Desogestrel, or drospirenone to switch off cycle? (Migraines)

[101trees]

I get along great with utrogestan, take 200mg orally, daily, no issues. (+Evorel 100). Absolutely awful experiences with synthetic progesterone, even merina coil. I was horribly depressed and unstable, bled all the time.

I'm happy with my HRT routine, but have horrific migraines which are sensitive to hormone fluctuations. They're awful on/off HRT, but my other symptoms are much improved with HRT.

I can't seem to achieve stability with bio hormones and I think I need to try taking something to switch off my cycle completely.

My options are:

1. Zoley, but I don't love this idea. There isn't much estrogen in it and I think switching from my current routine would be just awful.

1. Take a POP on top of my current routine.

POP options confuse me though. Am I likely to have better luck with the newer progesterone versions than the older ones?

I'm interested in experiences of Zoley, desogestrel, or drospirenone. Especially if you've had migraine or difficult with older synthetic prog.

Bump

I have exact same issues and I’m loving the HRT I have started but think I need to suppress my cycle as well to stop migraines with a drospirenone progesteron only pill.

Hello

This was my thread, just after I started continuous utrogestan.

After a few months on continuous utrogestan (200mg) + a slight increase in estrogen which made me a little higher than the BMS max estrogen levels - migraines massively receded back to my pre-peri levels.

But, I also addressed the migraine separately with Gepants meds.

The continuous utrogestan was a big turning point- cyclical was stirring everything up.

I was also advised that drosperidone and desogesterol are poor at cycle control, so they probably wouldn't stop fluctuations/migraines.

I absolutely do still have issues with other symptoms, but the migraines are much much improved.

Hi, thanks for answering. I am already taking the progesterone daily to try and achieve better stability, but did wonder if higher oestrogen might help – I am on two pumps at the moment. Can I ask what amount of oestrogen you take?
I am on day seven of varying migraines now so I’m definitely looking at Slynd pop pill to try and create a less fluctuating hormone base – from which I can then hopefully feel the benefits of the HRT that I initially did without these migraines. I was previously on Yasmin that has the same progestegen as Slynd which I got on well with and effectively suppressed my cycle so hoping it might work for me. Has anyone else done this? Who might be reading?

I've taken Desogestrel since 2016 and I've not had a period since. I have to stop in August when I'm 55 and I hope (and the doctors have suggested) that I've sailed through menopause without noticing.

Wow that’s great – did you use any oestrogen gel or anything HRT alongside it?

Hi, I'm on 100mg patch + 1 pump gel.

25mg patch = 1 pump gel, so I am on equivalent of 5 pumps, higher than the recommended amount of estrogen.

But I got there very gradually with very long settling down periods between increases, and I'm under a specialist.

I didn't just increase the estrogen because of the migraines, I was still having hot flushes too until I was on the dose I'm now on.

When I had very long multiple day migraines I went to the GP and they gave me a Naproxen bridge (1 week taking 400mg a day, then 2 weeks at 200mg a day), it helped break the migraine cycle.

Sorry you're suffering - I know how awful it is.