Just got first hrt prescriptions and very confused, help!!!

[Seeyounextweek]

Am 48 & still having periods but awful rage, anxiety no libido and hair & nails all strange! Doc prescribed gel & tablets but pharmacist kept the instruction part of the prescription! I understand it’s 2 pumps a day but when do you take the tablets, is it 2 weeks after starting the gel? Doc said ok to start today as mid cycle??? Wish I had taken notes I thought there would be a leaflet 😆
please advise

Go back to the pharmacist (or phone them) and ask them, it's part of their job to make sure you know how to take what you've been prescribed. They should be happy to help.

It should be on the label on the individual packets?

what are the tablets - I am assuming some kind of progesterone?

Thankyou , it’s the tablets that are hard to get hold of, original pharmacy sent me to another one and I think they kept it there.
I’ll try to get in touch with the pharmacy 🤞

Whenever you pick up a prescription they have to stick the label with your name, drug and dosage instructions on, what does that say? If it's utrogestan there's multiple ways to use it so you need to do as your label states

thankyou all for your replies. There are instructions on the packaging with my name on I was unsure if I am using gel all the time , the same time as the tablets as the tablets are labelled as 2 wk on 2 wk off . It’s probably a silly question but I have never had any more exotic meds than a weeks course of antibiotics!

Gel every day. Tablets usually 2 at bedtime in the second half of your cycle.

Gel is every day, it probably say 2 pumps daily?
The tablets are as it says, 2 weeks on then 2 weeks off. If you are mid cycle now (had your period a week or so ago), then you can start tablets now if you want to

Gel is every day on clean skin, if taken at night it helps you sleep.

Utrogestan is best started 12-14 days before your period is due.

The utrogestan is what gives you your period. At the end of the 12 / 14 days then you should find that you get your period a day or two after you stop taking it.

There’s no absolute need to but it can be helpful to start the progesterone mid normal cycle so that your HRT and normal hormones are aligned.

Thankyou all for your advice, I think I get the idea now . I was feeling rather anxious about the whole thing earlier !

Ok so if my last period started 5th June I guess I need to start taking the progesterone today/tomorrow? I this is what confused me at the docs as I assumed she meant start on the gel not the tablets

Just checking OP, do you pay for prescriptions? If so you can get a hrt pre payment certificate for £19.30 that lasts the year, I only just found out about it.

Please check back with your GP as I take the same as take the tablets every single day, no break

I do now as well, but to start with it was 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.

That's continuous combined HRT, prescribed for women who are post menopausal and no longer have periods. I'm on that regime too. OP says she still has periods so her GP has it right.

I’m perimenopausal. My GP switched to every day tablets due to bleeding and my sleep being much improved when I take the tablets

Mine said to take the tablets 14 days out of 28 in the second half of your cycle, but my cycle is irregular and has never been 28 days! So I just started the tablets 14 days after I started the gel.

I am ALSO confused about HRT which I was given on Weds but not yet used. Dr is off till Monday.

I am late peri - last period v light, was in November, the one before was last June, amd deffo not ovulating have always known when I am. Got Evorel 50 and Utrogestan to try

HOWEVER

I am going on holiday mid July, I 100% do not want to be dealing with a bleed then as all I want to do is swim in the sea.

Tablets say take 1 Utro ever day. (cannot remember what Dr said)

Then I saw that NHS recommends a 3 month cycle for late peri.

I wondered about just doing that. Would that be madness?

@Seeyounextweek I have just started on Oestrogel and Utrogestan, am perimenopausal so still having periods (albeit irregularly). GP told me to start gel straight away, 1 pump on each side (arms or legs) every day and to take 2 of the tablets at night on days 15-26 of using the gel. And it's definitely worth buying the yearly certificate as it cost the same as one prescription of both medications