Increasing dose over 100mcg patch

[RedChester]

I’m on the evorel 100 and still feel like absolute shite. I am tetchy, flat, sad, achy, struggling to sleep, oh and only 41 years old.

I’m on the list for the local nhs meno clinic but that will take forever. No money for private. I’m half tempted just to stick a quarter of another patch on, see what happens.

I’ve already had a week off work (big job) and I just can’t face doing anything at all, never mind working tomorrow.

Sometimes I feel like I’m doing ok at early meno and then other times I just can’t cope with it.

I can’t speak to my GP later this week and she will be sympathetic but not sure she can prescribe and higher. She did once say that younger women often need more. Has anyone else just upped their dose?

Hi I was the same, so had lenzetto spray added too, there seemed to be confusion over the dose of progesterone needed, but my GP who is the meno specialist said 200mg for 12 days is fine as I will also be making some of my own, she said it is not uncommon for younger women to need more oestrogen.
I would wait to speak to the GP though rather than cutting patches.
I eventually had testosterone added but due to other issues have had to go nack to everol sequi. I am gutted as I was feeling so much better.
Hope you get some answers soon, it is rubbish when you feel like that.

I upped my patch myself. It was during covid and getting an appointment, even a phone appointment was nearly impossible. My symptoms had started up again. I raised my dose from 75mg to 100mg. It helped but I still wasn't great so I raised to 125mg. I'm still on that and feel fine. Doctor wasn't too happy but added 100mg of progesterone. I have the mirena in too

If HRT patches are not working you may need a different type, either gel or tablet form. It could be the area you are placing the patch that isn’t allowing sufficient absorption.
With such a high dose you may also need to consider that the cause of your symptoms is not menopause. Or that your symptoms are worse with HRT. They can take months to improve how you are feeling.
My personal experience was that they got rid of the mild hot flushes but not much else. I think I was less of a dragon but as for the myriad of other symptoms they were not much help.
Post menopause is great in comparison. I can no longer take HRT but flatlining hormones is so much easier to handle than the wildly fluctuating levels during peri and menopausal stages.

Thanks for responding all. The patches help a huge amount. I forgot to put one on one and realised just how much they helped! I will speak to my GP again.

it’s the fluctuations I can’t handle. I am absolutely fine for 5-6 weeks and then BOOM. So I presume this is my underlying cycle rearing its head. I’m on the coil so just have the same patch constantly.

Maybe you’re not absorbing like a pp said. So a different preparation might help. Definitely speak to your GP.

I spoke to my GP this morning who is brilliant. She said if I find 150mg patches to work then she is happy for me to continue.

However it is a lot of patch to have stuck to my arse so she suggested the spray as this would be 3 sprays on my arms rather than slathering the equivalent 6 pumps of gel on every day. I’m going to give the spray a go. If this fails then it’s tablets, which I’m wary of.

She also said she would consider adding testosterone in at this rate, and I mentioned I had some from Superdrug that I hadn’t tried yet as I couldn’t work out the dosage. She talked me through it and said she would be happy to prescribe on the NHS in future if I felt it helped.

I’m so grateful to have such a knowledgable GP, I told her how much a difference it makes.

hopefully something works