HRT Type Advice

[DaddysGirl36]

Hi. I'm 44 and after months of awful symptoms affecting my daily life, my GP has offered HRT with two options, patch or gel. I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the information when trying to research them both so find myself here to speak to others than may have had similar experiences. Ultimately I'm hoping the HRT can control my symptoms of:

-Severe Nausea
-Headaches/Migraines
-Brain fog
-Mood swings
-Fatigue
Irregular periods for last 2 years. Currently 43 days since last period. Cycles used to be 28-31 like clockwork but then went to 21-24 & this is the second 40+ one

Does anyone have experience on either method & can recommend based on above symptoms?

I use the gel because I didn't want the faff of changing patches twice a week, and the risk of them falling off / not sticking. HRT has been a game changer - it took a good 8 weeks to settle down but I'm feeling so much better now. Make sure they prescribe you some progesterone too, either as a Mirena coil or Utrogestan tablets to take at night

Thank you. They mentioned the coil but I thought that was an alternative. I'd prefer tablets in that scenario

It's absolutely your choice. The choice of patches or gel isn't really about which suits which symptoms- they are both transdermal estrogen and work in the same way.

There's a bit of trial and error with HRT and the dose. With a patch, you're stuck with it (haha) until you can get an appt with your dr to change the dose. You might also not want a patch stuck on your bum for anyone you're newly intimate with to see.

With gel you can start low and work upwards yourself.

IME here too many women are started on too high a dose and get side effects.
My consultant (who's one of the top meno gynaes in the UK) suggested a tiny amount of gel to start with and to see how it felt.

Whatever you decide it's not a 1-way street- you can change.

Thanks. No new intimacies to worry about thankfully.

I was gearing towards the gel for the reasons you said about working upwards