Is it possible to use one and a half patches

[thetorturedpoetsdepartmentssecretary]

I'm on Evorel conti patches and get on well with them, but still feel very anxious and depressed. I'm also taking an antidepressant, but wonder if an increase in hrt dose would help.

Whenever I've discussed this with my gp they want to move me to oestrogen gel, but I still have my womb and the progesterone capsules made me feel terrible, so I'm keen to stay on the patches. They also suggest tablets, but I prefer the relative safety of patches.

I'm 60 and also worried they'll try and get me to stop using hrt, this has been mentioned before too.

I'm so tired of this being so difficult. I'm constantly exhausted, no energy, aches and pains, no libido. Years ago I was prescribed testosterone, but it made me really hairy, I'm hairy enough as it is! So I stopped using it. I think the side effects of the antidepressants aren't helping, but I can't stop taking them. I can live with the lack of libido, but the fatigue, anxiety etc is getting to me so much.

Any suggestions? Thoughts on using one and a half patches?

Can you afford to go to a menopause clinic. It might help to talk to a specialist. I’ve been really disappointed with gps lack of understanding. I’m on the patches , are you on the highest strength? No clue on cutting them but I would imagine it would be unreliable and you would potentially end up with different levels of hormones coming through.

I can't afford to at the moment and the nearest one is a long way away.

I don't think the Evorel Conti patches come in different strengths, I've never come across a stronger one. I'm seeing my gp about another matter in a couple of weeks, I'm going to mention it to her.

They only come in 1 dose.

I use 2 Evorel Conti at the same time (plus 1 x 75mcg estradiol only patch & take a separate prog tablet) but this was prescribed privately. I don’t think my gp would’ve been happy to initiate a regime outside the nhs prescribing parameters. They are ok with prescribing it as long as it’s initiated by a specialist though.

You could ask for a referral to an NHS meno specialist but I imagine you’ll be waiting a while.

You can get oestrogen only patches to use alongside the conti.

I was told I could do this, really helped joint issues. I told another GP what I was doing and they prescribed me two patches Evorel Conti and Evorel 25.

Yes you can use half a patch. I do for my dose of estradot.

That interesting that’s the main reason I’ve started HRT. I’m on the evori sequi and the conti 50.

so are you taking the conti 50 plus a 25 so 75?

I’m on 50 plus 25. It made a real difference.

the HRT nurse at my GP’s said it was fine to adjust the dose and cut the patches. She said the GP’s don’t like people doing it. But I’m estrogen only so not sure about the progesterone ones.

I think I'd really help from more hrt

Do uou think 1.5 Conti would be better or 1 conti and 0.5 ordinary?

How much of the noresithone do uou need does it have to increase in proportion