Progesterone change

[menopours]

After being on gel + utrogestan for 3 or 4 years, GP has change me to the spray (low oestrogen, maybe bottle change, long standing thread on this!).

The spray has arrived but the progesterone has changed from utrogestan to Zentiva own-brand (see photo). Has anyone else used this one?

I'm loathed to change both meds at same time. I have enough gel + utrogestan for one month so I may change gel to spray first with old progesterone.

Urgh. For so long both worked so well for me! Why do these things have to change!!

Yes same, I had at first tiny and no bother periods on estrogel and utrogestan, finally regularly and predictable, very very happy as all bad things of the perimenopause disappeared , mood hugely improved, even libido returned...
Then no period at all for 2 months, I thought yayy, I'm there,
Then changed from utrogestan to progesterone in April (not my choice, that's what they gave) and after 10 weeks I had a horrible period with night sweats, migraine, dreadful mood swings again. So can't help wondering it's not the same as the utrogestan tablets? Anyone else?

To add to my previous post, this awful period also happened to come mid month so now completely confused and messed up with the whole thing. Will try to ask doctor to swap prescription back to utrogestan. Wish me luck!

If you look back on this thread, we've posted the ingredients shown for each brand.

They are identical.

The only difference is the brand name.

Any differences to your cycle will be a coincidence, which if you are in peri can happen.

From your posts it sounds as if your estrogen is too low if your symptoms have come back.

My pharmacy/GP also swapped me to the cheaper version and I noticed a massive difference.

Interesting. Going to talk to my GP again, still not right after almost a year.

Medroxyprogesterone is absolutely not the same as Utrogestan. I have been prescribed it as Provera because I can't tolerate Utrogestan. I haven't taken it though, as it has an increased clotting risk compared to Utrogestan, so it absolutely shouldn't be swapped without discussion.

@alilomas1 @MorvernBlack @menopours Zentiva is the name of the company who makes drugs. It's not the name of a drug.

I've had years of no problems on utrogestan, now I have sore breasts since being given zentiva. I'm going to ask the GP.

Zentiva is the name of the manufacturer - not the drug @AdeptBird

The drug is still micronised progesterone. (brand name Utrogestan, when made by Besins.)

It's like Nurofen being a brand name for ibuprofen- the same drug but one has a brand name and the other is the generic name.

The reason it's being made available is partly because there was a huge shortage of Utrogestan last year, so other pharma companies have started making it, and it's also slightly cheaper for the NHS to buy.

The tiny difference is the oil binding the progesterone inside the capsule but it shouldn't make any difference to how it works. Talk to your GP if you're having new side effects.

Thanks, yeah, I read the thread. I didn't take either meds last night and my breasts are no longer sore. Could be something else wrong with my dosage. I'm going to ask the GP.

Are you post meno? If not, is there any chance you're still ovulating and the soreness is PMS? If not, it's often either too much estrogen or too much (absorption of) progesterone.

I had a noticeable and immediate issue when I switched from Utrogestan to the Zentiva manufacturer. Within hours. Terrible eardrum type internal pressure. It was quite scary and I couldn't sleep due to it and had to wake my partner up and show him the box in case I passed out and he had to tell medics what I'd taken.

I don't think it matters to most women and it's great that there are alternatives to ease the supply pressure, but my body was sensitive to the change. Perhaps whatever the slight change meant my body absorbed the progesterone at a different rate and reacted badly? I had to come off it and wait for a Utrogestan prescription - and was 100% OK once back on that.

However, the Zentiva manufactured one must be tolerated well by most other women, otherwise we'd be hearing about problems more. Anyone else had issues?

Has anyone reported the issues via the yellow card system, to make ‘them’ aware? If enough people do that then they should look into it?

I handed my prescription for Utrogestan to a pharmacy weeks ago who later said that they have been struggling to get hold of it.

Annoyingly I know other pharmacies where it’s available but because this pharmacy fulfilled part of the prescription I have been told only they can fulfil the rest of the utrogestan part. I wouldn’t have let them fulfil any part if I’d known they were struggling to get it; they didn’t tell me at the start, they just said they didn’t have enough and would order more in!

My GP can’t help and has just said that the pharmacy has to fulfill it!

Does anyone know if the pharmacy can just provide a different brand or would that have to be named on the prescription?

@bvmdbvj I haven't yellow carded it. Good point. I should. Will put it on my Todo list for this week.

But you may be OK with it. I think most women must be. Have you tried taking it yet to see?

Sorry to hear you're having problems getting hold of Utrogestan, that's why I think they have been trying to increase supply by finding alternative manufacturers. My pharmacist said that they wouldn't be able to order a specific brand like Utrogestan unless it was actually named on my prescription from the GP. So if the GP had just prescribed 100mg Micronised Progesterone - then it would be whatever the pharmacist could get hold of quickest.

Could you phone your GP and ask them to write another prescription for you - explaining your pharmacy supply/part filled problems? With a new script, you can go to any phamacy that had what you wanted in stock. Good luck.

Thanks.

The other phamacies around here have Utrogestan, just not the one that has to fulfill my prescription!

I have called my GP and explained and they said that they can’t issue a new prescription, that there are no supply issues in the area and that the pharmacy I went to will have to fulfil it!

The pharmacy hasn’t offered an alternative, I was just wondering if they are able to do that or if they can only dispense what is on the prescription.

@bvmdbvj I'm sorry, sounds like you're in a real pickle. Perahps your best bet is having another calm word with your pharmacist (get them onside) and see if they can look into ordering it again because your GP said there shouldn't be any supply issues and you know other local pharmacies have them in stock. If they don't seem helpful, consider moving pharmacies. My one is lovely and although not quick does try her best to eventually get my HRT.

Thanks, I’d never used this pharmacy before, I just went there because we were in the area at the time. If they’d said then they were having issues getting it then I would have taken the prescription to one of my usual ones from the start. If they’re ever out of stock they order more in and get it in within a week, I’ve never had any issues like this before!

I’ll call again and and maybe ask if they can contact my GP to let them know they can’t fulfil the prescription (as the GP can’t take my word for it).

Does anyone know if the pharmacy can just provide a different brand or would that have to be named on the prescription?

As far as I know, there are no other brands.

If your prescription said 'micronised progesterone ' you could be given whatever was available as that's a generic drug.

The difference in cost is a few pence per tablet but when millions are being dispensed it saves the NHS a lot of money.

Edit- sorry I see that someone else has answered this before me.

The other option (for next time) is to ask if all the items are in stock before handing over your prescription. (I've learned this the hard way! Thankfully they are able to get what I needed but once they have dispensed some of the items they hold onto the prescription.) Your other option is for your Dr to reissue a new prescription (can't see why this is not possible.)

I am on month four of taking Zentiva after being swapped from utrogestan. I have felt increasingly weird taking the new Zentiva progesterone and also increasingly heavy painful periods. This may be just a coincidence as others say they are exactly the same product but up thread someone mentioned ‘medroxyprogesterone’ in the Zentiva product and this isn’t the same as Utrogestan although both are claimed to be micronised but my understanding is that Utrogestan is body identical meaning it is more like our own naturally produced progesterone. I’m booked in with the GP for a chat about this as currently not a nice person to live with 😩

I'm not an expert but when I looked into it medroxyprogesterone and micronised progesteronea few weeks back I saw they are two different medications. Zentiva is simply a manufacturer who are now allowed to produce generic micronised progesterone as Utrogestan doesn't have a monopolgy on micronised progesterone anymore. Up thread someone had listed a link to be able to look at the ingredients for both Utrogestan and the Zentiva micronised progesterone and they were almost identical apart from the carrier oil or something. But they're both meant to be the same, both body identical, just didn't impact the same way in my body Oh it's all so confusing!

Thanks. I’ve had items out of stock at my usual pharmacies before but they’ve always managed to get them in within a week, so I didn’t think to ask as I’ve never been in this position before! I’d have been happy to wait as usual, but it’s been three weeks now!

The GP said it is not possible - the receptionist checked with them and the GP confirmed it. They said as there are no supply issues as far as they’re aware that the pharmacy has to supply it. I’m not sure why they can’t issue a new prescription as long as I hand in the ‘owed’ slip to the current pharmacy so I can’t get two lots. I guess the system isn’t set up to do this.

There are other brands of progesterone - as in the OP of this post - though from reading discussions on here it seems that although in theory they’re the same, people are getting side effects from the other brands. My prescription states Utrogestan though.

I remember TV programmes in the past saying that all vitamin supplements are not the same, even though they might contain the same vitamins. Some are absorbed more effectively than others for some reason. So it could be a similar thing.

Cyclogest is another option.

If you're desperate and have totally run out, you could try ordering online from an independent pharmacy but they aren't cheap- each capsule is about 45p so a box of 30 is quite a lot.

Thanks.

Just to update that I have my Utrogestan! It turned out that they hadn’t actually ordered it in 🤦🏼‍♀️ - they hadn’t checked when I’d gone in/ called. It was only after speaking to someone, telling them what the GP had said, and asking them to call the GP to confirm to them that they couldn’t get it that they checked the system and realised that (3 weeks later) it hadn’t even been ordered!

Will be sticking to my usual pharmacies in future!