How long till you settled on HRT?

[OneQuickMauveBiscuit]

How long till you found things stabilised?

I’ve cried, quite uncontrollably, every day and I only started last week! Full on sobbing. I feel very down. I was nervous to start HRT due to side effects.

Will it stop or is this the wrong dosage/type for me? What other side effects did you experience?

What are you on and what stage of menopause are you at?

Sorry, I’m in peri but have been for a long time. I’m on the patches, Estraderm mx 50?

It can take a few months for the meds to work. They should have done a baseline of your estrogen/progesterone/testosterone and then after a couple of months they do the same test to see how you are metabolising the HRT, which could result in changes to dosage and delivery. Be patient. I know it can be difficult, but it is a science and requires data to adjust.

This isn't NICE guidence, it is not indicated to do blod tests for someone who is symptomatic between 45-55.

Are you taking progesterone too?

They didn’t do this. I had bloods years before they started the HRT. They also haven’t mentioned anything. Maybe when I request a new prescription they will?

I’ late 30s, will that make a difference? I’m so praying this works, I can’t take much more chaos. They have me the coil which I have a couple of months to settle to see what difference it made before starting the HRT.

Had the coil fitted for that and let it settle for a few months before starting the HRT.

The coil is not body identical progesterone - it is a synthetic progestin, although some people find it to be fine.

What were the symptoms you are trying to alleviate with HRT? You are quite young to be in peri (not saying it isn't possible of course.)

Late 30's is very early for HRT. They should have done a baseline blood test to know what your numbers are in order to prescribe HRT. This sounds backward to me. Do you trust the provider? Did you get a recommendation for them from a trusted source? It may be time to see someone else.

Extremely irregular and odd periods.
Dryness.
Severe mood swings.
Sudden weight gain.
Incredibly stressed all the time with no source.
Sleep issues.

The problems started after I had my last DC and never settled. They did blood tests and nothing hugely off but a tad low. Then they decided to start the HRT but no blood test in the interim.

It was my GP.

If your GP is not experienced in this area, it may be time to seek out the help from a practitioner who specializes in women's hormonal health.

I don’t know if they are or if they aren’t. I was out on the list for gynaecology but it’s years and years. I cannot afford private healthcare. So I’m trying what my GP has suggested

I have been on HRT for 20 years now. I started about a week after my first hot flush and it took about 10 days to stop them and other symptoms. I now have a Mirena Coil and Oestrogel which work really well.

@anitarielleliphe Blood tests are only done on women under 45 in order to rule out any other illness that could mimic menopause.

I'm guessing you're not in the UK.

They are not useful as a guide to the dose of estrogen, progesterone or testosterone.

Hormones change daily (or even hourly in peri) so there is no need to test in order to decide on the dose of estrogen.

My consultant (private ) is a menopause and fertility expert and won't test any women's hormones (other than for fertility) as he says they are never accurate.

Testosterone is not routinely prescribed in the UK on the NHS.

@OneQuickMauveBiscuit My guess is that the symptoms (crying etc) are peri symptoms and not connected to using estrogen. After a week you'd not get that kind of reaction from estrogen.

It can take 3 months to see the benefits but many women feel better in a couple of weeks.

You need to give it time.

If you already had a Mirena coil for contraception, presumably you feel ok on that? Some women find it makes them have low mood, but if you've had it for a while that isn't relevant.

Yeah the more a coil changed nothing. I did wonder if it was slightly psychosomatic because I was so nervous about starting the patches that to have a sudden reaction seems a bit coincidental? Appreciate your last comment about hormonal testing too, I feel like my cycles are all over the place and my periods so bizarre that my hormones must be fluctuating so much that you’d need to test across the month for a mean result.

I've been on HRT for over 15 years with an excellent consultant. He says that to get an accurate result for estrogen it needs to be tested it over 24 hours, continuously- which is impossible.

The way HRT works is to try a dose (either low or medium) and see if symptoms improve. You are on a medium patch so if you keep feeling low you could change to a lower dose (37 or 25mcgs) or even swap to gel.

With gel you can control the dose, starting with 1 pump ( same as a 25mcg patch) and increase up to 4 a day.

It's worth thinking about this and it shouldn't be an issue to change to gel if you speak to your GP.

Thank you, this has all been really helpful and insightful. I will keep going and see after three months what the situation is, but obviously if things get worse then I’ll get in touch with them beforehand.

Thanks, really helpful.