stopping progesterone - your experience

[Elsidee11]

hi all, hope you’re all well. I will be stopping my progesterone following our BFN, and I’m worried about the bleed. I go on holiday Monday, and have an 8 hour flight, the thought of bleeding heavily is scaring me!

What are your experiences of stopping progesterone?

I have enough to last me til Tuesday - so wondering if I should just start tapering myself off? So maybe start taking 2 x pessaries a day and then 1 x a day?

Any advice greatly appreciated x

[HedgehogMad]

Hi Elsidee, so sorry to hear about your BFN 💔 hope you're doing ok. I found my period tends to start about 5-7 days after stopping, and is usually much like a normal period for me. But I think everyone is different. I don't think there is much benefit to tapering down, I would just stop, maybe a day or so before Monday so that you're unlikely to bleed during the flight. Hope you have a lovely time away xxx

[Elsidee11 in reply to HedgehogMad]

thank you 🦔🫶🏻 it’s hit me a lot harder than I expected. But I know I’ll be ok 💔 thank you for your advice. I think because I have endo I’m just thinking the worst. My last period was so heavy for some odd reason - normally super light, so I’m dreading that or worse. But I feel zero sign of my period arriving, so hopefully it’ll come later rather than sooner. Thank you xxx

[Tir-26]

sorry for your loss and hope your ok, it’s very tough. In my experience it took a week for my period to start after stopping progesterone.

[mmmangos]

Sorry that it was a negative result 😔 it never really gets easier to hear. I don't think my period was any different after progesterone (although I had horrible bloating whilst taking it). You know your body best though, so if you've personally had a particularly bad period after progesterone, work around your experience. What happened any other times? I'm not sure how long your holiday is or how long it normally takes your bleed to come through, but keep in mind that even if progesterone does delay your period (mine comes through even if I'm still taking it), if you only have enough to last until Tuesday, you'll probably get your period whilst on holidays which could be a lot worse? If you decide to stop, just stop taking it, no need to taper off because your system doesn't benefit from a gradual decrease, you're just continuing to add to your progesterone levels and endometrial growth so if anything there will be even more to shed. I hope it works out with timing for you and you manage to switch off a bit mentally and have a wonderful holiday 🤗

[Elsidee11 in reply to mmmangos]

thank you so much for you advice, it’s my first round of ivf so not sure how my body will react - but I spoke to the clinic today and they basically said exactly the same as you and to just stop taking it. Weirdly I can already feel my period coming! So hopefully I’ll have my heaviest day before the flight. 🤞🏼 thank you so much x

[mmmangos in reply to Elsidee11]

You're welcome. That's great 😀 looks like you'll feel much better by the time you leave for your holiday, yay! Have a great time, you deserve to enjoy yourself x

[Minminminminh]

So sorry to hear this friend, hope your holiday brings you peace and rest xx

[Elsidee11 in reply to Minminminminh]

thank you so much xxx