HRT & Anxiety

[Bassem1979]

hI

am looking for advice am struggling at the moment with side effects from HRT patches, am only on oestrogen as have no womb.

Headaches, nausea and more recent anxiety, am only on a low dose and been on for nearly 4weks.

I feel am going crazy, every patch change my arms and hands feel really heavy like they don’t belong to me and I don’t sleep and feel very panicky. Them symptoms get a little better the following day but the headache and sickness don’t.

Should I hold out till the 3mth mark or go back to the doctors sooner ? And maybe try the gel

I can’t carry on like this am so down with it all.

On the plus my moods have got a lot better which my family love

Any advice would be much appreciated

thanks x

[MyStar86]

I felt like that on oestrogen only I couldn’t sleep at all it was awful insomnia my skin was prickling all over and the anxiety was so bad. The oestrogen dose wasn’t high enough so I had my oestrogen upped and added progesterone which meant I could finally sleep again. So it could be that the oestrogen level patches that you are on is too low but you need to speak to your menopause specialist/ gynaecologist.

[Bassem1979 in reply to MyStar86]

Hi

Thanks for the reply, really too low. I thought I was getting side effects because it was too much not because it was too low.

I was scared to go higher incase it increased my side effect symptoms.

I will speak to the Gp, again thanks for the reply sometimes just hearing from others makes you feel better. X

[gabkad in reply to Bassem1979]

Even though it appears to be common to give estrogen only when someone has had a hysterectomy, progesterone is really good for helping with sleep and keeping calm. Just because estrogen only is okay since without progesterone a person won't get uterine cancer, progesterone puts things into balance.

[MyStar86 in reply to gabkad]

Totally agree I would never sleep without the progesterone!!

[Bassem1979 in reply to MyStar86]

My doctor says I can’t have progesterone because I have no womb so how do I get round that x

[MyStar86 in reply to Bassem1979]

That’s rubbish I have no womb after a total hysterectomy and have to have progesterone but i saw a menopause specialist. Which doctor told you that you couldn’t have progesterone was it just your gp?x

[MyStar86 in reply to MyStar86]

Sorry I had to edit that as I put oestrogen by mistake but I take both oestrogen via spray and progesterone via tablet x

[Bassem1979 in reply to MyStar86]

Yes my GP x

[MyStar86 in reply to Bassem1979]

Well that says it all it’s terrible how gps think they know everything about everything when they don’t an hrt is very specific to the individual so they are being very basic just because you don’t have a womb only means you don’t “need” progesterone to prevent womb cancer however it does not mean that you can’t have it! Maybe you could try a different gp, I would say get a referral to a gynaecologist but via the nhs it can take a while I went private to a menopause specialist and have a video consultation and then they prescribed my medication and sent it all via courier virtually the next day so it’s worth looking into things but the go is talking rubbish x

[MyStar86 in reply to Bassem1979]

This is where I went online they were really good:

everythingmenopause.co.uk

[BabblingBrooks]

Have you tried StarPowa Sleep gummies ?

I struggle with interrupted sleep, only take HRT pessaries.

I found them helpful.

[KBird01]

Hi. Sorry you're having such bad effects from the HRt. Unfortunately what you're experiencing can be a sign of too little or too much HRT. I know from personal experience, as I reacted quite badly to what my GP considered a low dose (Evorel 25). I also reacted badly to Estradot, which is derived from yams. (Evorel is soy-based), but some women find this the other way round.Unfortunately, it's trial and error. I think you definitely need a better informed GP, who will let you tinker with dosage (I ended up on 1/4 patch), or a menopause specialist. All the Davina stuff has been great, but HRT isn't a magic bullet for many of us, more's the pity.