On HRT and feeling worse than ever

[fitwithgail]

I am on the Mirena coil and Evorel 50 patches since Feb. I feel worse than ever. I am not sleeping, I am putting on weight, I am exhausted, sad all the time, stressed, irritable, my skin in a mess - patchy and spotty, I have huge eye bags. I have terrible IBS. I hate myself and want to disappear. What the eff is going on?

[MOLKO1972]

Hi fitwithgail,

Sorry to hear you are going through a dreadful time of it at the moment. Hormones can be so complicated to deal with and to get balanced.

It sounds to me (and I am no expert) that the HRT you are on is maybe not right for you. I am on just the patches, which are the Evorel 50 and Evorel Conti and I have had no problems whatsoever. They are the first thing I have tried and they seem to work fine.

Maybe you need to have a chat with your GP and explain what is going on. It sounds like your hormones are all over the place and still not balanced. I'm not sure how long you have to be on HRT before it makes a difference, but for me it was pretty instant.

Sorry I am not of great help, but I thought I would reply as you sound like you need a bit of help and support.

I hope you are feeling a bit more positive today

[fitwithgail in reply to MOLKO1972]

Thank you. This is my third attempt at HRT. I can't have progesterone in other forms because of suicidal side effects. But yes I will speak to my gp thank you x

[MOLKO1972 in reply to fitwithgail]

You're welcome

I hope you manage to get sorted...us women have to go through so much when we get to a certain age. It's not much fun at all!

[doglover1973 in reply to MOLKO1972]

Hi MOLKO1972 I'm not stalking you honestly 😉 I'm considering HRT myself as I'm feeling very gloomy . Finding you here though makes me wonder if there's any connection between the (peri)menopause & T .

[MOLKO1972 in reply to doglover1973]

Hi doglover1973,

Fancy seeing you here!!

I have wondered whether it could be connected, but my T started when I was having a really bad migraine attack, but who knows? It could all be part and parcel to it. I've given up wondering why to be honest. I'm just more concentrated on trying to manage it now. I thought HRT would help relieve the symptoms of T, but to be honest it makes it worse when it's 'time of the month'. It ramps up no end and stays like it for a week or so. It's all very tiring and I can honestly say I'm bored of it now. I just want to sit in silence...what I would give to sit in silence again!

As for HRT, it's pretty good stuff! I was having horrendous hot flushes every 40 minutes and I would go the colour of a beetroot and immediately get a migraine. Night time was just as bad! All of that has gone now, but like I say, It's not helped the T

[doglover1973 in reply to MOLKO1972]

I'm sorry to hear HRT hasn't relieved the T in any way . That would've been a very nice side effect! Hey ho. We can dream of silence. I haven't got to the hot flush stage yet. Just very gloomy sometimes. It's probably time to see my GP although with the national shortage of HRT I might wait a week or two. See you back on the BTA forum 🐶

[Lizzo30]

Maybe you just need estriol and no progesterone

Estriol is a mild bioidentical form of estrogen so no progesterone is needed as it doesn't cause thickening of womb.

The progesterone you are taking is not bio identical and is in fact a progestin which is more like a male hormone than female

[Hidden]

Hi Gail, so sorry to hear you're having such a hard time. I would ask for a blood test to check you are absorbing the oestrogen through the patches - they don't work for me and I have Progynova tablets and the Mirena instead. I also don't absorb B12 and some of your symptoms sound similar to B12 deficiency. Can you ask to have bloods tested for this too? I've been where you are and it feels so hopeless but with the right tweaking, HRT has given me back my life. Wish you well ❤️