Period pains on HRT!! Anyone else? (TMI photo in comments)

[GlomOfNit]

I've been on HRT for a couple of years now. Mostly it's ok, but I noticed early on that it really brought my period pains back! I had hardly experienced a twinge since childbirth. Feels very unfair!

It's particularly nasty this cycle and in fact I'm still in bed, as the pains and nausea were making me feel like taking it easy. (I have lots of home based admin to get on with from my bed.) And I finally got up and showered just now, and found this horrible SLUG on the loo paper! It seems actual tissue - womb lining I assume - rather than a jelly-like clot. Assume that's all par for the course? My cervix hates being dilated so that's probably why I felt so crappy earlier this morning. (Pic in comments)

Sorry, grim!

Actually, I passed some more largish chunks of tissue and I think it's something called a decidual cast (or large pieces of it)!! (Where your uterus sheds ALL the lining in one go and often in one big piece, rather than in shreds over several days.) Apparently this can happen on oral contraception and also as part of an ectopic pregnancy (I am very definitely NOT pregnant!).

That's interesting, because this cycle, I took the progesterone for two days longer than I should have (ie 14 days rather than 12, I got my dates in a twist and forgot one night so compensated for another night but I think I took it two nights extra rather than one .... ). I wonder if that had any bearing on my sodding uterus apparently evacuating all the uterine lining at once?!

Anyway, my periods have been generally a lot more painful on HRT than before I started it, so even if this one was unusually harsh, I'm just wondering if other women have noticed more painful ones?

I had exactly this with HRT and was referred for a hystoscopy (after a normal scan). They said in a lot of women the additional oestrogen can cause polyps etc to flare up and can cause these kinds of clots. I’ve been told to stop the HRT completely until I’ve had the hystoscopy. I’ve gone back to taking just the mini pill and the bleeding etc has completely stopped so I’m confident HRT just doesn’t agree with me and I don’t want to go back on it now - can’t be dealing with then bleeding and clots etc etc. (I’d been on HRT for some time, tweaking types and doses etc over nearly 2 years but it was just getting worse and worse).

I was passing clots that size and bigger in the peri menopause. Its scary 😳 sending hugs x no advice as I didn't use hrt but did have the coil to stop the heavy bleeding x

Sorry you've both had nasty clotty periods. Just to clarify, I'm fairly sure what I passed today wasn't a jelly-like blood clot, but chunks of uterus lining. I'm going to keep an eye on this and maybe talk to the GP if it happens again (it's normal to see little shreds of uterus lining in your period, that's what you're losing, after all! But maybe less usual to see big chunks.)

I would talk to your GP x

I'm actually having a pelvic scan in August (not an urgent referral) because I was wetting myself slightly, but since that started, I've restarted using Ovestin topical oestrogen cream on a loading dose, as per GP suggestion, and do pelvic floor exercises very frequently and it's cleared up entirely! (My CA125 test was normal too.) I think if I went back to the GP with this last 'period' (not really a period on HRT) she'd just point out that I'm having a scan soonish anyway.