Pregnant belly on HRT? Feel dependent.

[Briarrose1]

I'm on Evorel Sequi. After 12 months I now look pregnant. 5kg weight gain which all seems to be on my lower/middle belly and boobs. Yes I'm watching my diet and exercising. HRT specialist said it's the best for for me at the moment and has recently added in testosterone. It's not the HRT "HE said" it's the menopause. Ha. I don't believe that. I now feel dependent on the Sequi and it scares to try cutting down or stop. I told him I have always put weight on with the combined pill and also when I hit puberty. So assuming oestrogen is the culprit. What to do, I feel horrible and more to the point can't afford a whole new pregnancy wardrobe! Tried cutting the patches in half but it was like cold turkey, felt like an empty vessel. Anyone else?

I'm on 75mg oestrogen, progesterone tablet every day and a blob of testosterone gel every day. My boobs think I'm trying to breastfeed twins and are agonisingly painful daily. Stomach thinks I am 9 months pregnant and I agree OP I am watching what I eat: mostly v healthy, try to make every mouthful count but the moment I steal one of my dh's crisps or a piece of the dc's treats i think this is why!

But really I am so disciplined compared to DH and DC but I am constantly bloated, sore and uncomfortable. I'm on month 5 of HRT, one month since dose has been increased.

My doctor is a young sympathetic woman and I still feel like they are treating a "menopausal woman" rather than me as an individual. I have never been ill in my 52 years but I am miserably uncomfortable in my skin these days. Also still a bit shocked it's as bad as it is while not being "sick". So, still expected to work both my jobs - alongside similar aged men- as though I'm feeling fit and fine. Because it's not an illness!

The Sequi made me look 9 months pregnant. I stopped completely and haven't taken anything since then. Being bad tempered is preferable to looking pregnant to me!

My body shape has definitely changed with old age though. I always had a defined waist but nowadays I am much thicker around the middle. I don't like it.

There are different HRT regimes to try, if you are not feeling right on one try another. Also sequi is synthetic not body identical .

Not a helpful response maybe but I’m in exactly the same boat. Different HRT - oestrogel and utrogestan and the mini pill - but I know from having to come on and off the HRT for other health tests I’ve had that it definitely makes me put on weight. I really hate the rounded stomach I have on it. And my boobs are huge. I am tempted just to come off it completely. I don’t think it’s making a huge difference to how I feel.

Try a different version but truthfully I developed the humpty dumpty belly a couple of years ago because I am pushing 50, and I only started HRT this year. My stomach stayed flat and my waist stayed slender before because my ovaries were working, and as soon as they started to wind down...belly. So even on a different HRT or no HRT you may find this is just your shape now.

This is a really fascinating podcast episode about the fat and ageing and talks a lot about why we gain fat around our middles as we age and what to do about it (spoiler alert, not a lot!) It’s not going to provide a magic answer for you I’m afraid but it really helps to understand the biological mechanisms for our charging body shapes. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zoe-science-nutrition/id1611216298?i=1000637038881

Hrt definitely makes me look pregnant.

Test

Sorry about the test message. Still getting used to this site on my mobile! Thanks for all your messages. Just to follow up, gynae doc sent me for a scan which shows endometrial thickening and recurrence of apparently small fibroids that I had in my 20s. I've also started having heavy bleeds again after months of nothing. I'm assuming I'm over oestrogen-ised or something? Also this can increase the risk of cancer. Scary stuff. Might also be why I've gained so much weight? Waiting to hear back from docs with some advice. Anyone else experienced that? I would stop the HRT but tried for 2 days and felt like I couldn't get out of bed...there's no winning

I definitely had this experience. First few weeks were fine apart from the ridiculous bleeding. After about 10 weeks I started to gain around the middle. I stayed active with my workout routine and walking but continued to gain weight around the middle and the already big boobs got even bigger! I stopped in January last year but restarted again in May due to stress symptoms. Unfortunately the same pattern ensued, e.g 3 months great but then started gaining again at a rate of knots! I've decided to stay off HRT and have been without for about 6 months now. Only some of the weight has shifted but we are only just through winter and I do like my hearty meals when it's cold outside 😂. I've just reintroduced running to my routine and have a new diet plan so I'm hoping it will help. Incidentally I did speak to my GP re HRT and weight gain. She says that whilst the majority of women don't experience weight gain, some definitely do