Can progesterone phase make you feel worse?

[Ihatehealthanxiety]

Started hrt nearly 2 weeks ago and posted to say I felt better almost straightaway (particularly brain fog, anxiety & sleep). I'm due to start the progesterone phase which I must take for 2 weeks and I'm nervous this will spoil things as I've heard it can affect your mood. Any experience? I do realise it can be an individual thing though.
Thanks x

Hello

my personal experience is that progesterone made me feel extremely tired, verging on sedated, the first month or two I took it! I hated it at first.

i stuck with it though, and by month 3 or 4 the progesterone phase of the month is my favourite, I feel fantastic on it!

taking it orally gave me terrible acid reflux, so I now take it rectally, it’s working great for me

Thank you. I took the combined pill for years with no issue which I believe contains higher levels of progesterone than hrt? I've also taken norethisterone a few times, again all fine, so keeping my fingers crossed. Don't like the sound of reflux though. It says to take at night on empty stomach. I don't tend to eat that early due to work and other factors so assume ok to eat around 8ish and take at bedtime around 11ish?

I take continuous progesterone but was originally just on oestrogen. It made me feel amazing almost as soon as I started it. It’s been great for me

Did you take it before bed? I loved it, it really relaxed me! I’m chronically uptight though.

op if you think it will be bad then you’ll convince yourself it is , the brain isn’t always truthful. But to answer your question I had no issues but I wasn’t thinking I would have so that’s part of the battle.

The reason for taking it on an empty stomach is that food increases its effects. This can be a good thing if you find it isn't controlling your own periods, for example.

But for some women it can make you a bit more drowsy or whatever.

The reason for taking it at bedtime is it can cause dizziness and that's obviously dangerous at times. This is because in some women it lowers blood pressure = dizziness.

As others have said it had a sedative effect on me so I take it at night - am peri so take it for the 14 days with the patch for estrogen. I have to take it at night because it virtually knocks me out within 20 minutes!

Fine for me too, better sleep and reduced anxiety but as others said take care taking it with food especially fatty food as it can strengthen effects so you feel a bit drunk.

I'm peri so take it for 14 days of the month and I look forward to those 14 days. I feel calmer overall on it and I sleep better too.

Thanks for your replies, good to hear mostly positive experiences. I took my first dose last night and slept like a baby! Sleep has been greatly improved since starting oestrogel 2 weeks ago but this was even better. 🤞 the good effects of HRT continue.....

I too have just started and was dreading the progesterone stage. Anyway, it’s been totally fine. Amazing!

Can I ask a question on here, I did start a thread but didn’t get any replies. I’m on the cyclical 14 day progesterone and know you are supposed to have a breakout period after it stops, but I have been having a period after a week on progesterone and then another one a week later after the last pill for the last 2 months. So 2 periods a month, a week apart. This is my 3rd month on HRT is this normal?
I do have an appointment to discuss switching to a coil but not until March.

I usually have my period near the start of the 14 days taking it, then have a normal cycle. Prior to that my cycle had shrunk to 23-25 days so I was having 2 periods a month and anaemic... I would ask to see someone sooner than March if you are worried about anything.

That’s the earliest appointment I can get, apparently there’s only 1 doctor in the practice who deals with that 🙄