Has anyone experienced severe anxiety after starting oestrogen gel and progesterone?

[Robinonaspade]

Hi has anyone else got experience of being incredibly anxious after starting oestrogel and progesterone?
I'm finding anxiety off the scale and preventing me from doing daily tasks.

Yep. I started off with 0.5mg Sandrena gel plus 100mg Utrogestan (with a break I think of 7 days off the second one every month) and I was a right old mess.
It did get better though, that I do know but it took a while.
I think a lot of women struggle with the progesterone component it comes in an oral tablet form?
I think then an alternative is to have a patch or to have the progesterone delivered via the Mirena coil?
It’s off licence but some women do well inserting the progesterone tablet as a pessary but it’s not something the NHS would recommend. And some even use a different route (yep the bum hole option!) with success. I think if you take it orally it affects your stomach and your central nervous system.
I paid privately in the end (and believe me I’m not rich!) but someone then worked with me until it was settled and then I got moved over to the NHS.
I found the resources of Dr Louise Newson to be really helpful.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I feel like I'm really struggling, can't do normal daily things. Was in a and e with panic attack this week- all tests thankfully came back ok but I was told it wouldn't be hrt. Was severe stress.
I'm hoping to be able to see GP this week, but I'm such a mess. I just am not functioning. Trying to note down things for appointment. I just want to feel myself again.

Goodness. This seemed to happen to me, though nothing like as severe - I don’t normally have anxious times but was very very nervous about some normal things. I was still on 1 pump of gel when the doctor had suggested I could go up to two, and a therapist suggested I try the higher dose. It does seem better. Maybe talk to your prescriber?

PermanentTemporary
Thanks, that's really interesting. I really should have seen a GP last week but was in such a state I couldn't get there. I hoped they would come out given how I was, but tried to be reassured I must be ok if they wouldn't come out.
It's just so unlike me. I've dealt with some really torrid times in the past few years, but it's never got me like this. I'm basically in bed and can't stand conversations with my family.☹️
I do need to speak to the GP as soon as possible.

I tried a much lower constant patch.. estrodot conti 30/90. It’s ultra low but just enough for me. The oral progesterone knocked me out, i could barely move. Anxiety went through the roof.

Goodness, I'm feeling less alone, thank you. I do need NHS to consider it could be HRT then. Everyone so far said absolutely not HRT.
It's hard to figure out what's going on. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Sadly, we look to the NHS guidance but they aren’t always up in terms of knowledge.
I recently had a hysteroscopy due to post menopausal bleeding and it was clear. I asked the very experience gynae surgeon if it could be my HRT was unbalanced and she said, I’m so sorry I don’t really know much about HRT. And I thought you would t have to go far to learn.
This lady’s work really helped me get website is full of advice, she gets so frustrated with medical professionals who send women away saying it’s not hormones, menopause etc.
Here she is speaking to Fearne Cotton. Hike this helps a bit!

Sadly, we look to the NHS guidance but they aren’t always up in terms of knowledge.
I recently had a hysteroscopy due to post menopausal bleeding and it was clear. I asked the very experience gynae surgeon if it could be my HRT was unbalanced and she said, I’m so sorry I don’t really know much about HRT. And I thought you would t have to go far to learn.
This lady’s work really helped me get website is full of advice, she gets so frustrated with medical professionals who send women away saying it’s not hormones, menopause etc.
Here she is speaking to Fearne Cotton. Hike this helps a bit!

Thank you very much for the link. I have been reading a bit more of this Dr's work now I am a bit calmer to digest things.

I really appreciate sharing your experiences and it seems for many menopause and HRT are tricky.

I just feel like I've been hit by a truck. I honestly don't like feeling as I do.

Thanks again .

I had awful anxiety while on oral progesterone - I was almost suicidal. I switched to taking it vaginally and the symptoms went

I had oestrogen gel and Utrogeston and when I took the progesterone I was in a terrible state. I’d never been so anxious and depressed. My marriage nearly ended.

In the end my research online took me to swap it out for a coil. 3 days later I was a new person and 7.5 years later I am still like a new person.

Taking the progesterone orally make some women feel dreadful and no one gives us the answers. You have to find it yourself, and being on here with these amazing helpful women is a good start.

Good luck OP. You’ll sort it, I promise.

Loads of love X

Yes, I had terrible anxiety with oral progesterone. I got the Mirena coil instead and things are a lot better now.

OP you WILL feel better. A lot of us have been where you are.

It could be the HRT but my guess is that it's caused by the reasons you went on HRT - perimenopause.

It may be that you actually need a higher dose of estrogen.

In the interim, your body is totally out of balance because of the anxiety. It will take a while to regulate. Try and take it super easy and rely on whoever you can in the meantime. If you have a partner ask them to make all the decisions and reduce your mental load as you need time to recover.

I'd be wary of starting sertraline or other such drugs as the side effects can make your anxiety much worse at first.

Yes it gave me anxiety. Not immediately, but over time. I had to stop to taking it eventually. Higher oestrogen made it worse.

Thank you for your really honest thoughts, and I'm so sorry you've gone through so much too.
I definitely agree I need to research myself, I just felt so alone and overwhelmed.
I'd not really considered progesterone as being the issue but I can see how it could be. It has helped a little with my sleep, although I still wake frequently and sleep very lightly at the moment which obviously isn't helping. GP last week suggested nytol until I can get down, but to be honest it's not really done very much to help.

Thanks very much for sharing. I'm the calmest I've felt for a fortnight at the moment!

Thanks for the heads up about sertraline. I strongly believe that is what will be suggested when I go down. I really don't want to take any more meds than absolutely necessary. I have read about how things can get worse with that before better and worse I'd not something I could cope with!
I really think if I can get myself calm to go outside and on walks and driving again, I'd feel more like myself. I just feel as if I'm not me.
I was still having period, albeit erratically so I imagine my hormones are all over the place, aggravated by stress. I just feel a mess.
Thanks for pointers though, greatly appreciated.

@Robinonaspade How long have you been on HRT?
It sounds as if it's a few days or weeks?

Are you using micronised progesterone every day or on a 12 day cycle?
Are you in peri or post menopause?

I'd stop taking it. This won't harm you and in the meantime see your GP and discuss other options. many women take a few weeks to settle on HRT but your reaction is quite extreme if you can't get out of bed.

There are patches and the Mirena that have different types of progesterone.
It's quite shocking that no one has linked your symptoms to HRT.

EDITED- see you're still having periods. In that case you should be using sequential HRT- estrogen daily and progesterone 12 days per month.

NICE guidance is to change types and dose of HRT if it's not suiting and absolutely NOT use antidepressants. This is the NICE menopause guidance.

In the meantime, while you wait to see your GP, do some reading and research into types of HRT.

There are all kinds-
tablets - with different types of progesterone- the best is Femoston
patches- estrogen with the progesterone Norethisterone.
patches- estrogen only and dydrogesterone tablet
estrogen-only patch used with the Mirena coil

Hi I'm in peri as far as I know, and been on HRT about 5 weeks. It's certainly helped with aches I had and initially helped with mood. In on it continuously, two pumps of gel on morning, one capsule of progesterone on a night.
There's so much going on with me at the moment, the Drs just go to stress as the main trigger. I'm doing all I'm told but getting nowhere fast. I may suggest coming if it and see what happens...I just know I was so very low before going on it, and very achy.

Okay so your GP has put you on the wrong sort for a start unless you're over 54 when combined continuous can be tried. Or have had very few periods in the last year- eg a couple and you are over 50, when combined continuous can be tried.

You should be on progesterone on a cycle for half the month (12 days out of a calendar month is what many consultants suggest.)

See this link and also the types of HRT.

https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/postmeno.php POST MENOPAUSE - for women with no periods for 12 months or age over 54.

https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/perimeno.php PERI

Thanks, GP did start with cyclical, we chatted a bit then said continuous. I'm nearly 53.

So were you on cyclical?Or did you talk about cyclical but not try it?

Is your total time on HRT 5 weeks or were you on cyclical for longer before swapping?

I don’t get why they would outright dismiss it being HRT when fluctuating hormones definitely do affect anxiety (Eg contraceptive pill, PMT). I am not on HRT but it’s one of my fears, that this will be my experience.

JinglingSpringbells
I started 5 weeks ago on continuous, never tried cyclical.

Op, unfortunately, unbelievable as it is, GP’s and other doctors know very little about the menopause. We literally have to trial and error ourselves.

I looked on the peri/ menopause like this. It’s like being in a car accident (and I have been in one). You have to create a boundary around you and say, look I need to recover/ take time to get to grips with and get over this. I need to nurture me; mind, body and soul. I need space and help. Then start taking time for you, and adding things into your life to help you physically and mentally. That could be mindfulness, yoga, join a gym, massages etc. All things to help you rebalance and support you during this time.

I’ve seen so many of my friends in a heap with the menopause, then they got support and a few months later were back to themselves again.

It’ll be the progesterone. I had an extreme reaction to it - could hardly stand up and I feel totally suicidal and would wake in the night having severe panic attacks. There should be more awareness about progesterone intolerance but there’s a lot of ignorance around it.
I tried mine vaginally but still had an extreme reaction to it.
I started the progesterone only pill (still using estrogel) and can tolerate that for some reason, even though it’s artificial progesterone.
Some women do better with a Mirena.