Progesterone intolerance

[JJkate]

Hi I'm feeling awful due to side effects from progesterone. I am investigating alternatives, one of which is coming off. Please can you tell me if you experienced progesterone intolerance and came off hrt altogether, how was it for you?

Unfortunately it does pass into the blood stream. It's a myth that is doesn't. It gives the same level of synthetic progestogen as a low-dose combined patch.
This is why it has some side effects for some women- mainly weight gain, mood swings and acne.

I agree that Progesterone from the Mirena does get into the blood stream and if you are sensitive it can affect you. It gave me low mood and another time it completely dried up my breast milk when I was feeding DS3, I had to have it removed pronto at which point my milk came back very quickly! It’s supposed to not interfere with breastfeeding but I think that must only be with very small babies who feed all the time not with older ones!

I have just had to come off the mini pill because I was having a very hard time with progesterone (very depressed, weight gain, heightened anxiety)… yesterday was my first day off it and have a horrendous migraine today.

That's interesting, I guess it's the way it is absorbed. I never wanted to try Mirena in case it did cause the same issue as Microgynon, and unlike a pill, you can't just stop taking it.

Also I had a copper coil for five years and got endometriosis and bilateral cysts. There is no research linking the two but all I can say is I've had no symptoms for ten years since it was removed. Ok desogestrel managed the symptoms but I haven't taken any hormones for some time now and no symptoms have returned 🤞

@YellowDaze I tried it vaginally after I'd been on hrt about 6 months. It just made me feel very wobbly and tearful all the time so wasn't any good unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestion and I'm glad it's working for you 🙂

@Sugarahhoneyhoney good advice thanks. It is good to have ideas of how to deal with GPs.

@spoonbillstretford thank you for the suggestion I am writing them all down.

@mechanicalpencilsorry to hear that. I was just reading your thread. I hope things settle for you 🙏🏻 ❤️

Progesterone made me mad, bad and sad. Came off it straight away. I'd rather go through the Menopause depression, than that...

Literally logged on to Mumsnet tonight to try and find out if anyone else was experiencing the same thing, and here you all are!
I’ve only been taking the progesterone a week, but I feel like I’m going mad - can’t process anything, feel like I’m forgetting things, severe anxiety, very low mood, can’t cope with anything.
The week before, when I started using the Oestregel, I felt absolutely amazing and like a new person, so to completely crash after beginning progesterone has really upset me.
And I’ve realised that I’ve mistakenly only been taking 1 a day instead of 2, so god knows what I’ll be like on 2!

When was younger and took the Pill for the first time, this is how I felt on it (think it was Microgynon).

How long is it worth persevering with it?

I'm feeling the very same. Feel so down and the whole reason I went on HRT and utrogestan was because of low mood. I'm incredibly anxious and have very bad health anxiety which is new to me. I did have a bad reaction to microgynon pill when I was younger and came off it after a couple of years.

I'm driving my husband mad with all my worrying.
I'm wondering if I should just come off HRT and hope for the best. I have osteoporosis though so thought it would help with that. (also on biphosphonate for that).
Sorry OP, I've no answers but I feel your pain.

That's interesting, do you have any estradiol with this?

I need estradiol but not happy with the effects of progesterone. Lax muscles in general, all over and mild prolapse symptoms when on it (sequentially), plus all the fatigue and paralysis others talk about.

I'm reluctant to have the mirena as I don't want progesterone continuously. Plus everything gets in my system that in theory isn't supposed to.

I am in a similar situation. I have PMDD and am possibly perimenopausal.

I have been on Depo provera (3 monthly injections) for nearly 2 years but they didn’t make much difference to my mood and I was still bleeding or spotting nearly all the time.

I paid for a private consultation with a menopause specialist in the end. He prescribed me Slynd and also estrogen gel.

This has stopped some of the bleeding and the gel did help with the mood.

He has written to my GP to recommend that I have the coil fitted, they have since agreed to this and I am now waiting on an appointment for this.

IMHO, it isn't. I switched to a mirena (GP promised to take it out immediately if I struggled with it). And I bloody love it. I sleep brilliantly, my periods are very light, PMT is much reduced and it works against very high oestrogen - in my case 100mcg.

I really struggled with taking utrogestan cyclically. Meno constant told me it was because your brains likes to have the same hormones day in day out. I started taking it daily and felt really good. However the breast tenderness i initially got never went away and instead got worse. After 8 months I gave up. This month I’m back to trying again however after only 4 nights back on it (I take it vaginally) I feel very emotional and not in a good way. Last night I slept for 13 hours which is just not do able this week when I’ve got work etc. I don’t know what the answer is tbh. I’m thinking of trying provera as someone in my family who struggled with utrogestan found this works for them.

Oddly I had mine removed after 8 odd weeks - born crushing effects, it was as awful. Tears constantly, I couldn’t feel anything that wasn’t unhappiness or depression. I’ve never felt like that before, not so consistently without any let up.

I’m on daily utrogestan100 now, I found I was a little off for a couple of weeks but that seems to be stabilising. I’m keeping an eye on it but it’s only been around a month so far. I have testosterone cream (currently trying 3x a week) so I don’t know if that makes any difference as well.

OP I think it’s purely trial and error. I wouldn’t touch a Mirena coil for myself now, if you paid me, but clearly it does work for many when the tablets don’t. I was able to get an appointment for removal quite quickly so I wouldn’t worry about that. I would be aware of crossover, it takes some time, I think, for your system to clear/re start. If you do try the Mirena you need to stay on it as long as possible to see if any reaction stabilises. My GP wanted me to to try 3 months but at 2 months I realised I might not survive that, I was becoming suicidal. But by 2 months I was getting worse not better, definitely felt long enough…

I have progesterone intolerance and im ok with livial tibolone

menopause.org.au/hp/information-sheets/tibolone-as-menopausal-hormone-therapy

I couldnt take the mini pill. It made me feel suicidal. I genuinely couldn't stop crying and didn't link it. It was only when my neighbour asked if I'd changed pills (because she had had the same problem) that it became clear. Within days of stopping it I felt my normal happy self again.

I now have the Mirena and have never had a problem with it.

@Harpertron me too! How long have you been off it and how has it been?

@tigerbear they usually say give it a few months maybe 3 minimum. I've been going for 2.5 years and it's just getting worse. I don't advise waiting that long!

@Girlintheframe sounds like Slynd might be worth a try?

@Mnjmnj sounds horrendous! Glad you're found something that's working now. Thanks for the tips. I do wonder about the effects of all the hormones us women are on in our lifetimes and how different our lives would be without them.

@BananaramaDefencegreat to hear you are ok now 🙌🏻

Been off it about 6 years now. I'm just riding Menopause through naturally...but it's not an easy ride but still better than that awful drug.

Hi all. I'm posting an update. After much research I decided not to try other types of progesterone. One big factor in this (on top of v low mood) was that I have had quite bad hair loss that was getting worse and worse and the other types have reports of similar side effects. I decided to come off completely by tapering.

I started to taper the oestrogen gel by reducing by 0.2 MCG per week over 8 weeks. I finished this and took my last progesterone in mid December.

It's early days but I feel so much better. My low mood has gone and I just feel like myself again. I expect peri symptoms will return but have decided that is preferable to major depression most days. I was very scared how it would go but it has been fine.

Please let me know how you are doing and if you have any questions. I will try to update how it is going over time too.