Immaculate conception ?

[RedMonkeys99]

I'm perimenopausal and on HRT (patches + utrogestan continuously).

I had a positive pregnancy test at a hospital lab, but I've not had sex for a year so I'm completely certain it's a false positive.

The hospital ward ran two tests - one an instant dipstick which was negative, then had procedure and went home, later in the eve the lab result came back on the app as positive for pregnancy.

I assume the lab test is more sensitive so there is a very small amount of Hcg it picked up.

Google says this can be a perimenopause thing. Has anyone else heard about it or had any experience? I stopped reading Google before it started talking about cancer. My hormones are bonkers at the moment so I'm sure it's related to that.

Thank you for the experiences of end of peri.

The HRT has been a bit of a work in progress. I've been on HRT a year, my current routine 6-months. The current routine took me from having continual migraines and other symptoms all the time, to just having them during my period week. So I was feeling much better until this month.

But I've spent the last month having continuous hot and cold flushes, barely slept and had severe mood swings, but no migraines.

The hot flushes are almost back to back. Burning up then freezing cold.

I seem to have skipped this month's period. So it seems like that would be why it's been so bad.

I'm not sure whether it would be worth waiting to see if the symptoms stabalise in my next period before changing anything, which might add to the instability. Prior to this I had been discussing with my GP increasing the estrogen to see if that helped the drop during my periods - which I'm confident was behind the monthly symptoms.

It all seems a bit up in the air now.

Can I ask what HRT you're on- type and dose.

It sounds 99% likely that the estrogen part is too low.
Any return of symptoms usually means that.

I'm on 100mg estrogen patch and 100mg utrogestan daily. I was on cyclical utrogestan but that made my migraines worse, so I started taking it daily 6months ago which improved everything. I've been on 100mg patch about 9 months.

I had a blood test for estrogen last week because my GP wanted to check I was absorbing it OK. It was 612, not sure that's very helpful in the context of the massive fluctuations really.

I'd prefer to stay on patches because it's the most stable for migraines. They've been pretty bad since peri started.

So you're already on a high dose.

As you're in peri that dose of Utrogestan is probably fine but for women post menopausal, the suggested dose is 200mgs a day on a high dose patch/gel.

I know you say you like the patch but the point is it's not stable- the dose starts to decline after a few days hence needing to change it. I'm not aware that it is 'more stable for migraines' - (I have migraine and find gel fine.)

You might get on better with gel where you apply the same amount daily.

I'm not completely sure why patches were supposed to be more stable, it was the migraine doctor who said that, so may not be true as presumably she's an expert in migraine rather than menopause products.

Is gel preferable to patches in terms of how well it works? Or just that it is more steady state?

I haven't noticed the symptoms decrease or increase on different days recently, but this week is a little worse than last week, which was a little worse than the week before.

So general downwards trend rather than up and down.

I don't mind taking extra utrogestan, I will check about whether I should be on 200mg, thank you.

I've never used patches personally, as they don't appeal to me.
However some women like them, so horses for courses!

The only possible bonus is that with gel you can apply it to 2 areas and the issue with transdermal estrogen is that everyone's skin varies hugely in terms of how the absorb it. Gel is applied to the upper arms or inner thighs, or both. Whereas patches are only on the bum.

I don't necessarily see how patches are more 'stable' because they do run-out after 3-4 days, and I wonder if she was comparing them with oral HRT- where some is lost in digestion? Maybe she is unaware of gel as an option?

The guidance on 200mgs of Utrogestan is from the British Menopause Society and their guidance report on endometrial protection on HRT( you can read it online.)

It is guidance, meaning that it's not mandatory but should be considered. Some women who are intolerant to progesterone won't cope with 200mgs a day. But if they find a high dose of estrogen causes spotting, it's an option.

Thank you for sharing. It's much appreciated.