she suggested a type of pill which I chose not to take as she said it would make me feel flat.

But I couldn't feel any flatter than I do now! I can't think of a single thing I'm looking forward to in life. Can't be bothered gardening, don't want a glass of wine in the sun, absolutely don't want to go on holiday. Hate everything in our house. I even threw out half my wardrobe last month I felt so down about myself. I'm old and frumpy and look fat in everything.

This morning I did a YouTube workout half sobbing in tears because I felt so useless. Hopefully tomorrow it will be out of my system.

Thank you @6namechang3

Not a hopeful anecdote from me, but I had a total hysterectomy a few years ago due to being unable to tolerate progesterone in any form. I am 36, have PMDD. I am just on 5 pumps a day of oestrogel now. Bliss.

@OriginalBore that was one of my lines of thought too, but I'm not sure how that would work for me as I also have two prolapses so would worry about my entire system collapsing in on itself 😁🙄

I felt a tiny bit PMT-y but completely copable with. I was also told I had to take it else Id have to come off oestrogen, which had been revolutionary for me.

Give it a go!

Thanks @Matchingcollarandcuffs i could do with absolutely no PMT as I think DH is at his wits end with me. He absolutely doesn't get it. I'm exhausted.

I now use Utrogestan vaginally after 4 months of oral use and absolute hell. PMDD so bad I couldn't function. Now I have 12 FAR easier days. It's been a game changer.

@Moredarkchocolateplease I’m under the early menopause team at our local teaching hospital, and my consultant suggested taking 2 utrogestan capsules vaginally 12 every other month. She’s not especially keen that I’m not doing it monthly but my quality of life was so low that she’s agreed it. I’ve been doing that for 18 months now and I’ve got to the stage where I’m tolerating it well enough that I’m considering doing it monthly. Definitely give it a go vaginally, for a few months. My emotional disturbance was less and my ‘periods’ much lighter and less painful.

@Skinnybluebody yes that's how I've felt..

@Moredarkchocolateplease i also have a rectocele prolapse and the first time I tried to insert them vaginally, I did it like you’d do a tampon, ie one foot on the toilet seat, and I hurt myself (poked the prolapse) and it took several months to heal again. I now take it by laying on my back on my bed, heels together, knees apart (like for a smear) - go gently and feel your way in. Like @Skinnybluebody it really has been a game changer for me.

*lying on my back… I hate laying. Sounds like I’m a hen!

@WolfFoxHare thank you too.

I really have felt totally awful for the last week. Within a day of taking it, I'm livid about everything, not enough energy to exercise or eat properly. I'm doing the bare minimum around the house when normally I'm like a whirling dirvish at the weekends. I feel like I'm just trying to get through the day so I can go back to bed each evening because when I'm asleep I don't need to think about it all.

How can science not have invented something else to make you bleed and empty your uterus that doesn't involve a personality transplant?!

Honestly it was just one day before my period, it used to be from ovulation into the second day of bleeding so it's totally manageable

@WolfFoxHare I did put it in vaginally last night in the vain hope my day would be a bit better, it hasn't been.

I used my ovestin cream applicator, I can't bear the idea of sticking my fingers in 😳

But good tip. Mine is cystocele and rectocele so on the plus side nothing falls out as it can't get through!!

@Matchingcollarandcuffs thank you.

I will try it next month for sure, assuming I can get some utrogestan..

Weird, trying hard to get hold of something I absolutely hate!

I hated utrogesten , 2 tablets half the month so now I just take one a day

RE: stopping HRT - it depends what symptoms you first went on it for. I think it's not worth trading physical symptoms for a mental health crisis, but it really depends

You can get special applicators for inserting it. I’m not sure you can get them on nhs as strictly speaking it’s ‘off label’ to take them vaginally, but I bought some off eBay to try! I ended up just using my fingers - I did find it awful to start with as I could sort of feel the gristly bulge of the rectocele and I found that upsetting, but now I know exactly how to do it without really noticing - just trial and error there. And I agree - the rectocele keeps it in nicely 😂

I’d say you need to do it for a few days or perhaps even a full cycle to feel the difference.

Some nights now when I just cannot face shoving my fingers up my chuff 😂 I take it orally and I don’t tend to have a ‘bad’ day afterwards so I think there’s a cumulative/averaged effect.

@YukoandHiro when I'm on just the oestrogen it's lovely. So worth it for that definitely.

But I definitely can't cope with this longterm.

@WolfFoxHare you made me laugh out loud then😁i shall think of it as my chuff going forwards.

I find my 12 days of utrogestan difficult. I take mine for the first 12 days of each month so tonight is day two. Can I use it vaginally tonight if I took it in tablet form yesterday. How far up do I need to put it? Should I put a tampon in after to stop it falling out?!