Long Cycle HRT - 2 month/3 month

[Admin]

I'm still experimenting with the Utrogestan routine. Still trying the continuous method (vaginally every other day), but depending on how much break-through bleeding I continue to get I might have to switch to the 2/3 monthly routine as well. I don't seem to have any problems using the Utro, but the irregular bleeding can be a nuisance.

[Jenny Wren]

My gyne has just suggested a three month cycle because of prog intolerance. Close supervision required, 6/12 month scans/ biopsies.

If prog hell continues with that regime she suggested a hyster as she said I will need to be on oestrogen for a very long time as symptoms without it are so severe.

Told her about Utro by V route- she's looking into it as had not much experience of it.

Gyne was really lovely, very aware of prog intol and how devastating it can be. Very supportive and gave me her e-mail address and tel number for contact.

Will keep you informed as to how things go.

X

[Deleted]

Robyn, when I first started using Utro on alternate nights, I had breakthrough bleeding, but having seen the study on this (the one Candy gave me the link to) I persevered and it must be six months or so now and it hasn't re-occurred. Perhaps you just need to give it a while to settle. I also took them orally to start with, but find vaginally so much better as I don't have to worry about whether or not I have eaten beforehand.

[Admin]

Thanks jaycee. Yes I need to be patient..... On another thread Bellaciao suggested I try using it every night for a little while just to see if things settle a bit quicker. I'm not sure how long to do that for, but I thought I might try it for a couple of weeks and then go back to every other night. Just need that patience to kick in ....

[Admin]

Jun 21, 2012 10:54:57 GMT @bellaciao said:

Robyn - the one thing that occurred to me about using it every night until things settle is that when you then reduced the dose to alternate nights, the drop in prog might trigger a bleed - but again I presume this would then settle later? When I was using Cyclogest continuously - I went straight to 200 mg every alternate night with 25 mcg patch - but this was after stopping HRT for 3 months so my levels weren't reducing if you see what I mean!

Bellaciao x

I've come to the conclusion that using it every night isn't for me. I was okay until about the 5th night, and then the bloody insomnia returned. So it seems, so far, I can tolerate the Utro every second night, but not every night. I didn't use any last night, and things were still a bit difficult in the sleep department, so I'm considering not using it again tonight just to get my levels down again. Of course that will probably end up triggering a bleed, but that is preferable to insomnia.

So, I'm not sure how I will go long term. I hope that the alternative night thing will suit me, but I might find that after a while the prog "builds up" and I might have difficulty with it. Anyway, I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself. Maybe ultimately I will have to resort to the 2-3 monthly cycle and perhaps put up with some insomnia for the 10 days that I'm using the Utro.

*sigh* I'm so fed up with the whims of hormones. Why can't they be predictable and easy to get on with?

[Jenny Wren]

Bellaciao - I'm on Estradot 50. Sorry you are having to deal with a migraine - they really are miserable.

Robyn - when I was on alternate night Utro I had some spotting for the first month, second month was fine re bleeding.

[Admin]

I think I might have been a bit too quick to blame the Utro. I had been taking sedative ADs to help with my insomnia, and I'd been reducing the dosage for a couple of weeks. I only started taking them in mid April, so I didn't think I needed to do a really long drawn out withdrawal from them. Last weekend was the last time I took any, and it's this last week that I've had the sleeping problems.

So, it occurred to me last night that what I've been experiencing is more likely to be AD withdrawal. So for the time being I'm going back to taking some sleeping meds and just let nature take its course. Now that I've been off the ADs for a week I have no intentions of taking anymore. To be honest if I knew more about them when I started taking them I wouldn't have started. They're said to be "non-addictive", but then in the same breath they say you have to withdraw from them. So are they addictive or not?

Anyway, my sleeping med dosage is fairly low, so I don't have any problem taking that for a little while until my body settles. I've been off the AD now for a week, so hopefully I'm over the worst of it.

I did use some Utro last night after all, and after the sleep med kicked in I felt I had quite a good restful night's sleep, so I think I was being very unfair on the poor Utro...lol... Now of course I'll probably get a period, but what the hey! It's all part of the meno fun..lol..

[Jenny Wren]

Hi Bellaciao,

I think I'll be taking Utro for 12 days every 3 months. I told gyne that I'd like to take it by vaginal route but she hadn't prescribed it that way.

I told her that V route wasn't uncommon in France and America and that I knew several ladies who used it this way. I also sent her the paper on V route usage of Utro that Jaycee kindly sent me.

Gyne e-mailed me yesterday saying that the paper didn't actually say that Utro had been used in the study so she needed to speak to the manufacturers of Utro. She's been trying to contact them but no luck so far. She said she was going to try again yesterday.

I'm just so pleased that she's interested in V route usage and is being supportive of me by trying to get more info on it.

Will keep you informed.

[Jenny Wren]

Hi Bellaciao - thanks so much! I'll PM you.