Mid month bleeding on cyclical HRT

[Chocolatestain]

Hi, I’m wondering if anyone on here can advise me in case I can’t get to speak to a GP before the weekend.

I’m 53 and have been taking cyclical HRT - Oestrogel and 12 days of Utrogestan - since September ’21. I start taking the Utrogestan on the 1st of every month as I find it much easier to remember than I do if it’s a different day every month. (I mentioned this to the GP last time I saw her and she was fine with it.)

Occasionally I start bleeding a couple of days before finishing the Utrogestan, but I gather that’s not uncommon. Last month I started bleeding on day six of the Utrogestan, which is earlier than usual but I didn’t think too much of it. This month I had some breast tenderness, which I’ve not had for quite some time, so I dropped the dose of Oestrogel from three pumps to two. (Breast tenderness can be a sign of high oestrogen levels so I thought maybe my body’s own oestrogen production was fluctuating at the high end.) Then last night I started spotting and today it has turned into a proper period. I haven’t even started taking this month’s Utrogestan yet, I was due to start it on Saturday.

I’ve spoken to a receptionist at my surgery and they have no appointments available today so I’ll have to call at 8 tomorrow morning. Obviously there’s no guarantee I’ll get an appointment tomorrow either. If that turns out to be the case I don’t know whether to take the Utrogestan or not. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this and what they were advised to do.

(I don’t know if this is relevant at all, but I’ve had a lot of stress in the last few months and my hormones/menstrual cycle have always been very susceptible to being knocked off balance by stress.)

My periods never regulated on Utrogestan, and I had really bad breast tenderness, so I also dropped my Oestrogel dose. I did have thickening of the womb. Im not a medic, but if it was me I would probably have just carried on with the normal pattern of Utrogestan for the moment until you can get an appointment.

It depends if your own periods had stopped for a year or more before HRT.
If not, even at 53, this could be a normal period.

I'd stick with your 1st of the month and see how it goes.

Thank you. I went on cyclical HRT because I was still having periods (albeit irregular ones) and some months I have a much heavier bleed that feels more like a proper period than a withdrawal bleed so I think my body is still attempting to ovulate at times.

@Chocolatestain did you get to bottom of this. I'm 52 and in a similar position. Had an initial bleed at end of progesterone cycle and then another the day I was due to start the next progesterone cycle 2 weeks later.

@Kazplus2 I think it was my own cycle trying to override the HRT cycle. I just carried on taking the Utrogestan according to my normal schedule. I did speak to my GP about it and she arranged a uterine scan, which took ages but showed everything to be perfectly normal. When I turned 54 my GP switched me to continuous rather than cyclical Utrogestan and I realised I was quite progesterone intolerant as I felt awful taking it all the time. After trying various other types of progesterone I gave up on HRT and actually feel ok now I’m properly menopausal.