I am 2 weeks away from my next FET and on estrogen pills...
I am feeling really ill, terrible mostly non stop headache, dizziness, nausea all pretty bad...
I had similar symptoms before but they got much worse since...
And reading the leaflet that comes with the medication doesnt help... it says to stop taking it if you have bad headaches but I asked my clinic and they said it must be something else as I had the same pills on my last (partly successful) FET but that was 2 years ago...
And now I am reading more about estrogen and it says that too much of it can stop implantation and cause cancer too... 😳
I am so confused and don't know what to do... don't want to take less (I am on 8mg) in case something else causing it but don't want to make things worse...
Please if you have any comment please share as I am driving myself mad... 🙏
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MagicTourmaline
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the hrt drugs to my knowledge are linked to cancer only for long term use such as post menopause. I don’t think ivf is linked to an increased risk of anything because you take the drugs for such a short time (although it feels like a life time).
I don’t remember having nausea or dizziness from them but I did get headaches very mildly.
Those leaflets that come with meds are a nightmare. When you are feeling vulnerable though, seeing that they causes all kinds of horrible symptoms doesn’t help at all! Could the symptoms be anxiety? This is such a stressful experience!
I would ask your clinic to review with the consultant though if you are worried? Or call and try to speak to a different nurse? Even if they say the same things, that might put your mind at rest?
I think I was on 6mg a day though so you could ask them to review the dose? That might help if you haven’t had lining issues?
Thank you for your reply! The clinic is not worried because I never reacted to estrogen like this before, thats why she said it must be somthing else...
Never had issues with my lining, thats why I am wondering if I take too much... was hoping they would ask me in for a blood test but they think its ok...
Just because the headache got so bad with other symptoms, thats what made me worried...
Hi. I think headaches can be caused by several things. I’m 42 and have high fsh but I take hrt to prepare for FET to do a natural modified FET transfer with stims. I had a really bad headache tonight but stopped hrt about a week ago. I find near my period now I sometimes get a bad headache especially if I have had less sleep, stressed, had citrus fruits, dark chocolate and not managed to drink so much water. I hope your symptoms improve. Nausea is very common when oestrogen rises.
On one cycle I took my oestrogen as a single dose each day, when I got to 8mg I was getting a lot of headaches. Was advised to split it into 4mg in morning and 4mg at night. Taking it all at once can make you nauseous too.
This cycle they advised splitting the dose from the start and I've been OK with that.
I'd speak to one of your nurses so they're aware of the side effects and ask their advice. Previously mine didn't seem too bothered how I split the dose up so long as I'd taken the right amount over the day.
Thank you for your reply!They put me on 2 in the morning 2 in the evening to start with and today they said maybe I should split it even more and have 2mg 4x a day instead of 4mg 2x a day...
Have a search through some of the posts on here re estrogen and progynova in particular - they are notorious for side effects and a lot of people have asked something similar. Hopefully the responses will put your mind at ease about the symptoms although always best to get these things checked out with the clinic. I had such a bad reaction to them that they reduced mine down to one a day, so maybe something to ask if your symptoms are already bad. Also it is entirely possible to be ok with these and other hormone meds one cycle and not the next, that has also happened to me. Don't worry about the cancer risk, that's long term and they definitely don't stop implantation or none of us would have a chance! 😀
Thank you for your reply!They told me today to break it up to 4x 2mg pills instead of 2x4mg which might have helped... will see how it goes the next dew days as I still have the headache just not as bad...
I know its not meant to stop implantation otherwise it would defeat the object, its just I never had a problem with my lining even at times when I was at stages of my treatment when I didnt need to take estrogen, thats why I was wondering if I might take too much... which I read can work against... and never had such a terrible reaction so I got worried... 😅
It may help to space them out so see of that makes a difference, sometimes starting progesterone can also ease the symptoms or you get used to them. That didn't happen with me for one FET in particular and I just continued to feel terrible. It can affect the lining but I think only to make it quite thick and uneven (happened to me) but that's unusual and they will pick that up on a scan. I had a much less extreme reaction to them on my last FET so it can vary from transfer to transfer, no idea why. Also, the FET where I had the really bad reaction and the lining got thick and uneven was successful(!) so although I felt absolutely awful, it didn't harm my chances.
I don’t know if this helps but I needed the maximum dose of oestrogen (4mg three times a day). Only side effect I had was fluid retention but I required multiple attempts before success. Obviously it didn’t prevent implantation for me in the end and it wasn’t due to the oestrogen why it failed xx
hi lovely I hope you’re feeling a bit better x oestrogen are pure evil !! I was on 2 mg x 3 a day , and first time I used them I got awful headaches like feeling my head would explode ! Someone in here recommended to consciously drink more water those days and it did help xx so try that if you haven’t already. Also, if you’re too worried on the side effects there are natural FET and natural modified, where you don’t have to do oestrogen if your body can do the lining itself , maybe you could ask for that next time ? Sadly our clinic doesn’t do it, as it’s harder to schedule as it goes with your cycles, but some clinics do them.
Wishing you all the best of luck in your journey xx
Thank you for your reply and kind words!I never had this problem before, so still not sure if its to do with the oestrogen, could be just a weird coincidence... but made me worried... my headaches sounds the same as yours, yesterday really felt like my head will just blow up... 😳
I broke up the meds even more taking now 4x2mg instead of 2x4mg, which seem to have helped but lets see the next few days...
I am drinking quite a lot of water, but its easy to forget so yes I should be even more conscious about it... thank you!
Hi! Agree with the post above and just want to say that I too got headaches from estrogen. They split up my dose to 2mg x 4. I would take 2 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 1 at bedtime. Hope this helps and hope you feel better soon. Best of luck! xx
hello! I am so sorry you aren’t feeling well! I always wonder if my drug use (IVF) is going to catch up with me at some point! I am on progonova (estrogen) always been on 6mg. 1 tablets 3 times a day. Maybe you need a different form of oestrogen rather than a tablet? Worth asking….
Thank you, I was thinking about that, or even just to change the pill to what I had last time... not sure why they change medictions if it works on the first place...?? 🤔
Hi MagicTourmaline, so sorry you are feeling rough. Progynova causes headaches and nausea. Try taking it with a slice of toast and a lemon hot drink. That helps me. Also make sure you are drinking tons of water. It really does help the headaches. I used to find it was bad for the first few days and then calmed down, and got worse again once I started taking progesterone. Every drug change for me is a couple of days of feeling terrible before it either levels out or I get used to it! I also use deep heat on my neck when the headaches are really bad (pre transfer only) and that really seems to help x
Thank you! Yes, it was a bit better yesterday... maybe as you said the body just needs to get used to it...I do drink hot water with lemon, maybe I drink more of that and sometimes I forget to eat before I take them so that could help, thank you!
Glad to see they split the dose for you and you felt slightly better, I hope that continues. Edited; I obviously have a really poor memory, as when I checked I took a higher dose than I realised.. started on 6mg oestrogen and increased to 8mg eventually.. sorry, I seemed to think I only took one tablet 🙈 I must just have been lucky and had no side effects that I can remember.
I hope it gets better though now it is split and I wish you all the best with your FET coming up!! 🤞🤞🤞
if you can get your estrogen levels checked that could put your mind at ease and also inform action if too high. Randox do it. Also are you splitting up your tablets during the day and having with food?
I have a different one this time, called Elleste Solo. I think I had Progynova before and never had a problem with that... not sure why to change medications if one works... 🤔
I felt the side effects when I was taking 3 pills a day so my clinic agreed to drop to 2 pills. In addition to that I was also wearing a patch that I changed every 3rd day, perhaps that’s an option that you could discuss with your clinic? Good luck x
I’m sorry you’re having an awful time, I also had an awful time on the pills it really didn’t agree with me. I had patches instead last time a million times nicer, it still didn’t woke! But I do have a little boy from ivf 3 years ago. I would definitely speak to your nurse xx
I had two patches on the tops of my legs, changed every 72 hours they go straight into your blood stream rather then liver first! They were amazing compared to those awful tablets! Xx
I had terrible headaches with oral pill . So I switched to patches , sometimes lining were perfect . In a cycle when it’s not , I used a combination of patch and used the pill vaginally
It seems like there are a lot of other options out there... I guess because I never had any problems about the pills before and thia will be my 4th transfer I never even thought about exploring other options... thank you for replying, if my headaches dont get better I have some ideas what to suggest to my clinic... 🙏Can I just ask if you juat had bad headaches or did you have any nausea or dizziness?
I’m going in for 9th transfer , no living babies yet . I had hot flashes , and terrible headache and sensitivity to light , no nausea so I changed to this protocol around my 7th transfer
😔 I am so sorry to hear that... It is a really difficult and trying journey... 😔 How are you coping? When is your next transfer?Sending you lots of love! 💕
My lining check is on wednesday 😊 and if everything goes with the plan I have my transfer on Tuesday 16th... 😊Let me know how you get on... will cross my fingers for you!!! 🥰
Its understandable... After all you must have been through on your journey... 💕 But there is always hope, even when it all looks dark... I will be thinking of you!!! 💕
no advice but just wanted to say I don’t handle estrogen well at all either , I felt really unwell to the point where I won’t take it again . My medicated cycle wasn’t successful either . You know your own body ❤️ xxxx
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