HRT side effects?

[Jacsblue69]

So I have been through the menopause, had the coil fitted oct 23 and have evorel 75 patch.
I have had weird things going on in the last year and am beginning to wonder if they are related to HRT.
Started with abdominal pains , sane as I had when I had periods. I think its my scar tissue flaring up , I had my tube out a long time ago, it was stuck to my bowel and ovary, they did say it would probably stick back together again. It affects my bowels too, like IBS. Anyway that lasted about 2 months. Scan showed nothing but then when they were investigating years ago they say the only way they could see the scar tissue was doing a laparoscopy. Anyway that eased off then June I had bad head pains on the right hand side. Had a scan , and blood tests, said it was migraine related. That eased off after about 2 months. Comes and goes but not often. Then the abdominals started again November for about 2 months. Dr has referred me to the hospita. The pains aren't constant now have eased off. Then in January I started getting chest pains, thought I was having a heart attack, tight chest and wheezy which is not like me as I have animal allergy asthma. Had tests at the hospital, said it was costocondritis . Not sure about that, not sure if it was anxiety related. That has since eased off ,comes and goes , and now my boobs are bloody killing.
I tried to say to the dr could this all connected to HRT but she just said let's deal with 1 thing at a time.
Has anyone else had anything like this?
I'm not sure whether to try something else, like gel or think about coming off it but am scared I am going to feel worse doing that.

I had my tube out a long time ago, it was stuck to my bowel and ovary, they did say it would probably stick back together again

Not sure what you are describing. Have you had your fallopian tubes removed? if so, why? Did you have endometriosis?

HRT shouldn't activate scar tissue but if you had endometriosis it may cause that to grow.

If your boobs are sore on HRT has your GP suggested reducing the estrogen dose? 75 is quite high and you could drop to a 50mcg patch.

Off duty Doc here, as your GP says I think it is unlikely those very varied symptoms have one unifying cause. The only one which strikes me as obviously hormonal is the migraines. I guess you could quite easily take a breK from your patches and see how you go. You don't say how old you are, I think if under 60 you may well get symptoms of menopause ( hot flushes etc) which may be more troublesome than the migraines, but only one way to find out.

Could you try lowering the patch dose and see if that helps? As @JinglingSpringbells suggested.

I’m post- menopausal and assumed I would need higher and higher dose but my private menopause doctor says that’s not true and you just need the lowest dose to alleviate symptoms and protect bone density. So I’m sticking to 37.5 at the moment. Often you need less in post menopause than in Peri.

I’ve realised HRT needs constant reviewing and tweaking which GPs don’t really seem able to do for various reasons.

Hi,
I was trying to get pregnant at the time and in a lot of pain, so they took out my left tube to release some of the scar tissue. I had had endometriosis but they said this was all scar tissue from an infection I didn't know I'd had.
I went onto a 75 patch when I was still spotting on the 50 patch.

Hi, thankyou for replying.
I am 56, I read somewhere that anxiety could be caused by HRT, which could've been the cause of my chest troubles.
I suppose I just thought it was weird that I'd get one thing after another and no explanation as to why. So thought they must be hormone related. The abdominal pains used to come along at period time.
I think I will ask for a HRT review and either try to reduce the patch or change to gel instead.
I thought of just stopping HRT but I am scared incase I feel worse.

I think you're maybe jumping to assumptions that these symptoms could be HRT.

Costochondritis is a particular condition of inflammation of the chest wall and I'd assume they did an chest X ray, maybe an ECG and certainly some physical examination of your chest to diagnose that.

The abdo pain could be anything ,including old adhesions or from a new condition with your bowel, if you have IBS.

Maybe try reducing the estrogen dose and see if that helps.

Hi, thanks for replying. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions, just seems a bit weird that 1 thing goes away and then another appears. I've had all sorts of tests, ECG, all sorts of blood tests, I've had vitamin tests. On paper I am a picture of health 😃.
I think I may try reducing my patch and take it from there or change to gel.