HRT

[Lapsedrunner]

I’ve been on HRT for over a year. A few months ago I saw a menopause specialist privately who upped my oestrogen and added some testosterone. At a review last week I asked if she thought micronised progesterone could help my sleep (not terrible, but could be better) she thought it worth a try so prescribed some

*whispers*..... I think it may be working. This weekend I went trail running on Dartmoor (hilly) I would normally expect a wriggly night after running but it didn’t happen. Have now been taking it for 7 days and the last 4 nights have been good. Fingers crossed!

If this continues I will try weaning off my 200mg of gabapentin at night

[Parminter]

Progesterone is the forgotten hormone, for both men and women. In an age of xeno-estrogens from a large number of chemical sources, to which we are all exposed, perhaps we all need to take it.

Please tell us the result of your treatment in a few weeks.

[Oscarsaurus]

Please could i ask what type of symptoms you experienced ? I am taking HRT but my depression is not really improving so am considering anti depressants now ...therefore am i suffering with depression or the menopause or both . I am so pleased you are finding relief

[Lapsedrunner in reply to Oscarsaurus]

Thanks. I don’t have mood symptoms. Initially it was sweats and stiffness in hands and feet. I had hoped that it would influence my RLS (I had just started DAs then) It certainly helped my symptoms but it really seems to be starting the micronised progesterone that’s making a difference to my sleep.

Don’t be afraid of antidepressants if you need them (although you will need to use a RLS friendly one) Good luck

[Oscarsaurus in reply to Lapsedrunner]

Yes i have the night sweats, mood swings, loss of hair, loss of libido and the list is endless but my tolerance levels are very low indeed if i am annoyed with someone or they say the wrong thing. My gp increased the oestrogen patches i use but said it can take quite a while before i will feel the effects...hence looking into which anti depressant i can take but all of you on here have helped. Good luck to you

[Lapsedrunner in reply to Oscarsaurus]

Have a Google of Newson Health...menopause specialist GPs, lots of information re menopause/HRT

Sounds like you would benefit from some testosterone being added. In my experience standard GPs aren’t keen to look at hormone blood levels but when my specialist GP did them my oestrogen wasn’t high enough despite some treatment

[Oscarsaurus in reply to Lapsedrunner]

Yes i will do that . Thank you for your brilliant advice, my gp is very open and actually listens to me which is rare !

[rkatt]

Interesting. Please keep us updated. I’ve often wondered if oestrogen might help.

[Jumpey]

Good news.Keep us updated.x

[Hidden]

That's great news and I hope it continues. If so then it's a great boon for women.

One of those times when I wish I was female.

It's true progesterone is an important hormone in men too. It's a precursor of testosterone and can be used as a treatment for younger men with problems due to low testosterone levels.

For older men - quite dodgy! Higher testosterione levels in older men increases the risk of and growth rate for prostate cancer and some treatments work by reducing testosterone.

So (older) guys, I'd give that a miss if I were you, unless you've had your prostate gland totally removed and have no signs of the presence of any prostate cells left in your body whatsoever.

[foren6chick]

wait... i've been out of the loop on the 'discussions' page for a while... am i getting that HRT with a bump of testosterone is helping with twitches AND sleep?! might it be a path to getting off gabapentin, too? this could be a real solution for me (hopeful face).

i sleep no more than 2 hours at a time since coming off of the copious amount of medication following my brain tumor diagnosis and subsequent surgery. it has taken me 2 years to wean myself off of meds. i had augmentation from ropinerol. what a miserable nightmare. NOT 'just RLS', but full-body thrashing. the only relief i've had is by taking kratom, (which, from the get-go has felt like a miracle, btw). after several months, lots of shredded bed sheets and general exhaustion, things have finally settled down significantly. however, i still don't sleep for any appreciable length of time. my goal is to get off all the pharma meds to see what my body would be like in it's natural state. that being said, i KNOW that my lack of sleep will keep me unbalanced and if i need hormones, i'd be ok with that!

i went through 6 YEARS of menopause in my early 50s and now at 63 y.o. am having intense hot flashes again. just keeping up with the 'brain thing' has me exhausted from adding any other issues (and meds!) to my plate. but if what you're saying about progesterone helping with sleep might provide a solution, i'm all in! as someone in this thread mentioned, i may have to look into someone other than my GP to address it, though. i KNOW my neurologist would run from the room lol!

thanks for posting this. i have some homework to do...

[Mum007]

Just came across this thread. I take her HRT and at one stage I took testosterone. I only managed testosterones for eight days and my restless legs and arms went through the roof like I’ve never experienced before. Came off it and it took two or three days for my restless legs to settle down. Tried it again a couple of weeks later and my restless legs went through the roof again in fact I got whole-body restless legs day and night. Never again.

[Lapsedrunner in reply to Mum007]

Sorry to hear that Mum007, once again some things work for some people!

Overall I’ve only found HRT helpful in terms of menopausal symptoms (including libido) the testosterone has helped me lose a few pounds as I’ve built more muscle mass and felt stronger and I think that micronised progesterone has improved my sleep quality.

I had a trial of halving my gabapentin but felt worse for it. I’m not so worried about that though, 200mg is a small dose and at the moment I have one short wake up per night, no side effects. I prefer this to the side effects of lack of sleep !!