On 150mg oestrogen gel, can I task GP for increase?

[StepawayfromtheLindors]

Night sweats are back with a vengeance over the past couple of months as is overall feeling of being too warm. Today I woke up drenched, will need to wash all bedding. I’ve gone back to putting a towel over the pillow to absorb the sweat. In the daytime I can’t wait to strip off and put something lighter on when I get home from work or just being out. Clothes feel tight and uncomfortable even though I’m not eating more.

I’m on 150mg of Sandrena gel and 100mg progesterone. Can I ask the GP to up the dose of oestrogen, or is this the maximum I’m permitted?

Any advice received gratefully, thanks in advance.

Title should read *ask, not task

I take it you mean 1.5mg Sandrena. That is the max dose of Sandrena, but if you want to increase your oestrogen dose then you could potentially switch to patches. 1.5mg of Sandrena is equivalent to approx a 75mcg oestrodiol patch, and GPs can prescribe patches up to 100mcg so you could go up to a higher equivalent dose.

Sorry for getting the dose incorrect, you’re right! Thank you. I’m befuddled from poor sweaty sleep.

Sorry I should have specified - 1.5mg is the max dose that GPs can typically prescribe of Sandrena, but occasionally menopause specialists will prescribe higher doses so if you are keen to stick to Sandrena you could ask for a menopause clinic referral.

It might be worth also having a hormone profile. Are you actually absorbing the gel? I wasn’t but moved to patched and they work very well for me. My friend has had the exact opposite experience!

Hi @AgathaMystery I’m pretty sure I am absorbing the gel, I always wait for it to dry before getting dressed.

1.5mg Sandrena gel has worked well for 2.5 years so I am gutted to have the sweatiness, heat and feeling bloated back!

Sorry I didn’t mean absorbing like that I mean in a chemical sense. I was using it religiously to no avail. My body just doesn’t absorb it. If it’s worked so well for you in the past it’s unlikely to be that though I suppose. It’s so frustrating isn’t it? When you get your HRT right it’s amazing.

Yes it’s been fabulous for all this time. I really appreciate your input @pbdr thanks for sharing your advice. I’m going to investigate oestrodiol patch at higher dose.

@StepawayfromtheLindors i had the same problem. But I was already on 100mcg patches which were being well absorbed (private gynae did blood test and I had v high oestrogen levels).

I was told that there is a condition where the symptoms keep reappearing and the answer is NOT more oestrogen unfortunately.

I was offered anti depressant for the night sweats, which I declined. I'm now taking red clover and sage tablets which seem to have made a difference, I've only had two sweats in a fortnight, whereas it was every night before that.

Could it be a situation similar to the Oestrogel one where the formulation changed, even though the manufacturers swore it hadn't?

I was using the maximum dose of Oestrogel and started getting night sweats again, but I swapped to patches which sorted things out. I had to start on half a patch as the effect was too strong to start with but gradually went back up to the maximum dose. I was also offered anti-ds but declined.
Tbh, I much prefer patches - none of that standing about in the cold waiting for the gel to dry!

Thanks for the tips on red clover and sage, I’m going to look in Holland and Barrett next week. What’s the name of the condition where the symptoms reappear? I’ve never heard of this.

Thanks @MagpiePi I think I’ll ask my GP about the patches. I didn’t know about the formulation for oestrogel changing, do you know roughly when this happened?

@StepawayfromtheLindors

https://thebms.org.uk/2023/09/tachyphylaxis-with-hrt/

I got my supplements from New Leaf on Amazon.

In my experience Holland and Barrett don't tend to have the good stuff ever.

This article is very interesting, thank you for sharing it @Soupwithstring

My pleasure. Essentially I had this issue.

But my only breakthrough issue is hot sweats (plus monthly hormonal ups and downs, I'm one of the small percentage of women who still experience a cycle with the Mirena coil - cramps, PMT, bleeding, albeit significantly reduced).

My sweats actually got worse, rather than just a hot chest, my shoulders were sweating so the straps of my vest were wet too. I was at my wits end.

It was about 2 years ago.

This was the initial thread…https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/menopause/4696464-oestrogel-new-packaging-yet-again

I wouldn’t go back on gel if you paid me! I think you get a more consistent dose than with gel and patches are so much more convenient IMO.

I think also that you have to factor in that your own hormones are still in a (possibly random) cycle, and that the amounts you produce will change over time, so the HRT dose you need is not necessarily going to stay the same. I’m not a medical professional so that is just my own theory.

I have 2 sachets of sandrena which is 2mg from the dr